Who should be signing returns?

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#1
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2
Joined:
6-Jan-2022 9:49pm
Location:
WI
I have been approached by a company to assist with compiling 941x's to claim the employee retention credit. They are collecting all information, determining if clients qualify and calculating the credit. They would then like to send me the credit totals and have me prepare the 941x.

I have come to find out that they want me to put the information provided into the 941x and sign the return using my PTIN because nobody in this operation has one.

This has lead me to a few questions:
- Shouldn't someone offering this service have their own PTIN?
- Shouldn't the person overseeing all the individuals collecting information, reviewing the stages and entering into the contract with the client be responsible for signing the return? It seems in this situation my role is more to compile information.
- What is my exposure if I sign these 941x's?
- If they want me to be signing these returns, should I he comanding a significantly higher fee? Aren't I taking all risk?
 

#2
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6036
Joined:
22-Apr-2014 3:06pm
Location:
WA State
You haven't shared what your fee is. So, it's hard to answer your question about whether it's adequate.
I would assume you would be reviewing all the information they've gathered and used to prepare the amended returns. Your fee should consider what that requires of you to satisfy yourself that the information is correct. If they are just sending you totals without any review of supporting information on your part, that's a HARD NO.

I would agree that anyone considering themselves competent enough to gather this information and prepare the returns, should have their own PTIN. This begs the question of "why don't you have one?", which makes me suspicious of whether they are barred from doing so due to past transgressions.
~Captcook
 

#3
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2
Joined:
6-Jan-2022 9:49pm
Location:
WI
I currently had only been charging an hourly rate but they were just wanting me to prepare with the numbers they provided. I guess at an hourly rate it would cost more for me to spend more time reviewing the files but it still seems pretty insignificant to charge $60-$75/hour to sign as being responsible for all information when they can be charging 10%-20% of the credit - the most recent one would be getting them over $60k.

My understanding is that they think they are not "preparing the returns" since I'm the one actually filling it out (which I think could be argued at this point that I'm just doing data entry if I'm not supervising the fill process of getting information).
 

#4
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260
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20-Sep-2020 2:59pm
Location:
US
On of my clients uses a 3rd party payroll processor and they are having a client fill out a form with the qualified wages and credit amount the are entitled. Then the client signs saying they are responsible for the accuracy of the numbers provided.
 


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