When's the last time any of your clients were audited?

[Black Bart]

Another poll.

[bgiez]

There wasn't a choice to say "never" so

I just clicked 10 years or longer

[DTS]

Bb

Another poll.

Where's all these polls headed, Bart?

[veritas]

6 months ago

C-Corporation - training audit.

[tpnl]

Now

I have a client whose schedule A is being audited right now.

[erchess]

I am confused so tell me what to put

At any given time I usually have at least one audit going and at times several (three right now) of returns prepared by the client or someone else. Since I went out on my own four years ago no client has had a return I prepared audited. When I worked for other firms I had nothing to do with the audit defenses of my own returns so I really don't have a good feel for how many there were each year.

I know many of you do not provide audit assistance for returns you did not prepare. I on the other hand choose to aggressively seek those audits and they amount to half of my work. I find these clients willing to listen to my advice going forward. I also find that auditors respond well when I say that the taxpayer got bad advice or made a mistake on their own but they were not trying to cheat the government and going forward with my assistance they plan to be more careful. Naturally I don't say that unless I believe it but I am often able to say it.

[Black Bart]

Thanx for your interest folks.

I just clicked 10 years or longer

Pardonnez moi, BG (anybody ever ask you to spell that name?) -- poll parameters only allow ten choices, but congratulations anyway on your unsullied and unchecked track record.

...returns prepared by the client or someone else...

Hi, EC: I actually meant returns prepared by ourselves, but kudos for your aggressive campaign to secure (choose one) justice/exoneration for the underprivileged/overdeducting/underhanded/whichever . Just curious, but whaddaya charge those in the clutches of the tax-Nazis?

C-Corporation - training audit.

Awww, you Northwest guys are always doin' some dollar-intensive big-shot work. Guess that's why you're constantly sportin' around town on new Harleys. One of these days I'm gettin' a ricer and givin' you a run for your money at your next hog-wallowin'... (Please excuse -- no happy face for you cause there's a four-image limit and I have to triage as needed).

Where's all these polls headed, Bart?

Hey, Dennis. Nice to hear from you again. You doing all right? How are things going out there in Lotus-land without Sandy now? You ask a good question. And the answer is: Nowhere at all. I'm gonna gripe, cuss, moan, and complain all to no avail, then have a shot of Jack Daniels and Coke (whaddaya think about that upscale mix, Harlan ?) , a TV dinner, hit the hay, and do it all over again tomorrow.

I have a client whose schedule A is being audited right now.

Is the "A" all they're checkin'? That shouldn't be too bad if they're straight-up clients. Good luck.

[erchess]

Rates

These fees may seem high but I am paying 83 bucks per prospect (with waiver if they turn out to owe under 15K or to have bad phone number) so that kind of makes a difference.

If it's clear after one conversation that they need an installment agreement then I charge $100 to set one up to pay off the debt in five years or less or $300 to set one up with a financial statement and POA for over five years.

If after an interview I conclude either that the facts of the case are unclear or that returns have to be filed or that I am going to have to review substantial documentation when they send it to me, then I charge a minimum fee of $500. That gets whatever time I need to spend with papers they send me and it gets up to five contacts with the taxing agencies. A letter or a phone call can be a contact. If one phone number tells me to call another and that one tells me to call yet another, however much of that goes on it counts as one contact. However long I have to spend on the phone it counts as one contact. If more than five contacts are required they bill at $100 each. If I have to prepare returns they bill at my current year rates for those forms.

If I ever decide that a client meets the requirements for an OIC I will probably charge $5K with at least $3K up front because I know these are not clients who pay their bills reliably and I will be looking at five to ten hours per week over at least eighteen months. At the end of the day the requirements for an OIC seem straightforward and clear and I can't see much excuse in failing to secure one.

If a client whose bill is at least $500 agrees to write me a testimonial that I can use in advertising and agrees to be contacted by prospective clients I discount 200 bucks. I will provide a client with as many of my business cards as he or she requests and for each card someone brings in with that person's name on the inside of the tent I will discount the next billing to that person by ten percent but not below zero.

[bgiez]

Thanks, BB.

[QUOTE=Black Bart;114650]Padonnez moi, BG (anybody ever ask you to spell that name?) -- poll parameters only allow ten choices, but congratulations anyway on your unsullied and unchecked track record.

And, yes, I have to spell my last name all the time (it's much longer than my screen name).

[JG EA]

I put 10 years, but I have had many IRS CP notices over the years. And requests for for iinformation to make sure the amounts on the return are correct. I guess that is really an audit, so 10 years may be wrong.

[Kram BergGold]

Two this month

I have two Schedule C clients with audits coming up.

[Black Bart]

Nah,

I put 10 years, but I have had many IRS CP notices over the years. And requests for for iinformation to make sure the amounts on the return are correct. I guess that is really an audit, so 10 years may be wrong.

you did it right. I was asking about an office or field audit (a "real" audit), not CP notices about stuff left off the return or those so-called "letter audits" wherein they ask you to send paper verifying or backing up something you deducted/took credit for.

Have to say, I was amazed at the numbers for one year or less (it's also interesting about the great gulf/gap between them and the ten year bunch). Audits used to average about 2% according to IRS, but if we had enough responses here to be statistically significant (greater numbers), these results could sure be bad news for us. Hmm -- I used to say as a joke that just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not after me, but according to this poll they may be (maybe I'd better stop adding in the kitchen sink on those C's).

Maybe some of the one-year guys were including CP letters and such.

[Questionguy101]

I always wonder

I always wonder about this too. If a tax preparer has not had one client being audited for a long time..like over 10 years, does that mean he has a very good record in the IRS file? Does the IRS grade each tax preparer and those with great grade would seldom have their client being audited?

[Snaggletooth]

Too Long

Another poll.

Been over 800 returns ago Bart. But I would rather have those guys down my neck a couple times a year for serious audit work than to have 2 dozen CP2000s that I have to answer, with over half of them wrong.

I think in my county, if a couple of them did a couple days of qualifying audits on EIC alone it would put the fear of God back into that crowd, who have been fraudulently lying and cheating for years.

[S T]

Don't you know

BB
You talk about something, all of a sudden it materializes
This is "Bad Karma" to even discuss this issue
Let a "Sleeping Dog Lie"

Sandy