Most people—even really smart ones—don’t understand the IRS, the federal tax code, or how to prepare their tax returns. As a result, we rely on professionals to help prepare taxes and advise us on what is and is not acceptable. If there is a risk of penalties, we expect to be told in simple English.

Over the past decade, many accounting and law firms have marketed various tax "products" to delay or reduce taxes or turn income into lower-taxed capital gains. Clients often pay substantial fees to receive this kind of advice.

For example, a Senate subcommittee investigated accounting giant KPMG and found:

• Modern tax shelters are often driven by the professionals who devise and market them rather than just by unscrupulous taxpayers. 
• The key players in these schemes are the professional groups that design and aggressively market tax shelters, sometimes using telemarketing tactics.
• KPMG acknowledged selling these tax shelters but stated that the era of large-scale tax shelter products has passed.

The Senate investigation revealed a detailed infrastructure dedicated to creating, marketing, and selling tax shelters. Employees were reportedly vigorously pressured to generate and sell profitable ideas. KPMG was also said to have used confidential taxpayer information gathered by its tax preparers to run telemarketing operations to find customers for its tax shelters.

The IRS is clamping down, lawsuits are being filed, and professional firms end up scrambling to make their operations look legitimate. 

The fines and penalties these clients may now owe the IRS, even though they relied on professionals, is not fair, but to hold the responsible parties responsible for damages, clients need to act quickly because claims against accounting and law firms sometimes have very short time limits.

Consumers who received bad tax advice from a professional firm and now are facing IRS scrutiny should receive compensation from responsible accounting or law firms, starting with a free, private case review.