some people have nerve

[oceanlovin'ea]

Was gone for a while today. Had all my returns done. Got home and on answering machine is a message from son of a client. I did his return a couple of years ago.

He filed an extension and realized today it is the last day. Can I help him? File another extension or try to get it done?

I would like not to even call him back. BUT I do his parents return, both his brother;s returns. So I wouldn't want to make the family upset. Although they would probably say, he deserves what ever he gets.

Linda

[Uncle Sam]

some people have nerve

Well - I had an experience - not as serious as your situation - but in the same direction.

About 8:50AM I get a phone call from a perfect stranger - "Do you have an opening available to see me today to do my tax return"?

I usually NEVER refuse to see any new client as I see it as an opportunity for a future relationship.

BUT - I did have other client responsibilities to take care of today other than 1040s.
(all my 1040s are done - the last extension return was done last week). I was not going to disrupt the day for this person.

Have no idea what type of problems I'd encounter, nor do I know how (or IF) I'd get paid.

So I just momentarily decided - hey - I'll give it to some local preparer who I know in that neighborhood - let her be strapped with the headache.

[JohnH]

I also had a similar experience this morning. A guy calls to say his bookkeeper is finishing up his QuickBooks entries and he needs someone to "just enter the data" to file an S-Corp return and his personal return so they will be filed on time. (I find when they start out saying that you "just need to enter the data", they usually mean "this will take so little time I don't expect to pay you very much")

Following my policy on these matters as we've discussed previously, I had no intention of seeing him today or accepting any info from him, but decided to give him a little free guidance so we talked a few minutes more. As we talk, I get the sense he's being a little cagey and not very forthcoming (you know how the antennae go up sometimes?). He also tells me he's a "contractor", but for some reason he won't tell me what type of contracting he does. After a little more prodding, he then reveals that there are two shareholders in the S-corp, but he doesn't know what the other shareholder is doing about their tax return.

Later he says he had already found someone who can prepare his personal return but they don't do corp returns, so the corp return is really what he's most interested in and he was throwing in the personal return as an extra. He didn't know it at the time, but that comment had just sprung the trap.

So deep into the conversation, I finally asked if he knew the corp return is already one month late, provided he filed a valid extension for it back in March. After an embarrassing pause, he said he does know that (even though he had not mentioned it at any point in the conversation). I responded that he should probably focus on getting the personal return prepared in order to avoid any potential late-filing penalties on it. He should just accept the fact that he will incur another $178 penalty on the S-corp (on top of the penatlties the corp already owes), assuming everything he had told me about the S-corp was true. Better to settle for a known marginal cost of $178 than to take a chance on an unknown penalty on the personal return. Since he already has someone lined up and ready to prepare the personal return, his problem is solved.

I guess I'll always wonder if this guy was somehow trying to stampede me into preparing the personal and corp returns together, hoping I would miss the fact that the 1120-S is already late or forget to tell him, and then try to stiff me for part of his penalties. Or if the other shareholder doesn't know about any of this, and they would be hopping mad when the penalty notices come flying over the transom and start pestering me to help pay them. In any event, I'm glad my name isn't on any returns associated with this situation. Funny how cynical we get at times, isn't it?

[Bees Knees]

I would simply say:

"Yes I can help you, however, I cannot guarantee I can get it done today. Obviously you will have to pay a penalty for waiting this long, but at least I can get your return finished within the next couple of days, assuming you have all of your stuff with you. My fee for helping you at this late date is..."

[BHoffman]

My fee for helping you at this late date is..."

...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTmXHvGZiSY

[Uncle Sam]

Prep Fees

It's alway been difficult to determine a proper adequate fee for any time of professional service.
Many factors enter into a fee - the list is endless. And it's most often difficult to responsibly answer a newcomer when they're attempting to decide whether or not to choose you to provide them with services.

What I have often considered is using (or trying) is the car wash or Midas Brake style of fees.

Basic Service - includes xxxx

Deluxe Service - includes Basic Service PLUS....

Supreme Service - includes Deluxe Service PLUS...


Wonder how that would work?

[oceanlovin'ea]

conversation

I just called this client. He isn't too worried about it being late. He will come over on Monday and we can do the return. He said the penalty couldn't be that bad. I just told him I didn't know what the penalty would be without looking it up.

I'll tell him what it is on Monday. I did tell him if he was worried that Block was probably still open. But he didn't want to do that.

Oh, well. I wasn't dealing with it now.

Linda

[Burke]

I still have one guy who asked me to file an extension 4/15 -- haven't heard squat since. Nor do I intend to call him about it. Last year, I heard from him in December. He got a refund. I am no longer chasing these people down.

[Uncle Sam]

nervy clients

Remember that potential client I referred to someone else today?

Well, the person I referred her to - as a kind gesture - sent me an e-mail - that the lady hasn't dropped her stuff off yet - 6:30PM EST - both she and her husband are attorneys.

Am I glad I didn't even start with this one.

[RitaB]

Wow, Uncle

Wow, this reminds me of when contractors bid on a job, get the job, then don't show up to do the job.

Why did the person even call???

[veritas]

We won't do

tax or bookkeeping for contractors.

We also don't do farms, car dealers or adult entertainment.

When looking to hire a contractor my first question is.... How high is the bumper on their truck? If it's higher than my waist it's a no go.