Hi I'm Terry Griffith and I'm a tax preparer in Southaven Ms with the Griffith CPA Firm. We are proud to be celebrating our 25th year in business serving the needs of the people in the Mid-south.  I want to go over a few things that will help you choose a tax preparer. First of all does your tax preparer in Southaven have any qualifications? Do they have a college degree, what sort of educational background do they have?  Do they have any credentials? Are they a CPA (certified public accountant) or enrolled agent? Have they had any tax preparation experience? How long have they been doing tax preparation? Is this a year around business? The IRS is in business year round so I think it's important that your tax preparer is also in business year round, not just a few months out of the year. Is your tax preparer in Southaven up to date? If you see a preparer still preparing returns by hand then I would move to somebody that uses a computer. If they;re not using technology means that they're not up to date. Can the preparer represent you at an audit without you being there? What that says is that they have credentials with the IRS and that they can help you if you need help.  Many times we represent tax payers and the tax payer is not present. They give us power of attorney and we represent them. Do you really want to give this tax preparer in Southaven your social security number? There are some firms that you'll see outrageous advertisements and the question I always have is 'would you really want to give them your social security number? We're going to have to have that in order to do your tax returns. You want to make sure they're trustworthy. Is your tax preparer in Southaven looking for a long term relationship, or are they just looking to do your returns this year and grab your money and leave town? I would also advise you not to get refund anticipation loan. That preparer is charging you an exorbitant amount of interest so that you can get your money a couple of weeks earlier.  Now typically you can have most refunds within two weeks or less. You shouldn't have to pay extra to get that. That's what a refund anticipation loan is and I recommend that you avoid those. Will your tax preparer in Southaven meet with you and talk with you? Will they make an appointment to set down with you? Do they value your time? We try to make appointments with our clients. We go face to face and we also return phone calls. We try to return all of our phone calls within 24 hours. There are some exceptions to that but generally that is the case.  That just tells you that they're interested in your business and again having a long term relationship. Does the tax preparer in Southaven provide any helps for you like an organizer or brochures or information. When you have a question can you call your preparer without being charged. Typically we answer tax questions throughout tax season and throughout the year and they usually only take a minute or two and we answer those without any additional charge to our clients. Does the tax preparer in Southaven have an engagement letter? This spells out exactly what the preparer is going to be responsible for, what you're responsible for and this is a contract and needs to be in writing in front of you. Do they have a privacy policy? I think that's really important. We take a lot of time effort and money to protect the privacy of our clients.  When your tax preparation is done does your tax preparer talk about next year? It's important to plan a little bit for next year so that you don't get caught short next year. Does your tax preparer in Southaven educate you on the tax law throughout the year? We send brochures throughout the year and news letters so that we try to educate our clients. A preparer should give you a copy of your completed when the return is completed. That's a requirement by the IRS but if that doesn't happen then you know you have go perhaps a problem. How are you charged for your prepares services? We will tell you up front what we expect your tax preparation to cost.  We do it based on the forms that are used to prepare your return but we will talk to your up front and get you an idea of what you should expect as far as a fee is concerned. I'm Terry Griffith and I'm with the Griffith CPA Firm and we would appreciate the opportunity to be your tax prepare in Southaven, Ms.