If you are having difficulties in completing an individual tax return or in need of someone to give you a financial report on the Company Financial year result, a qualified tax accountant is necessary. Below are simple tips to help you find a reliable accountant you can trust -

1. Ask for referrals from friends or relatives. Let's face it, most working adults have to pay tax and more likely will have to engage a tax accountant to sort out their finances. Hence, it only makes sense to ask your circle of trusted people about their experience with their own accountants. Even better, it will help if the person making the recommendation has the same tax concerns as you.

2. Another place to start research is online via 'Google Places'. This has a great resource of local business listings like company contact number, directions and best of all, it lists actual customer experience with the company. What makes this even better - a majority of the feed backs are generated via third part sites like "truelocal". If by any chance you don't find any reviews, visit local business listings for viable feed backs on the company. The world wide web does make research easy and convenient.

3. Don't believe any tax accountant who claims that everything can be deducted, or that they can deliver a generous tax refund for you.

4. If you're not happy with a tax accountant at any time, move onto the next one. It will save you plenty of headaches, heart-aches and time.

5. Don't just talk to one accountant, talk to at least 3. By doing your own comparisons on the price and service being offered, you can gain an idea on the type of accountant you want to deal with. It simply widens your options. Once you do decide, request for all quotes and description of service to be written down. This will avoid any misunderstanding and sets a clear goal for each party.

6. Make sure the accountant is qualified to handle your requirements. Like a Medical Doctor, accountants do specialize in each field. As you're dealing with tax issues, a licensed tax agent or a CPA accountant is the best approach in dealing with tax matters.

Finding a qualified tax accountant is not difficult, but finding a reliable one is. Hence, make the time and effort to ask around or start your own research to find the best tax accountant that can handle your tax matters, and more importantly, one that you can work with.