Accountant: “Called the tax agency. You’ll have your refund on Monday.” “What was the problem?” “There was no problem.” “So why wasn’t it paid in a timely fashion.” “They were waiting for someone to call and sound professional.” “*sigh*” “Bright side: this is what you pay me for”
(I allocate non-zero percentage to: “Are you the accountant named on the return?” “Yes.” “Did you see paper about the line that gave rise to the refund?” “Yes.” “Plausible?” “Yes.” “OK, tell him he gets his money.” Accountants and tax agencies have an interesting iterated game.
Tax is surprisingly subjective and taxpayer fact patterns interact with the laws in ways which are complicated, impactful, and difficult to check at scale. Tax agencies rely on CPAs to counsel taxpayers (particularly small businesses) to "helpful but responsible tax positions."
And as tit-for-tat they accord CPAs an *immense* amount of leeway, with the backstopping: "Mistakes get made. Some of your clients ask for aggressive postures. We understand these things. Lie to us and we will burn your firm into a smoking crater. Thanks for your help!"
