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Another taxpayer who relied on TurboTax loses in tax court.

A taxpayer cannot blame tax preparation software for inaccuracies that lead to penalties, the Tax Court holds.

Bulakites, T.C. Memo. 2017-79

Barry Bulakites is an insurance consultant who used TurboTax to prepare his own returns. The IRS disagreed with his deductions. Bulakites argued that he had enough evidence to prove some of them and, according to the Tax Court, blamed the software for "luring him into claiming others."

Bulakites tried to blame TurboTax; but the court rejected the claim and upheld the penalties. The Tax court referenced another case, Bunney, 114 T.C. 259, 267 (2000). In Bunney the court said "[t]ax preparation software is only as good as the information one inputs into it" (slip op. at p. 9).

If you use tax preparation software, read each question carefully.  If your return is audited, you need representation. We represent taxpayers even if we did not prepare the return. Give us a call.

#taxcourt #taxrepresentation #turbotax