Expert: Richard Stolp - 10/21/2010

Question
how would i go about finding a "creative" accountant? not
looking to do anything illegal, but to find knowledge,
loopholes, ways to LEAGALLY "beat" the system? instead of
being a "victim" of the self-employed system???

Answer
Hi Darlene,
I'm not sure "creative" is the word I would use. Mine would probably be along the lines of looking at the rules very carefully and figuring out which ones, if bent too far, would cause an audit. I usually do my taxes three ways: once with all the receipts I have; a second time with all the receipts I think I have, but just miss placed; and a third time where I push some.

If you are doing your own taxes you can push farther than a hired CPA - at least that's my experience. Someone else doing your taxes will not put their reputation or money at risk on your account. If you use a program like TurboTax you can push the envelope as much as you want. The IRS usually sends the first notices on discrepancies within about 12 months - sometimes it takes the computer that long to match your information with its data banks and see if everything lines up. Of course, once identified as a potential problem person, your returns may get a bit of extra attention for a few years - just to be sure you are on the straight and narrow. In the end your best tool is knowledge of the system - or using software that understands it.