<prompt> Human: Ill try to keep this short, but with enough detail to get advice. We won a settlement for wrongful termination in California and were awarded 75,000. Of these 75,000, the lawyer who handled our case took obtained his 32,500 and we received 42,500 of this. The lawyer gave us a 1099 Misc form, which stated that the lawyer had received 32,500 from my mother. He told us we wouldnt have to pay taxes if we just included this form with our taxes.We took this form and went to do our taxes with our regular tax preparer and he said that the form wasnt right and we needed to take it back to the lawyer to get it corrected. The lawyer told us that no it was correct, and to just file it as is and not worry about it.Fast forward two years and we get a letter from the IRS saying we owe them tax money and that the money we reported doesnt match what the defendant in our case reported we were the plaintiff. The defendant reported that we had received 75,000. Our tax preparer reported that we received 42,500. In addition to this we got smacked with a penalty fee for incorrect taxes.We went to the tax preparer and he basically got pissed and said not to talk to the IRS and that the lawyer messed up and that we needed to go back to him and get a fixed form.We go back to the lawyer who says hell have his accountant look into it, but that hes never had this problem before in 20 years. Lawyer calls back and says his accountant confirms everything is ok with the form and that it is as it should be. I dont have the form with me right now to link some pictures, but its basically like as if it was a 1099-M meant for the lawyer. It lists his name, his address, and what he received as income. All checks were made payable to the lawyer as well, and from those checks, the lawyer gave my mother her cut. 3 checks of 25,000 deposited into the lawyers account and he gave us our cut each one.Anyways, we go back to the tax preparer and explain to him that the lawyer said it was all fine and that with that form included it should have been set, and we realize he didnt even include the 1099-M form in the taxes. He charges us 150 to redo them as a correction lol so we agree and he sends off a corrected form. Few more weeks and the IRS mails us again that our taxes are still wrong, but that we owe a little less now. We go back and basically the tax preparer kicks us out, so we had to go back on another day when his assistant was there to get all our tax documents and leave, never going back.We found another man to do our taxes, but I believe hes already confused. He pulls out a book on his shelf which says our settlement money isnt taxable, but Ive researched this online and all sources I find say that yes, this wrongful termination money is taxable. However, he says that we for sure didnt receive 75,000. The lawyer received 75,000 to his name, and we were given 42,500 as our only income. The defendant however reported 75,000 to my moms name. Its all very confusing for us. Moms currently in the kitchen crying, since we just received another letter from the IRS saying we owe 9,405. Previously before this last letter, the confused tax preparer did a corrections for us, saying fine we received 75,000 but of those we got a deductible 32,500 and were only responsible for 42,500. We also paid what he determined to be around 2000 of tax we did owe, so we coughed it up and paid the IRS that.Any advice would be appreciated, Ill stick around with this thread for a while trying to get help on this.  <response>: The money you will potentially save on federal income tax will be more than paying a CPA. Find a reputable CPA in your area that works on taxes. It might be hard to get an appointment right now due to it being tax season but try anyways. Not all lawyers are tax experts, but most CPAs that practice tax are. The CPA should be able to handle this and make you whole. 