Originally posted by @Zach Smith:
As a CPA myself, I can lend some advice on this..... for the past 5 +/- years the CPA industry has been very cautious to provide these comfort letters. The reason is, we as tax prepares and advisers prepare tax returns based primarily on what our clients give us. We generally have no way of certifying the accuracy of the source documents.
What has happened over the years is that the mortgage companies have looked to be able to pin an additional individual to the mortgage for liability. I have seen too many times where mortgage companies and banks have been provided a comfort letter from a CPA and then sometime later circumstances change for the client and the mortgage is defaulted on. As a result, CPAs have been sued because the mortgage companies relied on the information for the origination of the loan. Its just someone else to try and recoup money from.
It is the policy at my firm that none of my staff are permitted to provide these letters for this exact reason. However, with the client's permission, we will provide an original copy of the tax return and certify that it is accurate based on what we were given. Sometimes this satisfies the mortgage company... sometimes it doesn't.
Hope this helps.... if you have other questions or need advice please feel free to contact me.
Yes, I widdled down the requirements of the letter to basically state that my CPA prepared my taxes, they were accurate, and that I was self-employed. He refused to write that letter -- Maybe shrinking that down even further to just state that he filed my returns and the returns are accurate will do the trick - odds are though, I think he's going to "decline" as he says, to write that as well.
