I always filed my taxes myself online. This year, because I moved, and got married I figured I would just pay a CPA to take care of it. I did some homework and heard good things about a certain CPA in Lakewood. I didn't know all the details but I heard by making an IRA I could take advantage of the Savers Credit and hopefully knock $2,000 of my tax bill. In the beginning on March I went into their office and they said they are too busy to file now but they can file an extension and take care of it after tax day. I said "Sure, no problem, just promise me I won't lose anything by doing it this way. They said "Yes." They gave me a short paper to fill out and one of the questions was "Would you like to discuss contributing to an IRA to lower your taxes? I checked off YES. Afterwards they estimated my taxes, and instructed me to make my payments. Fast forward to May, when they called me to finish up my taxes. I asked about the IRA, and they said "That had to be done by april 15th. It's not our problem to tell you that". I tried to argue that I knew about this deduction and I wanted to discuss the IRA with them back in March, and they had pushed me away until the summer, saying I wouldn't lose anything by filing an extension and taking care of my taxes after.
The short story is they screwed me. I believe, as people rely on their advice and pay them nicely for it, they should be held accountable when they screw up like this. Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed? Do you believe the CPA should accept responsibility?