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Recovery of Personal Tax Files from Professional Firm

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  • 09-11-2009, 07:52 AM
    Bubba Jimmy
    Re: Recovery of Personal Tax Files from Professional Firm
    Quote:

    Quoting Mr. Knowitall
    View Post
    Let's say I hire you to prepare my tax return. You do so and tell me, "That will be $200." I say, "Nonsense, I'm not paying. Now give me my entire file." Do you truly believe you have to hand over the return you prepared, at no cost? Of course not. That would be work product, and as you admit there is no obligation to turn over that type of work product (or certain other records) when your client doesn't pay you.

    Please re-read what I said. I can withhold my work product. I cannot withhold any records you provided to me, or provided by third parties, that are necessary for you to comply with the tax laws. It's all in Circular 230, at the link provided on the pages referenced. If the tax return was actually electronically filed with the IRS by the firm, then yes, a copy would have to be provided even without payment. However, most firms will not file the return until they are paid for this reason.

    I would personally consider notes, records of conversations, and so forth to be work products in the representation of a client before the IRS. They were produced as work you were paying for. The definition of "work product" would be a legal question as it relates to a non-attorney such as a CPA or EA.

    If I were the OP I would have my attorney send a demand letter on his letterhead giving them some time period in which to produce copies of all work products for which you paid, i.e. the contents of your file. They can charge you for making the copies. The attorney will charge you. It may cost you more than you would recover from them. But I tend to require people to be accountable for what they do as a matter of principle. You'll have to decide what works best for you since their present position is refusal, and to force the issue will certainly cost money. If they did in fact mishandle your case with the IRS you may consider suing them for recovery of what you paid them.
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