My daughter’s tax returns are missing after our preparer made a mistake – what steps should we take next?

For better or worse, most people never consider a scenario where their tax returns could go missing without their knowledge, leaving them open to potential liability from the IRS. The disappointing part is that this does and can happen, and it happens far more regularly than most people think. 

Unfortunately, this is a situation one Redditor is experiencing after posting in r/personalfinance. Having had a tax preparer work on their daughter’s 2022 and 2023 taxes, they are fearful that after looking at filing their 2024 taxes, they could not find any background on the 2022 and 2023 returns. 

This is a very strange but unfortunately not uncommon experience, and it may even be a scam, which makes this Reddit post all the more interesting. 

The Scenario

From this Reddit post, we learn that the Redditor’s daughter had hired a tax preparer to handle every aspect of their 2022 and 2023 taxes. Having received a return directly deposited into a bank account, this father had every reason to believe everything was above board. 

At least until they tried to pull the daughter’s “Tax Compliance Report” from the IRS as they prepared to file a 2024 report, unfortunately, what they learned shocked them, as there was nothing on file with the IRS for either 2022 or 2024. 

This is a regrettable scenario, and it immediately caused the Redditor to start worrying about what might have gone wrong and what could have happened. As a result, they posted on Reddit hoping to find others who might have been in this situation and what steps someone else had taken to get to the bottom of this situation. 

Immediate Next Steps

Right away, the first and top comment on Reddit offered the best advice: This Redditor should go directly to the IRS website: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript and see precisely what was done and who deposited the tax documentation. 

As unfortunate as it might be, it’s a common scam during tax time when the tax preparer makes a refund deposit smaller than it should be and pockets the difference between it and the actual dollar amount of a tax refund. 

Initially, the Redditor had trouble getting the tax preparer to respond, which only set off more alarm bells and led many comments to think this might have been a scam. However, there is something of a happy ending here as things quickly turn for the better, sort of. 

After finally reaching the tax preparer, the Redditor learned that her refund was only from the California state tax return. Unfortunately, her federal tax returns were denied, and the preparer admitted they were dismissed because they were filed without a PIN but failed to tell the dad or the daughter what had happened. 

How To Move Forward

Unfortunately, this Redditor and his daughter can still file but may be subject to interest and penalties. Their first immediate step should be to talk to the IRS or, better yet, start with another, more professional accountant and figure out how to move forward. There could be fines and penalties, and the IRS is rarely sympathetic toward these situations. 

All this said, moving forward without talking to another professional seems ill-advised. Knowing this situation was intentionally hidden while the father and daughter followed all of the official IRS filing rules, a new accountant might know some steps to minimize fees or help you get the tax returns in quickly enough. While there is no guarantee, there might be someone sympathetic at the IRS who might help avoid some fees as a gesture of goodwill.