Compare Tax Refunds

[Burke]

You can also say, "No input, no output." Do they understand it is their own money they are getting back?

[luke]

not necessarily

Not in these days/times - child credits/EIC/FTHB etc etc

[SueBaby]

One person on this board has a flat policy that if you leave him you cannot come back no matter what the reason was.

I will take them back if they were a good client before they left but I do consider whether I would prefer that they stay away. I do work at cheaper rates for long time clients than new ones and one returning after leaving me is definitely new.

My question is: if they come back do you go up on thier fee??? Do you delete them out of your system and put their file in file 13 and start over again when they return?

I do not like yo-yo clients that shop and come back several times. Can't go that route.
Although I had one last year and YES I did go up on him he leaves this time it is for good.

[Burke]

Well, I have done it. An elderly lady I had done for years, who was a real penny-pincher, but was quite well off, decided to go to a VITA office and get hers done for free. She called me the following year, not really happy, and I wound up amending the previous year's state return for a big refund, plus she stayed with me until she eventually went into a nursing home and no longer had to file.

[S T]

So many good ideas

Thanks everyone for sharing, a lot of ideas I hadn't thought about. I rarely am blessed to be presented the question - thank goodness.

This was a case of the wife being very aware of tax issues, it is her husband! I will not go into that bit of history!

So I simply in an email laid out facts about how tax liabilities, tax refunds, etc were arrived at, and that no taxpayer could compare the "bottom line refund" and also made the statement that I did not want them to complete the return and authorize the filing if they were uncomfortable. That I had already pointed out areas that could be pitfalls(happened to do with claiming a dependent for more $$)

She was fine with it, husband acquiesced but I am certainly going to use the strategy of asking for the a copy of the return that the husband seems to be comparing too.

All is well, at least for 2010.

What a lot of time and effort! But then that is why I have the clients I have and they return each year , because I believe in providing information.

Sandy

[geekgirldany]

Just had another today.

Friend recommend this new client come to me. Friend told them how much she got back. My new client is now wanting to know why they did not back $6,000 like friend. I told them I could not talk about a client's return because of privacy reasons. Each tax return is different. One person maybe qualify for a tax break while another may not. Several of the larger refunds are due to EIC. Also this new client had less mortgage interest but was still getting back $4,000.

Goal is not to get back so much at the end of the year but to break even. People just don't understand much of the time.