The Competition

[Black Bart]

These boys sure do play rough -- I'm havin' a hard time undercuttin' their price:

http://www.taxact.com/tax-preparation/free-tax-software.asp

For some reason it seems like the younger computer-literate crowd is dryin' up and blowin'/goin' away -- off to DIY cyberland. Maybe if I put out a sign and see if the software guys can top this:

FORGET FREE ONLINE TAX PREPARATION -- IT'S TOO HIGH. CHECK US OUT -- WE WILL PAY YOU ($9.95-fed only/$17.95-state incl.) FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF PREPARING YOUR TAXES.

[Snaggletooth]

Backlash

Bart - I'm starting to see a backlash, although the appeal of electronic methods purchased cheaply is clearly digging into our volume. "Forty Bucks and you're an instant CPA" falling on the ears of Engineers, Computer People, young crowd eaten up with the video sweep, etc. really pumps them up and makes them think they are really smart. Those of us who are practitioners know how stupid this really is, but we still lose customers who fall victim to this swoon.

I am starting to see people back off of electronic marvels in an attempt to simplify their life.
1. Wading through worthless e-mails and spam - having to spend an hour every evening just answering
e-mails that are suddenly expected of you instead of enjoyable.
2. A new market for people buying cell phones that are JUST PHONES instead of bodacious instruments taking them to the moon and back.
3. Free software they don't even bother to open.
4. Computer "widows" demanding more family time.
5. Total failure of data-base sweeps such as Monster.com and CareerBuilder to help people find jobs because they are barraged by duplicates, dead-end streets, and data that never gets purged. Job-seekers are not even visiting their sites anymore.
6. People calling customer service who don't think telephone menus are cute anymore.
7. Utter failure by Microsoft to cram Vista down the throats of users. (First time EVER for MS to be rejected by computer users at large on any of their products)

For one, I carry my cellphone in my car for emergencies. I do not, repeat, DO NOT have my cellphone within hearing distance while I am on any appointment charging a customer by the hour. For emergencies and other disruptions, they can call my land-line and Callie can track me down if it is really important. Hacks off a bunch of people who want to chase me down regardless of where I am and how inconvenient it may be, but all of them managed to live quite nicely before cellphones came into existence. Most of us would be startled to find out just how "few" emergencies there really are, and HOW MUCH BETTER THEY PLAN when they realize they can't jerk you around on the fly.

I have over a dozen clients, former TT users who will NEVER buy TurboTax again because it cost them hundreds, even thousands of dollars.

Yes, the cyber-world is growing by leaps and bounds, but I believe backlash is growing too and may just be starting.

[Koss]

Digital Backlash

Your comments remind me of old joke that has been around for many, many years, but takes on new meaning in the context of digital communication...

I'm referring to a sign that can be found in some offices, usually in the area that is occupied by the receptionists or support staff...

The sign I'm thinking of falls into a archetypal pool of workplace signs, such as...

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, and tomorrow isn't looking real good, either.

and


Answers - $5.00
Correct Answers - $10.00
Answers which require thought - $20.00


or even


This is NOT Burger King.
You don't get it your way.
You get it OUR way or you don't get the **** thing.



For your world, Snag, and your perspective, the sign that comes to mind is...

Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part

BMK

[geekgirldany]

I have clients that want my cellphone number also. Had one come in the other day. She had called 6 times over 2 days during hours she knew I was not there. When she finally made it by the office she asked if I had a cellphone. I told her I did. She then asked for the number. I told her it is only for personal use. I made the mistake of giving out my cellphone one time to clients... I won't be doing that again.

I actually have a pay as you go phone. I don't sit in the car with a thing in my ear talking on it. Don't walk around talking on it. I turn it on when I go away from home in case family needs me. They are the only ones that have the number.


My dad was putting up my banner for me today and told me there was a line outside Block and the parking lot was full. He also said there was a large sign that said Federal Return $39, State $20. I told him I knew about that and the customers might be in for a surprise.

[JG EA]

I also made that mistake and gave a client my cell phone #. He used it way too much. He even called me on it during office hours instead of the office number. I found out that I can block a few #'s free of charge. Good idea. At any rate I will not pick up his calls any more. And if he leaves a voice mail I will call him back on the office phone during office hours.

New office sign.
Full body scans are not required by the IRS this year.

[JohnH]

I'm thinking about dressing up in a green plastic raincoat & Statue of Liberty hat with pointy spikes. Then I'll stand on the corner waving & doing jumping jacks as people drive by my office. Think that might be a good way to demonstrate my professional qualifications & attract quality clients?

[S T]

Did I see you

out on Hwy 70 in Clayton last Wednesday afternoon?

Sandy

[Black Bart]

Sounds like a plan alright,

I'm thinking about dressing up in a green plastic raincoat & Statue of Liberty hat with pointy spikes. Then I'll stand on the corner waving & doing jumping jacks as people drive by my office. Think that might be a good way to demonstrate my professional qualifications & attract quality clients?

but instead of jumping up and down you might do better waving handfuls of giveaway merchandise.

During tax season two or three years ago a man (not my client) came by the office and asked me to correct his fouled-up, semi-complex tax return -- recently prepared by a new outfit called Mo' Money. An obvious PIA thing I didn't want to fool with, I turned it down and suggested he go back to them. He said he already had and they told him they couldn't fix it.

