Nurse wins IRS case

Great article. I applaud her for her tenacity and the amount of time and effort she put forth to ultimately win her battle with the IRS. I do wonder where her tax preparer was during the audit, it is possible tax preparer may not have been experienced enough to representing her in the audit. There is also the question what emotional cost did she pay for her time, effort, and worry during the process.

If she had hired a firm to represent her when she first got the audit letter the story would not have been as compelling to read, but the same outcome could have occurred without the drama.

It is something to consider when hiring a firm to prepare tax returns. Will they or can they help if you ever get audited (random audit, or triggered by claims made by ex-spouse, disgruntled ex-employee)?

I recall in a meeting a few years back, where a CPA (medium sized firm) bragged that none of the clients in all their years had been audited. Two things struck me as he talked: First, I hoped that he would be wise enough to never consider representing one of his clients in audit, given his obvious fear of the IRS and lack of experience. Second, was his firm preparing returns with such fear and for their own goals, that their clients were being short changed in the tax preparation?

http://finance.yahoo.com/taxes/article/108550/nurse-outduels-irs-over-mba-tuition?mod=taxes-advice_strategy