Authorization to discuss with 3rd party

[Kea]

I have a client that started bringing me their friend's tax info 2 years ago. The referral lives in Colombia and has a US green card. The referral sends all their stuff to the friend in the US. That person brings their own info and the info for the guy in Colombia.

I know I really shouldn't discuss the return with the US client but I don't have any way of contacting the guy in Colombia. Even if I had contact info, my Spanish is not very good.

With the new stricter disclosure rules, I should get the guy in Colombia to sign some kind of form that authorizes me to discuss his info with the US friend. But that would still just go through the friend to get that - so it almost seems useless. Besides, the guy wouldn't be sending the info to his friend in the US if he didn't want his help.

(The guy in Colombia was doing his own tax return until he got a letter from the IRS because he took the foreign credit against all income not just wage income. But the bill the IRS sent him was wrong, too. I started with his amendment.)

How should I handle the disclosure requirement? Just print a statement for the US client to send to the friend in Colombia and then send back to me? Print in English and Spanish?

Thanks

[kcjenkins]

Why don't you print it in both, then send it to the client directly? You must have his address in your files, after all.

[Kea]

Actually, I don't have his address. They use the US friend's address on the tax return. There are no "W-2"s in Colombia. I get a copy of the Colombia return as a spreadsheet. When I have questions I ask the US client and if he doesn't know the answer he contacts the Colombian friend and then gets back to me. It's interesting to see another country's tax form. But it is weird to have a client you can't contact.

It kinda seems implied that the Colombian guy authorizes the US friend to discuss the tax return since he gives him all the info to give to me. The US guy has been a client of mine for almost 10 years and I've known the guy that referred him to me for about 20 years. So I know him well enough to trust him. I don't know of any reason he would want to illegally file a return for someone in Colombia - especially since there is usually an amount due - no US withholding.

I guess I'll just send it through the US client.

[kcjenkins]

OK, given that further detail, I would have no trouble with sending the disclosure form to him the same way everything else is sent, ie the referrer's address.

[Kea]

KC, I was thinking about your comment some more yesterday and finally remembered that their address is on the form for the foreign tax credit (don't remember form # and I'm not on my "work" computer). I saw US client Saturday and told him about the new regulations. I think it is still fine to send through e-mail via US client. He had already told me that the Colombian friend requested the October extension.

It looks like I may only be doing two more returns for the guy in Colombia. He's decided he really doesn't want to spend any more time in the US and may turn in his visa in a few months. His wife does want to move to the US but she is a housewife and does not have any income. (I'm not sure how that will work out. Personally I prefer to live in the same country with my husband.)

Thanks for the help.