Business accounting question about mileage deduction

[Jerry1]

Would be an appropriate test for a CPA. If you send the rental receipt, and separately log the miles, will they detect the conflict?

A competent CPA would see the car rental, and ask about how you recorded the miles driven. That is all from me.

When I worked in the cpa firm, we took the clients data at face value for the most part. Frankly, we were so busy, it was just a matter of get as much done as quickly as possible. The main check was the proforma. We sent out a comprehensive book for the client to fill out. Not unlike the questions turbo tax asks. The lead for that client would do a tax projection. Unless the actual return came in significantly different, the return would move through the system. Plenty of checks for mechanical accuracy but, as SecondCor521 pointed out, the responsibility for the tax return is the clients.

In reality, most individuals will never be audited and as long as the firm prepared the return accurately, they wouldn’t be on the hook for a client misrepresentation. Of course, if asked and the accountant said to include something erroneously, that’s a different matter. It’s just not something that would ever come up though.

 

[MarieIG]

Definitely not. I'm not about to feed her faulty data to see if she catches it.

Besides, in this situation, it wouldn't even work. Yes, I have a vehicle rental to account for but I also have about 2,800 business miles on my personal vehicle to claim. She would have no possible way of knowing, just by looking at the numbers, if my mileage figure is correct.

I prepare a folder for my CPA. I put cover sheets listing the statements/ receipts, attach the particular documents to the cover sheet where listed, and make a note of any issues regarding a particular transaction. The CPA provides me with a draft to review, and then we have a telephone conference wherein we discuss any questions/ issues before he finalizes the tax returns.