Just because your accountant has been in the business for 50 years doesn't mean he's up to date with tax law.

Just because your accountant has been in the business for 50 years doesn't mean he's up to date with tax law.

To the contrary, it's not uncommon that accountants nearing retirement neglect to stay up to date with current laws.

Many older accountants are great experts and keep up to date with everything, but watch out for the burnt out ones who don't have the drive anymore to stay up to date.

Here are some examples:

1) A certain accountant sent a client to me to certify his ITIN application. Since the basis of the application is filing jointly with a US spouse, I asked him if he already prepared the 6013(g) election or if he wants me to do it. 

He replied that he was unfamiliar with such an election and that I should be preparing it. Since the election is the basis of filing such a joint return, I would have expected him to know about this and prepare it. 

2) I let the client know that while his accountant had told him that he would be eligible for a 2022 refund through joint filing, the IRS would actually disqualify it due to the non-US citizen's ITIN number being issued after the due date of the return (PATH act rules). 

Since he had never filed for an extension, the additional disaster extension to 9/30/2025 due to the war in Israel would not apply, since the actual deadline was 4/15/2023, about 6 months prior to the war. 

We did a conference call, and the accountant was adamant that the disaster extension would still apply. Don't ask me how, it didn't make sense.