Tax professional to get Tax Transcripts

[NMHayek 56]

Hello all, I am in the process of filling the paperwork for Joint Sponsor. My mom will be the joint sponsor for my husband. She is trying to get her tax transcripts online from the IRS. But there is a complication with the verification by phone number to set up her IRS account. Its just not working, we even tried to get another line under her name and still not working. Due to COVID, the IRS is not printing or mailing any tax transcript or the verification by mail form, so we are out of luck for that option. I know we can use Tax returns but the info is being mailed overseas and my mom is very uncomfortable sending her entire tax returns via mail overseas - the transcripts masks some personal data so she really wants to get them to send. I dont know if it would raise questions if she  blacked out her personal data like Social Security number on her tax return if she have to mail her tax returns, I dont want to end up in AP and have her have to resend the tax returns. (Oh and she also wont send me anything digitally, she just really worried about her personal data.)

 

I have read that a Tax Professional can access them from the IRS database and get them for me. Has anyone had a tax professional do this for you? Who did you use and how much did it cost? Any recommendation would be appreciated. 

 

Thank you!

[Elllena 113]

She can use tax returns +W2. She does not have to physically send the forms anywhere, just scan them. At the interview print the scanned document and bring it with you. 

[NMHayek 56]

4 minutes ago, ElenaAnthony said:

She can use tax returns +W2. She does not have to physically send the forms anywhere, just scan them. At the interview print the scanned document and bring it with you. 

 

4 minutes ago, ElenaAnthony said:

She can use tax returns +W2. She does not have to physically send the forms anywhere, just scan them. At the interview print the scanned document and bring it with you. 

Thank you for your response. I addressed this in the original post so these options are not possible for us. Thanks tho for your help

Edited July 13, 2020 by NMHayek

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

1 hour ago, NMHayek said:

 

Thank you for your response. I addressed this in the original post so these options are not possible for us. Thanks tho for your help

Self delete.

Edited July 13, 2020 by Luckycuds

[MariaR323 199]

10 hours ago, NMHayek said:

Hello all, I am in the process of filling the paperwork for Joint Sponsor. My mom will be the joint sponsor for my husband. She is trying to get her tax transcripts online from the IRS. But there is a complication with the verification by phone number to set up her IRS account. Its just not working, we even tried to get another line under her name and still not working. Due to COVID, the IRS is not printing or mailing any tax transcript or the verification by mail form, so we are out of luck for that option. I know we can use Tax returns but the info is being mailed overseas and my mom is very uncomfortable sending her entire tax returns via mail overseas - the transcripts masks some personal data so she really wants to get them to send. I dont know if it would raise questions if she  blacked out her personal data like Social Security number on her tax return if she have to mail her tax returns, I dont want to end up in AP and have her have to resend the tax returns. (Oh and she also wont send me anything digitally, she just really worried about her personal data.)

 

I have read that a Tax Professional can access them from the IRS database and get them for me. Has anyone had a tax professional do this for you? Who did you use and how much did it cost? Any recommendation would be appreciated. 

 

Thank you!

Any tax pro can obtain the tax transcripts for a client. The client just needs to sign an authorization form. With this COVID situation, not sure if IRS is still accepting the authorization forms live on the phone. If not, the tax pro just faxes it in and waits approx. 2 weeks before they can access the transcripts online.

 

As for a fee... It all depends on the tax pro and their fee structure but I would probably say it's in the range of +/- $50.

 

Edited July 13, 2020 by MariaR323

[NMHayek 56]

12 hours ago, MariaR323 said:

Any tax pro can obtain the tax transcripts for a client. The client just needs to sign an authorization form. With this COVID situation, not sure if IRS is still accepting the authorization forms live on the phone. If not, the tax pro just faxes it in and waits approx. 2 weeks before they can access the transcripts online.

 

As for a fee... It all depends on the tax pro and their fee structure but I would probably say it's in the range of +/- $50.

 

Thank you for the info! I definitely need to do a little more looking because we asked one accountant and he quoted us $250 to get them, which seemed really high. If you have any recommendation for a Tax Professional, please do share. 

 

Thank you so much!

[MariaR323 199]

17 hours ago, NMHayek said:

Thank you for the info! I definitely need to do a little more looking because we asked one accountant and he quoted us $250 to get them, which seemed really high. If you have any recommendation for a Tax Professional, please do share. 

 

Thank you so much!

$250 just to assist in obtaining tax transcripts is crazy! How many years worth of transcripts did you need?

 

The only problem I see is that you mention she won't do anything digitally... and right now with the COVID situation I doubt there is any tax pro offering in-person service. The virtual method would be something like this: She would have to provide her personal info including photo identification by submitting a copy via, for example, uploading to a secure client portal. The tax pro would then prepare the authorization form and send digitally to her for her signature. That signed form then gets sent back to the tax pro to start the process to obtain the transcripts.

 

As you can see, there's no way to avoid the digital process.

 

There is one option to avoid the digital process... I believe some IRS taxpayer assistance centers (TAC) are open now and she can call to get an appointment to go in person to one of their offices. At the office, she would obviously take photo identification, and they can print transcripts for her. I don't see any info in your profile so know what state your mom is in to check but here's the link to the webpage so you can check if a TAC is open near her: https://www.irs.gov/help/contact-your-local-irs-office

 

Hope this helps.

[NMHayek 56]

5 hours ago, MariaR323 said:

$250 just to assist in obtaining tax transcripts is crazy! How many years worth of transcripts did you need?

 

The only problem I see is that you mention she won't do anything digitally... and right now with the COVID situation I doubt there is any tax pro offering in-person service. The virtual method would be something like this: She would have to provide her personal info including photo identification by submitting a copy via, for example, uploading to a secure client portal. The tax pro would then prepare the authorization form and send digitally to her for her signature. That signed form then gets sent back to the tax pro to start the process to obtain the transcripts.

 

As you can see, there's no way to avoid the digital process.

 

There is one option to avoid the digital process... I believe some IRS taxpayer assistance centers (TAC) are open now and she can call to get an appointment to go in person to one of their offices. At the office, she would obviously take photo identification, and they can print transcripts for her. I don't see any info in your profile so know what state your mom is in to check but here's the link to the webpage so you can check if a TAC is open near her: https://www.irs.gov/help/contact-your-local-irs-office

 

Hope this helps.

Ah yes good point about the digital... I think she is going to have to eventually do it like you said.

But good point on the IRS Tax Payer Assistance centers!! She lives in Illinois and I checked and they are not open yet but Ill look/keep an eye out. Do you have any idea if can she drive to another state if the offices are open there? I wonder if they will help people from a different state.  I just checked and it seems there are Indiana offices open, but nothing in IL. We will call and ask. 

 Thanks so much for the suggestion!

 

Edited July 15, 2020 by NMHayek