Rant thread

[powerage]

today...

Long, boring day today, only 2 returns all day.

But I had a client who I will never forget. A true gentleman in his early 80's, and he has been a client for 10 years. It was my pleasure to meet him and to prepare his return.

[geekgirldany]

Former client came in with a simple return but with children so EIC, Child Tax Credit, Additional Child Tax Credit. I did the return, told her the amount of refunds and she said..."That's what I got using TurboTax. Why should I pay you $300 (or whatever)? I just wanted to see if I was correct." And out she goes with her W-2s!

Ouch! I had that happen to me a few times when I first started. New clients that just walked in. I quit doing that. Most were getting "estimates" of what their refund would or would not be.

Speaking of the Cat Chair.... you would think people would know (in my case) not to sit in the cat's chair... since it has hair all over it. A white cat no less. My cat has laid in this chair so long that the chair is growing hair. I try to keep it cover with a towel but someone always sits in it before I can stop them.

One day this PITA sit in it. Glad he did. Didn't do his return but he left with white cat hair all over his black pants. Ha!

[BP.]

I sent a nice letter out to several PITA clients saying I would not be able to prepare their returns in the future

Sometimes I try weeding out some of the PITA's by pricing them away. When it works it's fine, and when it doesn't work -well, hey, that's OK too!

One know-it-all complainer called to say how tight $$ is. (They make it, but they spend it.) In a rash moment, I decided to just go ahead and increase her fee 33%. She wound up delighted, refund over 4x's what she had "rough figured."

She brought me home made muffins, gave me a follow up thank you call, and passed some of my cards out to co-workers.

[RitaB]

I let some clients go

In August I sent a nice letter out to several PITA clients saying I would not be able to prepare their returns in the future because I wanted to cut back on my work load. Been great working for you, best wishes, blah, blah, blah.

One gal had an easy return, but called about EVERYTHING, required so much hand holding it was incredible, so I sent her one of the letters.

So guess what? SHE CALLS THIS MORNING WONDERING IF I CAN RECOMMEND A DIY PROGRAM SO SHE CAN DO HER OWN RETURN. Talked for 15 minutes. AAUGH!

Edit: She just called AGAIN to ask how long she should keep her old returns, bank statements, credit card statements. Now I am thinking: Well, I am still talking to her, only now I'm not getting the tax prep fee. Hmmm...

[ChEAr$]

Former client came in with a simple return but with children so EIC, Child Tax Credit, Additional Child Tax Credit. I did the return, told her the amount of refunds and she said..."That's what I got using TurboTax. Why should I pay you $300 (or whatever)? I just wanted to see if I was correct." And out she goes with her W-2s!

See quote below:

[BHoffman]

Former client came in with a simple return but with children so EIC, Child Tax Credit, Additional Child Tax Credit. I did the return, told her the amount of refunds and she said..."That's what I got using TurboTax. Why should I pay you $300 (or whatever)? I just wanted to see if I was correct." And out she goes with her W-2s!

WOW!!!! Now, that is a LOTTA nerve!!

[origun]

The ultimate!

Former client came in with a simple return but with children so EIC, Child Tax Credit, Additional Child Tax Credit. I did the return, told her the amount of refunds and she said..."That's what I got using TurboTax. Why should I pay you $300 (or whatever)? I just wanted to see if I was correct." And out she goes with her W-2s!

[Davc]

My cat also occupies a chair in my office the only problem she has is when my assistant arrives for work and wants the chair..

That should not be a problem. Your assistant should bring her own chair.

[taxea]

My cat rules

My cat also occupies a chair in my office the only problem she has is when my assistant arrives for work and wants the chair.
As for the questions...I have been fool enough to answer some in detail because I try to explain the why. I think in the future I will give a quick answer and had them my business card.
As for the rest....they are all reasons why I set things up so there are no appts, clients mail, fax, or drop off their documents, I dont answer phone calls only email. My assistant handles all office needs and I concentrate on returns.

[Jiggers]

How long?

[QUOTE=RitaB;93183]How many DECADES to you have to be in the same Sch C business to know that you don't just give your tax preparer the grand total of your expenses, no categories?
QUOTE]

I have one that does custom construction in residences. Husband and wife operation.

"We didn't make anything this year". I ask where that goes on the return.

So I get the following:
Profit.........9,300
Labor.......10,200

So I ask, what is Profit? "That is what we made on each job."

After material? "Yes".

And that amount is.........?

Labor? You paid someone? "No, that is the value of our labor we added to each bill."

On and on and on. The same cat and mouse game each year.

Then she says "we did some work for the Holy Rollers Church and lost money on that job." Same questions. Then I tell her no deduction for the material, that is a donation. No deduction for the value of their labor.

Screeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RitaB]

OK, Seriously

How many DECADES do you have to be in the same Sch C business to know that you don't just give your tax preparer the grand total of your expenses, no categories?

Also, the guy just told me that even though Obama changed everything, and he doesn't have to report his income for which he did not receive a 1099, he is going to report it anyway.

And a DIYer who complained about my fee last year just called to ask why TaxAct blah, blah, blah. I said I really wouldn't know. He asks me how far behind I am. One week, but HRB can get it done today. Yeah, but they charge a lot more than you...

[tpnl]

Tell them the cat bites.

Let the cat stay. Tell the parents the cat bites and scratches. Maybe they won't bring the kids next year.

I has a client Saturday who wanted to pull up his mortgage interest statement off the internet. No problem. It took 45 minutes!!!!! The infant in the infant carrier was screaming. I kept thinking to myself "PICK HER UP YOU DUMB YOUNG KIDS."

They are 21 and have three kids. I'm so glad Obama announced yesterday that his wants to keep EIC at 3 kids. More people will be stupid and have kids they can't afford.

[geekgirldany]

Ha! No he does not. So many people coming in that he is just not use too. Fortunate for him I got two 25" monitors during a Black Friday sale. Now on my desk he has 50" of monitor to hide behind. No one can see him LOL I had a customer bring his kids in today. Good kids didn't cause any trouble. Cat came out from behind the monitors to take a look at them. Looked at the little one... I told the cat he better get back behind the monitors... and he did

[veritas]

I'll bet

I
Everytime a child comes in now I grab the cat if he hasn't already ran away and put in the back room. He doesn't deserve the same punishment I get j/k

you cat doesn't like this time of year.

[powerage]

about to pull my hair out...

Hey y'all, great posts...we can all relate. I love the child distraction fee. What about a destroy the office fee? The faster it is destroyed, the higher the fee.

Now for my rants from today. I did 6 returns though, which is good.

The same lady from Saturday called me again today. The answer is the same.

Another lady would not listen to my advice about waiting until she got her MI statement, and she had no idea how much she paid...oh, about $8,000...yea, I want to see some paperwork.

A client handed me a W-2 and a pay stub, then flipped through more papers. She then told me I can get started. I don't think so. I will start a return when I'm ready. I like to have everything in front of me to look over. Not only that, my boss has always said that the tax preparer is in control of the interview at all times.

To top it off, a tax preparer at the biggest tax chain told my girlfriend today she does not qualify for the EIC, when she does. Single, earned income under the limit, plus everything else met, a no brainer, basic stuff. She also works for the same company, though not as a preparer.

Good thing Seinfeld is on...