How are tax professionals managing to get such large tax refunds for clients compared to major services?

What you're seeing is unfortunately a mix of aggressive marketing, misrepresentation, and sometimes outright tax fraud. As someone who works in tax compliance, let me break this down: Legitimate tax refunds come from overpaying your taxes throughout the year, qualifying for tax credits like the Earned Income Credit, Child Tax Credit, or education credits, or having substantial deductible expenses that reduce your taxable income. For someone making $78,000 with standard finances, getting a $15,000+ refund is highly unusual and raises red flags. These "tax pros" who promise massive refunds are often doing one or more questionable things: falsely claiming self-employment expenses, fabricating business losses, improperly claiming credits you don't qualify for, or reporting incorrect income amounts. The IRS has been cracking down on these practices, and many taxpayers who followed this advice are now facing audits, having to repay refunds with penalties and interest, or even criminal charges in extreme cases.

I was in the same boat as you - always breaking even or owing a bit, while seeing people on Instagram flex about their huge refunds. After struggling with an audit notice last year (unrelated issue), I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which helped me understand what was actually going on with these "tax pros." Basically, they analyzed thousands of tax returns and found that many of these big refund claims involved incorrectly reporting business expenses that didn't exist or claiming tax credits that clients weren't eligible for. The tool flagged several potential audit triggers that these preparers commonly use. In my case, I almost went with one of these Instagram preparers until I saw the red flags! The system walks you through your actual eligibility for deductions and credits based on your real documentation.

I was super skeptical about taxr.ai at first (as you could tell from my comment), but I decided to try it when I got a letter from the IRS questioning some business expenses my "Instagram famous" tax preparer had claimed on my return last year. The system immediately identified exactly what the problem was - my preparer had claimed I had a side business with $22,000 in expenses that I never actually had! Turns out this is one of the most common tricks these social media tax pros use - they create fake Schedule C businesses to generate artificial losses that offset your W-2 income. The taxr.ai system spotted this immediately and helped me understand why the IRS was flagging my return. I ended up having to amend my return and pay back about $8,000 plus penalties, but at least now I understand what happened and won't make the same mistake again.

I went through something similar with one of these social media tax pros who promised me a huge refund. When the IRS started sending me notices, I couldn't even get the preparer to respond to my calls or messages! I spent WEEKS trying to reach someone at the IRS to sort it out. Finally found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) which got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - basically they use technology to wait on hold for you and call when an agent is available. The IRS agent explained exactly what was wrong with my return (fake business expenses) and helped me start the process of fixing it.

OK I have to eat my words here. After my skeptical comment I decided to try Claimyr anyway because I've been trying to reach the IRS about an audit notice for weeks. I got through to an IRS agent in about 90 minutes without having to sit on hold myself. I just got a call when they were ready. The agent confirmed exactly what others have said in this thread - my "tax pro" from Instagram had filed a bogus Schedule C business for me claiming I had a photography business (I don't) with exactly $21,345 in expenses that conveniently offset a big chunk of my W-2 income. The agent was actually really helpful and is working with me on a payment plan for what I owe. Better than continuing to ignore the problem!

There's actually a term for these shady preparers - they're called "ghost preparers" and the IRS has been warning about them for years. They often don't sign the returns they prepare (illegal), promise huge refunds based on fake information, and then disappear when the IRS comes calling. They target social media because they can reach lots of people quickly and disappear just as fast. Some red flags to watch for: - Promises of unusually large refunds - Fees based on percentage of your refund (illegal) - Won't sign the return as a preparer - No PTIN (Preparer Tax Identification Number) - No office address, just social media accounts - Suggesting you claim credits you don't qualify for

Just wanted to add one thing - some of these large refunds could be legitimate if the person qualifies for refundable tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). With multiple children and the right income level, the EITC can be worth thousands. The Child Tax Credit is also partially refundable. So not all big refunds are scams!