McClelland Samuel Fehnel & Busch, L.L.P.

Complaint:
I am rejecting this response because: Obviously if the IRS did not receive the amended return it is the fault of the accountant who should have paid for tracking and obtained proof of delivery, especially since I enquired repeatedly as to the status of the expected tax refund, and also made repeated enquiries to the IRS which showed that no amended return had been filedAlso obvious is the fact that the accountant should have known that if he was placing a different address on yet another version of the amended return, an explanation should have been providedEx-spouses do not generally keep in touch with each other and I was not informed that my ex-spouse was residing at a PO Box in Houston TexasI do not live in Texas and it is extremely annoying to be asked to sign a return with an unknown Texas address on itMrFehnel has been most insensitive in dealing with the situation and I am tired of being insulted by my ex-husband's accountant who is aware that I had already filed a tax return for Failure to simply send a second copy to the IRS within days of the mailing the first copy, shows that no method of follow up was used and no form of proof of receipt was obtained or that the amended return was simply never filed with the IRSI have now had to waste even more time corresponding with an uncooperative accountant regarding a new copy of the amended return that contained spelling errors, and a different "joint address." It is difficult for me to believe that this level of professional negligence is not deliberate and I should be compensated for the ongoing incompetence associated with this accountant
Sincerely,
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Response:Not all facts were included in the consumer’s complaint. It is important to understand that the tax return being referred to is actually a joint tax return for the complainant and her spouse. The complainant and her spouse divorced in 2014 and were in divorce proceedings early in 2014. The...

complainant is not our client. It is the spouse who engaged us to prepare the tax return in question and he is paying the entire tax preparation fee. Without seeking any professional advice, the complainant filed a 2013 tax return using a married filing separate status which meant the spouse would also be required to file married separate. When the spouse asked us to prepare his 2013 tax return, we discovered that filing married separate would result in him owing substantial taxes but if the complainant’s tax return was amended and they filed married jointly they would instead receive a tax refund. Under the divorce decree it was stated that both spouses would cooperate and file a joint tax return for 2013 with the complainant to receive any resulting refund. We prepared and filed an amended tax return as married jointly. However, recently upon checking the status of the amended tax return with the IRS, we found that it shows the IRS has not received the amended return, which is not our fault. It was at this point when trying to get the complainant to sign a second copy of the amended tax return to file with the IRS that matters became contentious. We did not ask the complainant to sign an amended tax return with a fake address as she alleges. It was simply that the ex-spouse had moved between the time the original amended tax return was prepared and the time we submitted another to the complainant for signature. The ex-spouse had not notified the complainant of his move. Something we were not aware of until later. The complainant's ex-spouse, who is actually our client, is willing to write a letter to you if necessary acknowledging that McClelland Samuel Fehnel & Busch, LLP has not done anything wrong in connection with this matter. The matter of getting a second copy of the amended tax return signed by the complainant has been placed in the hands of both spouses’ divorce attorneys to resolve.Sent on: 1/12/2015 3:41:41 PM