Can you sue an accountant for malpractice? The short answer is yes.
When your trusted CPA and Tax Accountant made a mistake that resulted in overpayment taxes, other financial loss, or has put you at the crosshairs of IRS Criminal Investigation Division your accountant might be liable for malpractice.
If you are a third party such as an investor or lender and you relied on audited financials or opinions provided by an accountant and your reliance on the audited financials or opinions caused you financial harm you might have a CPA malpractice lawsuit or accounting malpractice lawsuit.
CPAs and accountants have duties to their clients to act within certain standards and exercise due care. CPAs and accountants are bound to the Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). When a CPA either intentionally or recklessly disregards these established principles and you are harmed because of their failure or negligence accounting malpractice case occurs.
Accounting malpractice case can also happen when a CPA fails to follow IRS Circular 230. Circular 230 consists of regulations governing practice before the Internal Revenue Service. These regulations apply to all paid tax return preparers. Disregarding these rules and regulations may constitute fraud or CPA malpractice. You also might need to report the CPA to the IRS by using IRS Form 3949-A.
To determine if you have been a victim of accounting malpractice, ask yourself the following questions:
- Has my CPA lied to me?
- Has my CPA made misrepresentations to conceal their wrongdoing?
- Did my CPA give me unqualified advice?
- Did my CPA conduct an improper audit?
- Did my CPA provide erroneous advice regarding accounting matters?
- Did my CPA make a deliberate misstatement on internal financial audits?
- Did my CPA file a false tax return?
- Did my CPA provide incorrect tax advice?
- Did my CPA fail to detect embezzlement during an audit?
- Did my CPA certify false financial information?
- Did my CPA help with money laundering?
- Did my CPA commit fraud?
- Did my CPA manipulate stock value by manipulation of financial reports?
- Did my CPA not do their job and I lost money?
- Did my CPA steal my records?
- Did my CPA have a conflict of interest?
- Did my CPA file my tax return late?
- Did my CPA disclose confidential information without my permission?
- Did my CPA cross the line and practice law without the proper license or credentials?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you might have been the victim of accounting malpractice. Minns & Arnett are accounting malpractice attorneys that can help you determine if you have an accounting malpractice case against your accountant or CPA. Accounting malpractice is very complex, and it is important to hire experienced accounting malpractice attorney to win the case.