When your business needed to file taxes, you hired a certified public accountant (CPA) to do the job. They handled all of your paperwork so that you could focus on running the business. The process seemed to go relatively smoothly, and you provided them with all of the paperwork that they needed.
However, you recently received communications from the Internal Revenue Service indicating that there are problems with your taxes. The IRS says that they think you massively underreported your earnings and therefore underpaid on your taxes.
This is a problem for you and your business on many fronts. Perhaps the IRS is going to levy fines because they think it was an intentional violation. Even if they think it was just a mistake, you may owe a significant amount in back taxes that you weren’t counting on.
Negligence can constitute professional malpractice
In this situation, there is a good chance that your CPA was not intentionally trying to reduce the payment on your taxes. Perhaps they forgot to include a particular source of income, so it wasn’t taxed. They simply made a negligent mistake.
However, like a medical professional, the CPA has a duty of care to you as a client. They are supposed to provide services with the level of professionalism and quality that you expect, and they are supposed to put your best interests first as a client.
Their negligence may have breached the duty of care, and now you are facing significant financial challenges as a result. It may be time to begin looking into your legal options to take action and rectify the situation.