Questions to Ask Your Income Tax Preparer

Ask your bookkeeper, accountant, CPA, Enrolled Agent, or tax attorney the following questions to help you decide whether you really want to pay them to prepare and file IRS Form 1040 and other IRS forms, which is often followed by forking over a significant amount of your money to the IRS!

Part 1

1. Is it true that you want me to sign under penalty of perjury that everything on the IRS Form 1040 and other IRS income tax forms that you prepare for me is “true, correct, and complete”?           Yes / No
2. Does “penalty of perjury” mean that if anything on the 1040 form is not “true, correct and complete”, I may end up in federal prison on criminal charges, such as:
   • “Attempt to evade or defeat tax” (Tax evasion) under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 7201 sending me to prison for up to 5 years for EACH 1040 tax form that I send to the IRS?     Yes / No
   
   • “Fraud and false statements” under IRC § 7206 sending me to prison for up to 3 years for each 1040 tax form that I send to the IRS?           Yes / No“
   
   • Fraudulent returns, statements, or other documents” under IRC § 7207 sending me to prison for up to 1 year for each 1040 tax form that I send to the IRS?           Yes / No
   
   • Is it true that I could be convicted on all three of the above criminal charges, sending me to prison for up to 9 years for each 1040 tax form that you prepare for me to sign if, in the view of the IRS, the 1040 or other income tax form is not “true, correct and complete”?      Yes / No
3. I am relying on you as my tax expert to completely understand my financial records and to apply all relevant Internal Revenue Code statutes, Treasury regulations and court cases which may apply to my tax situation, and to use your knowledge to properly prepare the IRS Form 1040 and other IRS forms for me, which I must then sign under penalty of perjury. Therefore, I must ask:
   
   • If the tax forms you prepare for me to sign under penalty of perjury are in any way found by the IRS to not be “true, correct and complete”, will you go to prison, or will I?      You / Me
   
   • Will you, as my tax expert, pay for expert income tax lawyers to defend me against criminal charges for which the IRS may come after me on tax forms that you prepared for me to sign under penalty of perjury?           Yes / No
   
   • Can the IRS disagree with the tax forms you prepare for me, and come after me for more money anyway?           Yes / No
   
   • In case the IRS comes after me for more money, will you defend at a fixed annual fee the 1040 tax form that you prepared for me? Or will you charge me hourly for your services, with no limit to how much I may have to pay you to defend me from the IRS tax proposal or audit?          
   
   Fixed fee / Unlimited hourly charges.
   
   • In case the IRS proposes more taxes against me or decides to audit me, what guarantee do you offer me that the IRS will not be able to collect more taxes by levying my pay, bank account, home, or other assets?
   
   Describe: _________________

Part 2

1. Will you guarantee me, as Freedom Law School’s Restore Freedom Plan does, that if necessary, you will hire tax lawyers to defend me?      Yes / No
2. If I completely follow your instructions in filing IRS Form 1040 and other tax forms, will you guarantee me, as Freedom Law School’s Restore Freedom Plan does, that you will handle any income tax issues that come up, no matter how complex those issues may become (including Tax Court, District Court, courts of appeal, and summons)?     Yes / No
3. Will you guarantee me that if I completely and fully follow your advice in filling out and signing US income tax forms, that the IRS will not be able to levy my pay, bank account, home or my other assets for as long as I continue to stay a member as Freedom Law School’s Restore Freedom Plan ? The IRS lock-in letter is the only thing we cant give protection from.    Yes / No
4. Will you spell out for me, as Freedom Law School does, based on the Internal Revenue Code statutes, Treasury regulations, and US Supreme Court decisions, exactly who is required to file and pay US individual income and employment taxes, and whether I am one of those individuals or employers?     Yes / No

See the "Risks and 'Benefits' of Filing a 1040 Income Tax Confession Form" on our web page "The Dangers of Filing Income Taxes".

* Lock-in letter is the IRS sending your employer a letter, asking your employer to withhold/steal from your paycheck in anticipation of you owing the IRS money, even though the IRS Lock-in letter has no legal authority and your employer is under no legal authority to steal your money as requested by the IRS Lock-in Letter.