Additional Services

• Tax preparation firms may offer additional assistance. For example, they can offer insurance policies, such as H+R Block's Peace of Mind service, where the company pays up to $5000 in additional taxes when the tax preparer erroneously underestimates the amount of taxes due. According to the Iowa Attorney General, a tax preparer that does not clearly state the extra charges for additional services can be required to repay these fees to its clients.
  
  

Loan Offers

• Tax preparers are allowed to offer loans under certain conditions. The tax preparer must clearly state the interest rate which applies to the loan. According to the State of New York, the Federal Truth in Lending Act regulations apply to refund anticipation loans in all states. States may require tax refund loan documents to be available in languages other than English; for Minnesota this is English and Spanish, for New York this is any other language the tax preparer advertises in. The tax preparer must state that the client is signing a loan contract for a refund anticipation loan, not receiving the refund early.
  
  

Loan Repayment

• The tax refund loan involves an intermediary bank, which the tax preparer selects. Under a refund anticipation agreement, the Internal Revenue Service sends the tax refund to the bank first, which deducts the loan payments and the tax preparation charges as well as any additional fees the bank assesses. The bank controls this account, not the tax preparer or the taxpayer. The taxpayer should be aware that the bank assesses all of these fees before the tax refund is sent to the taxpayer. A refund anticipation loan can result in the taxpayer owing more money than they receive as a tax refund.
  
  

Contract Prohibitions

• Tax preparers may not place certain terms in a tax preparation agreement. A tax preparer can not guarantee that a client will get a tax refund, or that the client will not be audited by the Internal Revenue Service. Tax preparers cannot assign any portion of the refund payment directly to themselves as part of the tax preparation agreement, according to the state of New York. The tax preparer may receive their payment directly from the customer, or from the intermediary bank if a refund anticipation agreement is in effect.
  
  

Tax Preparer Responsibilities

• Tax preparation agreements must list the responsibilities of the tax preparer. This includes the tax preparer's responsibility to sign a return after preparation. According to the State of New York, tax preparers are not required to go to an audit if their client is summoned to an audit, although they can offer this service as part of the tax preparation agreement.