Top 8 questions to ask before hiring a tax accountant

When searching for a tax accountant, you obviously want someone who saves your hard earned money and also helps you to avoid some major financial crisis.

Before employing a tax accountant, ask all of these eight important questions.

1. What kind of clients do you work with?

You should look for accountants who have worked with clients similar to your profession. For instance, if you are a doctor, getting an accountant who understands and has all the knowledge to deal with your all of your financial issues of your industry is the right choice. Hence, you should ask what kind of clients they have worked with in the past.

2. Are you available all year round?

When you are working, you will need someone looking after your finance area at all times. So, whenever you look for accountants, find accounting firms who is available all year round to help you address the issues.

3. Are you an aggressive accountant?

Some accountants can be aggressive about tax compliance. That is why you should ask how they would approach issues regarding deductions, income or strategies.

4. How do you bill your services?

Some accountants charge on an hourly basis and others charge a flat bill rate. So, ask the accountant you are hiring about his/her billing procedures. It is best to provide a copy of your tax returns to accountant for getting the right quote of service costs.

5. Can you provide the names of your clients and references?

Getting reviews from the past clients and references will help you to know more the accountant you are hiring. Also, these professional associations can tell you about any issues and complaints have been charged against that accountant or not.

6. How will you handle working with multiple entities?

If you have multiple bodies, hire an accountant that can manage all of them. This question is very important to ask because this skill is not possessed by all accountants.

7. What tax program do you use?

Accountants mostly use QuickBooks. It can be easily transferred between different accountants. So, ask if the accountant about their tools. If they use obscure tax software, it will be difficult to switch accountants.

8. How do you share information?

While some accountants have newsletters or blogs to keep you informed, you should look for accountants who can provide extra information whenever he/she comes across them. It can be anything from a concept to article. Ask if they can provide this or not.

A good tax accountant is not good with the numbers but also helps to get maximum returns. Hence, whenever you are hiring an accountant, do ask all these questions for ensuring you get the right one.By Sara J Lee, Source: EzineArticles