New proposed IRS plans will only hurt Southern Arizona’s small businesses and families
By: Lupita Shestko-Montiel
Nearly 20 years ago, I made one of the biggest decisions in my life when I decided to become my own boss and open my own accounting business. In that time, I’ve been able to meet and help countless families and small businesses across southern Arizona who have come to me with their tax filing and accounting needs. Many of these people are my neighbors and friends, and I’ve come to know them well. Every year when tax season comes around, seeing to it that their taxes are filed appropriately isn’t just a job I do for a customer, I view each return as an opportunity to look out for people I care about.
Recently, I’ve learned there are proposals in Washington, D.C. that would radically change the way we file our taxes. This new scheme would give the IRS an additional role of becoming both the collector and the filer of our taxes. As someone who has spent their entire career working on these issues, I know that this proposal would only cause chaos and hurt the people it purports to help.
I’ve been dealing with the IRS for more than 20 years. Of the many things I’ve learned over two decades, I have come to know that no matter how you try to contact them, the wait time and experience of dealing with the IRS is extremely frustrating. Most of us have dealt with this in some way over the years, particularly when the IRS inevitably makes a mistake that needs to be sorted out.
Now keep in mind, this is a level of difficulty dealing with the IRS in its current role. If this proposal passes, the experience of dealing with the IRS would only worsen. With the IRS behind on over 35 million returns from last year, adding this massive new responsibility would harm both undertakings and result in ever more headaches for average Americans.
When I work on behalf of my clients, they know that I am looking out for their best interests and have a strong incentive to maximize every tax credit and deduction that I can get them. The obvious reason is that if I fail to get my clients every penny they are owed by the government in the form of a refund, next year they’ll choose someone else to do their taxes. But this new proposal sets up a system with an obvious conflict of interest. The IRS has no incentive to maximize the money it returns to taxpayers, since its mandate is to maximize tax collections. I can guarantee that there is no one at the IRS that is going to advocate for the interests of my clients the way that I, and CPAs like me, do every year.
Over all the years that I have been a CPA, the work really has become very personal to me. I’ve seen small businesses start from nothing and then go on to flourish. I have seen young couples grow their lives into happy and prosperous families. This work, while it may seem mundane, is important because it affects the financial well-being of everyone involved in a real way. I am deeply worried that this new plan to expand the IRS’ mandate will only bring a great deal of harm and heartache. It is my hope that Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly speak up and oppose this harmful and unnecessary proposal.
Lupita Shestko-Montiel is a certified tax professional and owner of B&B Accounting in Tucson, AZ.