At the time I'd never heard of MM and, curious, I asked him why he chose them to prepare his taxes. His reply: "They gave me a free T-shirt!"

I couldn't think of anything sensible to say back to that, so I just looked at him.

[travis bickle]

No Bart, here is the ad you should run

These boys sure do play rough -- I'm havin' a hard time undercuttin' their price:

http://www.taxact.com/tax-preparation/free-tax-software.asp

For some reason it seems like the younger computer-literate crowd is dryin' up and blowin'/goin' away -- off to DIY cyberland. Maybe if I put out a sign and see if the software guys can top this:

FORGET FREE ONLINE TAX PREPARATION -- IT'S TOO HIGH. CHECK US OUT -- WE WILL PAY YOU ($9.95-fed only/$17.95-state incl.) FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF PREPARING YOUR TAXES.

To all you folks who did your return online - I'll see you April 16th - <company name>

[JohnH]

out on Hwy 70 in Clayton last Wednesday afternoon?

Sandy

Darn! Somebody stole my idea already?

================================

Bart: Did the T-shirt say something like "Here's your sign". ?

[geekgirldany]

Mo Money Tax commercials been running here. Couldn't believe that wasn't a joke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-3YCzwga5w&feature=related

[David1980]

My personal belief when it comes to computer software is that anything can be done. That is, given a long enough timeline and the proper coding you can make a program that will do anything.

Practical time constraints, budgets, and the imagination are what limit the software.

So, my own view is that the DIY software may very well one day become as good, or better than the average preparer. A complex enough software program could even review new tax code as it is released and interpret it to preparer correct returns. It could know when it needs more information from the taxpayer to preparer a return. Software really has the potential to eliminate the service industry (since we have fired all our manufacturing in favor of services, I'm not sure what jobs will be left...)

Of course, we're not there yet. TurboTax is good, I give them props for what it is. Easy to use, wizard based. It's slow, you would have a hard time convincing any pro tax preparer to use such a wizard based product. It also has the fundamental flaw that it takes whatever data the user enters. Meaning many users just make up numbers either to increase the size of the refund or because they're too lazy to find the real number. And of course it is limited in scope. AFAIK, there's no "TurboTax for Partnerships!" or "TurboTax for Corporations!" yet. Get an obscure form on that tax return and you are SOL. Try inputting a 1098-T from a school that doesn't know how to fill a 1098-T out (do any schools know how to fill it out?)

So one day I totally expect the software to put me out of business. For now I'm confident that day is a long ways off.

[Black Bart]

Jacquard, TurboTax, and McDonald's

...So, my own view is that the DIY software may very well one day become as good, or better than the average preparer...Software really has the potential to eliminate the service industry (since we have fired all our manufacturing in favor of services, I'm not sure what jobs will be left...)

Of course, we're not there yet. TurboTax is good....one day I totally expect the software to put me out of business. For now I'm confident that day is a long ways off.

From my 1980 BASIC computer textbook: "In 1801 French weaver Joseph Jacquard developed a machine to encode weaving patterns onto control cards improving speed and accuracy. Weavers viewed the invention as a threat to their jobs due to automation and Jacquard was almost lynched."

Napoleon came to the rescue and all ended well for Joe (he got a loom fee like maybe Gates gets for each Window-installed computer), but as Quayle was no Jack Kennedy, Obama's no Napoleon and I'm not so sure about our tax preparers' prospects.

The book put forth the usual rosy scenario -- "...advances in technology create new, higher-paying jobs and despite some job displacement initially, those who are retrained usually find increased economic rewards," but that view brings to mind a TV documentary I once saw about an English factory shutdown. The owner said "We'll retrain these people (assemblers, line-workers, etc.)! To which the foreman replied "As what? Astronauts?"

While lynching Jacquard didn't seem like a bad idea, I can't really complain since he helped begin developing the machine on which I'm writing this. But I've been seeing several old heads pop out the McDonald's pickup window lately, so maybe I should brush up on my smile and spiff up my "greeter" skills.

[FEDUKE404]

You get what you pay for....

I also have noted those "free" tax services.

Many of the store front places more than make up for ridiculously cheap "preparation" costs by steamrolling the folks for RALs et al or by charging for those "extra" forms such as Schedules M or L, or something as hideously complicated as determining taxable Soc Sec benefits (what "work" is involved with software?).

The purveyors of the online freebies will later pester their users to death with phone calls, spam emails, junk mail, and whatever.

I agree some tax software out there is quite good - including TurboTax - but the GIGO principle always applies. As others have noted, I have spent much time resolving problems created by TT users who just decided to "ignore" some questions ("but I WANTED to deduct my IRA!!!") or, even worse, got carried away with the use of overrides.

The exit to the cheap, or DIY preparation, will continue. I take some solace in the fact that many folks going that route at some time will return with their tail between their legs and a helpless look to boot. Aside from that, I do the best I can with my clients who appreciate good professional services.

For us to lose much sleep on the matter is somewhat akin to the owner of a fancy French restaurant being concerned with the price of burgers at Wendy's.

And Sandy - rest assured Highway 70 E is not the only place where those "characters" appear!

FE

[veritas]

Saw lady liberty

on Hwy 99w last week.

Rather disturbing though, it was a he.