How to Review Tax Returns

Book excerpt: Reviewing tax returns is a key part of tax preparation. It also is an area vulnerable to major bottlenecks and backlogs. Part of the problem is that there is no information or training specifically for reviewers... until now. Inevitably, firms have more preparers than reviewers. The latter are highly skilled professionals who are more difficult to train or find. Therefore, you must consider ways to reduce review time, even at the expense of adding preparer time. This book discusses methods to reduce review time, establishes who should do the review, distinguishes between content and issues reviews, identifies specific items for the reviewers to check, and offers administrative procedures to facilitate the review process. Reviewers are not born complete and ready to go, they are developed. The problem with many firms is that they take a reasonably good tax return preparer, with above average tax knowledge and they make them a reviewer, either on purpose or by default. In many firms a partner doubles as a reviewer. In some cases this partner does not even have reasonable tax knowledge, but they do the job because it needs to get done. This is not acceptable and does not assure a good product. There is a need and hunger for information on how to more effectively review returns, and this book is the response. Read the book, reread sections, use it as a reference source. Make your review process more effective. - from the Introduction