Do I Need a Tax Preparer to File Mom's Return?

You can prepare a parent's tax return yourself if the return is routine, the records are complete and you have clear authority to handle the filing. Hire a tax professional when income is missing, prior returns are unresolved, property was sold, household workers were paid, an estate or trust is involved, or you cannot tell who is legally allowed to sign.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Start by separating three jobs that families often bundle together: collecting tax records, preparing the return and signing or representing the taxpayer. You may be able to collect papers without being authorized to sign. You may prepare a return that your parent reviews and signs. Representing your parent before the IRS is another job with another authorization.

Who pays

The tax return belongs to your parent, so any preparation fee should ordinarily be treated as your parent's expense and paid from your parent's funds by someone with authority to make that payment. Keep the invoice with the tax file. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and VA benefits are not general tax-preparation benefits. Do not build the care budget on the assumption that one of those programs will reimburse the fee.

Before hiring anyone, ask for the complete fee arrangement in writing. Ask what the base work includes, what triggers an additional charge, whether responding to an IRS notice is included and who will retain copies of the source documents. Do not agree to a fee calculated as a share of the refund. Verify that a paid preparer will sign the return and enter a preparer tax identification number, as required by the IRS. The federal agency materials behind these checks are collected on the site's Sources page.

The papers

Build one folder before deciding whether to hire the work out. Put in the prior filed return, Social Security benefit statement, pension and retirement-account statements, bank interest statements, investment statements, property-sale records, charitable gift records, estimated-tax payment records, health insurance tax forms and every IRS or Missouri Department of Revenue notice. Add a one-page list of accounts and a note identifying any document that is still missing.

Then identify your role. A financial power of attorney is not the same thing as an IRS authorization. IRS Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization, can allow a named person to inspect or receive specified tax information, but it does not authorize that person to advocate for the taxpayer. IRS Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, authorizes an eligible individual to represent the taxpayer for the matters and periods listed on the form. It does not provide unlimited authority to sign a return. The IRS instructions control the exceptions.

If you are acting because of a court appointment, trusteeship, executorship or another fiduciary role, ask whether IRS Form 56, Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship, applies. Do not select a form because its title sounds close. Match the form to the legal role shown in the appointment document.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau divides financial caregivers into distinct roles, including agents under a power of attorney, court-appointed guardians, trustees and government benefit fiduciaries. Its central rule is practical: act in the person's interest, keep the person's money separate, maintain good records and avoid conflicts. A Social Security representative payee or VA fiduciary controls the benefits covered by that agency appointment, not automatically every bank account or tax matter.

Use the complexity test

Preparing the return yourself is a reasonable working choice when you can answer yes to all of these questions:

Do you have the prior return and all expected income forms? Can your parent understand and approve the filing, or do you already hold specific authority that permits the required action? Is the income limited to familiar items such as Social Security, pensions, retirement distributions and bank interest? Are there no unresolved tax notices, unfiled returns, business records, rental property, major asset sales, household employees, gifts requiring a return, trust questions or estate administration? Can you document every entry without guessing?

If one answer is no, narrow the problem before buying a full-service engagement. A tax preparer can prepare and file a return. A CPA, enrolled agent or attorney may be eligible to represent a taxpayer before the IRS, subject to the applicable authorization. A bookkeeper or daily money manager may organize statements and track bills, but that title alone does not confer authority to sign a return or represent someone before the IRS.

When interviewing a preparer, hand over the one-page account list and ask five questions: Which returns do you believe are required? Which records are still missing? Who will sign the return? What authorization, if any, do you need from my parent? What happens if a notice arrives after filing? Record the answers in the file.

The runway

Your first pass should produce an inventory, not a finished return. Compare the current folder with the prior return line by line. If the prior return reported a pension, bank account, brokerage account, rental or business that is absent now, find out why. Do not enter zero merely because the statement has not arrived.

Next, resolve authority before sharing online credentials or signing anything. Your parent can speak directly with the preparer and sign while able to do so. If someone else must act, show the underlying authority document to the preparer and ask which federal and Missouri forms are required. Keep copies of every signed authorization and note exactly which tax matters it covers.

Finally, review the completed return against the source folder. Confirm the taxpayer's name, address, identifying number, filing status, bank routing information and refund or payment instructions. Ask about any number you cannot trace to a document or written calculation. Save the filed return, submission confirmation, payment proof, preparer invoice and authorizations together.

Free help and the stopping line

IRS-supported volunteer tax programs may provide free preparation for eligible taxpayers, including programs focused on older adults. Availability, eligibility and the kinds of returns accepted vary, so call first and describe the income sources and authority issue. For local benefits navigation and aging-service contacts, use Local Help With Paying for Care.

If the problem is an IRS notice or tax debt rather than routine preparation, ask whether a Low Income Taxpayer Clinic can help. If you need to determine whether a power of attorney, guardianship, trust or probate appointment permits a particular signature, stop. That is where a Missouri lawyer reviews the document and facts. If a clinician is being asked to determine capacity, stop there too. The clinician makes the medical assessment. You should not make either determination from a form title or a family understanding.

Your immediate task is smaller: collect the papers, name your actual role, identify the unresolved issue and hire only for the part you cannot safely complete yourself.