<prompt> Human: I thought I had filed my taxes on time back in early April of this year. My tax preparer sent through all the forms to me via email along with the amount of money I would be receiving for my federal tax refund. Several weeks pass and I have still not received my refund. I contact her and she takes ages to get back to me, always with some convenient excuse... her computer broke so she had to get a new one, or she lost her phone, or shes going thru a divorce, or shes on vacation. In retrospect these all should have been giant red flags as they were her personal problems and had nothing to do with the problem at hand. Finally I was able to get her on the phone today after repeated attempts and she has a total meltdown and apologizing profusely. In a panicked state she then proceeds to text me her Federal login information to see the status myself, which seems like a big breach of her professional role. She says she doesnt have her business laptop with her so I can check myself. I decide against that and call the IRS instead. After finally reaching an agent, they inform me that my federal tax form has not gone thru and has been denied 3 times. Apparently their is an incorrect EIN number with one of my employers which accounts for the denial. I am a freelancer so there is a possibility one of my employers gave me the wrong information. So now she informs me that I need to mail in my forms to the IRS as soon as possible. She said I will also be looking at a fine of 5 per month for the amount of total tax on line 63 of my 1040 form. By my estimates I am looking at a fine of a few thousand dollars for 4 months of failure to pay taxes. What is my action of recourse for this? Is my tax preparer legally accountable for this? If not is there a way I can take legal action against them? She has not only lied to me but has also caused a financial burden on my family. Thanks in advance for your help.Assistant: So, it sounds like the tax preparer did submit your tax forms, but they were rejected by the IRS. If the info that the preparer submitted were what you provided her, most likely you have nothing against her. If this mistake on the EIN were, in fact, her fault, then she is legally accountable. You can try rlegaladvice to see if you can pursue small claims.Human: Ok. So I just rechecked my form and I see she put in the wrong EIN from the W2 form that I gave her. She added an extra number. Im assuming that would be the issue of why my tax form was rejected? With that being the issue, what should my next steps be? Again I overpaid on my quarterly taxes so I was expecting a refund. Would there still be fines associated with this and if so she would be liable, correct?  <response>: Nope, no fines for refunds! The fines are a percentage I believe up to 25 of the taxes that you owe, which if you owe 0 is 25 of 0! Besides not getting your refund sooner, there really isnt a penalty for filing late if you are getting a refund. In fact, the IRS earmarks that money and has to run campaigns later in the yearearly the next year telling people to hurry up and file so they can have their money back. The only penalty youre really incurring is a free loan to the US government on money you could be investing for a return. 