Bucks Blog: On Online Matchmaker for Tax Preparers and Clients

The traditional way to find a tax preparer is to ask your friends and family for a recommendation. But what if you don’t want to go the word-of-mouth route — and risk ending up with your eccentric second cousin doing your taxes (or your ignorant but well-meaning friend’s idea of a good accountant)?

Glen Ross, an accountant on Long Island, thinks he has the answer: A new Web site that aims to match taxpayers with preparers online.

The site is Prosado.com. Mr. Ross concedes that it doesn’t really mean anything, although he says it is derived, sort of, from the root of the words for “to bid,” in Latin. It has signed up about 400 tax preparers in more than 40 states and is seeking consumers who need their tax returns prepared.

Mr. Ross said he noticed that over the last year or two, the number of inquiries he received from clients who had located him online was increasing. It seemed to him as though consumers were ready to consider new ways of finding tax preparers other than through the traditional word-of-mouth.

Here’s how it works. You register at Prosado, which requires giving your name and e-mail address and choosing a password. (You don’t have to provide any financial details until you accept a bid and communicate with the preparer.) You designate what sort of criteria you’re seeking in a preparer, like an advanced accounting degree, years of experience, etc. You can also indicate if you prefer someone who has offices close to you.

(Mr. Ross says the idea is that the selection shouldn’t always be based on the lowest bid but rather on whether the preparer is best-suited to your requirements.)

Then you go down a checklist and mark what type tax-related documents you have, whether you’ve made any charitable contributions, etc. Based on that information — say, you have a W-2 (wages), two 1099s (miscellaneous income), a dividend statement and form for mortgage interest — participating preparers submit bids for your business.

Preparers pay $500 to register with Prosado and must have an I.R.S.-issued “preparer tax-identification number,” or P.T.I.N. (Mr. Ross notes that the recent requirement that all tax preparers receive a P.T.I.N. is being challenged in court, but Prosado is maintaining the criteria for its participating preparers.) Preparers also must indicate if they’re independent or affiliated with a tax-preparation franchise.

Once you select a bid, Prosado charges your credit card and holds the payment until you and your preparer sign off that the work has been completed to everyone’s satisfaction.

You have two days after accepting a bid to contact the preparer and do a bit of due diligence (you get two extra days, for a total of four, if the preparer is new and doesn’t have any client ratings listed on the site). If you decide you’re not comfortable, you can cancel for a refund, less a fee of $15.

This is the first tax season Prosado has been available. About 20 request for bids have been submitted, but Mr. Ross notes that it’s still early in the tax season.

Would you be comfortable working with a tax preparer you met online?

Article source: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/on-online-matchmaker-for-tax-preparers-and-clients/?partner=rss&emc=rss