O/T More Drama

[Possi]

My sheriff's dept employee (cop) client said he'd call for an appt after his wife calls me. That was strange.

Well, estranged wife calls me to say she isn't filing with him. She brought proof that he was convicted of molesting his granddaughter repeatedly over the last couple of years. The now 5 yr old reported it to the police herself! He had also been sending porn emails to his 20 yr old step daughter (the ex-felon-mother of the molested granddaughter).

I did the wife's tax return.

He emailed me today to say "I guess I'll be filing by myself!"

And my response was simply, "You will need to find another tax preparer. There is an ethical conflict of interest involved."

He is STILL WORKING at the Sheriff's dept! They do not know of his conviction, and I believe it is b/c his first name is misspelled on the paperwork.

Sick, what a wack job. I don't want him anywhere near my office! arggggg

[ChEAr$]

Why is it an ethical conflict? You would prepare his return based solely on his situation, right? and correctly, too?

Of course with you it may be a moral conflict, between his and yours.

[Possi]

afraid

Why is it an ethical conflict? You would prepare his return based solely on his situation, right? and correctly, too?

Of course with you it may be a moral conflict, between his and yours.

Put simply, I am not just revolted by him, but I am actually afraid of him.

[bgiez]

Isn't it an ethical conflict?? Possi says wife is estranged, which sounds like they are still married and would be filing separately. Then, having prepared the wife's return, Possi would know what the wife claimed and how she filed, and that may be in conflict with what the pervert would want to do. Possi can't say to him, "You can't do that because your wife did whatever." Which would leave her preparing an inaccurate return for him if she goes ahead and prepares his return. Because this situation is a possibility, it IS an ethical issue, IMO.

Barbara

[geekgirldany]

I see your point Possi and I would not want to do his return either. As Barbara mentioned though you do have an out in that you did the wife's return. I have often told folk that get divorced or are separated that I can only prepare one spouse's return due to a possible conflict of interest. I don't care if they are friendly with each other it is just a mess if something comes up.

The Sheriff department might know. We had one here that had child porn on his office computer, laptop in patrol car, and his home computer. Supposedly one image, said it was part of an investigation and he never actually viewed the picture. He was convicted. The department put him on leave after several months of investigation. So they maybe investigating the compliant.

[Possi]

I hope so

I see your point Possi and I would not want to do his return either. As Barbara mentioned though you do have an out in that you did the wife's return. I have often told folk that get divorced or are separated that I can only prepare one spouse's return due to a possible conflict of interest. I don't care if they are friendly with each other it is just a mess if something comes up.

The Sheriff department might know. We had one here that had child porn on his office computer, laptop in patrol car, and his home computer. Supposedly one image, said it was part of an investigation and he never actually viewed the picture. He was convicted. The department put him on leave after several months of investigation. So they maybe investigating the compliant.

Well, I sure do hope so. I'd hate to think the good ol' boy mentality is playing a role in it, but he told his wife that the sheriff's dept will not bother him about it. I think he is mistaken. BTW, he did not reply to me curt email. =)
whew~

I am no longer advertising, mainly for safety reasons. I have enough clients, but always love more business. It's just this year that I got a bad "feeling" about advertising and not knowing exactly who is walking into my home/office. Here's one I thought I knew... and it blew up in my face. Oh well, the Lord is surely looking after me.

=)

[Peachie]

Possi,

This is the very reason I chose not to advertise my business. I need to have a connection to who comes to my residence. If someone calls for an appointment but is unable to give me a referral name-I don't do the return. Its called no amount of money will prevent me from safety first. I live by referrals and repeat business. I have never felt threatened. I certainly understand your position on this one. Its a new world out here.

Peachie

[ChEAr$]

Isn't it an ethical conflict?? Possi says wife is estranged, which sounds like they are still married and would be filing separately. Then, having prepared the wife's return, Possi would know what the wife claimed and how she filed, and that may be in conflict with what the pervert would want to do. Possi can't say to him, "You can't do that because your wife did whatever." Which would leave her preparing an inaccurate return for him if she goes ahead and prepares his return. Because this situation is a possibility, it IS an ethical issue, IMO.

Barbara

I was making a distinction between ethos and morality, since it seemed that Possi had that conflict.

But yes, you may prepare both returns. You just can't reveal information about the other party relating to tax matters. So you would never say "you can't do that because your wife....."

At this point, without revealing privileged information, you would inform him the correct treatment of the item, and if he balked you would then terminate the engagement.

[Gary2]

How do you advise on whether to take the standard deduction or itemize?

Suppose the wife has filed MFS claiming the standard deduction, but it turns out the he's better off itemizing. Even though he has the right to itemize, and even though a preparer with no knowledge of the wife's return would likely suggest itemizing, are you violating your obligation to the wife by giving the husband advice that will adversely affect her return? (Even worse, would it be ethical to charge the wife for handling the IRS letter that she'll get?)

Suppose wife itemizes and convinces you she paid all the real estate taxes, so you let her claim it. He comes in and wants to claim half. Do you insist for proof? Do you put it down? Do you tell him he can't? What can you possibly say that won't make him think his wife claimed more than half?

I don't think you can do both. In theory, it may be possible to do both returns without revealing confidential information. But, also in theory, it's possible to inadvertently get caught in a no-win situation where you leak information or at least give the appearance of having leaked information.

I don't think you can do it. Not "you may but it's a bad idea and be careful", but flat out you can't. A conflict of interest doesn't mean you'll necessary be conflicted; it means that the interest are in conflict at the beginning, before anything happens.

[ChEAr$]

Good thoughts, Gary and I certainly understand all you say.

Reminds me of a client who always itemized even though he had to always file a separate return. His wife was not my client of course, and I suspected she went somewhere where she claimed HOH for the EIC, but that wasn't my concern. I did of course tell husband that someday IRS might bring up the itemizing versus standard deduction, however he never did get a letter.

After maybe 10 years, they finally started joint filing. I suspect IRS finally caught up with her, though nobody every told me so.

Let me be clear. If I have both as a client, should any conflict of interest come up, I would withdraw.

[Possi]

No more

I have not had this separate spouse conflict often, but will never no never do separated spouses again. Too much at risk, as Gary suggested.

The guy is fishing for a reason, and I'm stonewalling him. I'll tell him as I have been told so many times before, I can't tell him anything due to privacy laws. It's a good out and I'm eversoglad to be rid of the scumbag.

[tpnl]

Sexual Offender ID

New client walked in (This was 3 or 4 years ago). Single, no dependents, w-2 wages. He filled out our information sheets and I asked for photo ID. He handed over his state ID card. Big letters "SEXUAL OFFENDER," it was issued by the Department of Rehabilitation (which is our prison system). I did the tax return, he paid me and I never saw him again. (I would have done is tax return if he came back the following year, but he did not.)

[oceanlovin'ea]

earlier thread

You might remember my post from earlier this season....the lady who got arrested for being part of a retail theft ring. I didn't do her tax return and she understood. She said she would be back next year. If she doesn't, that is okay with me.

Like you, Peachie and Possi, I don't advertise. My new business is from referrals. My office is in my home and I want to know who is coming. Normally if my clients recommend someone, they know they are okay and so I trust my clients. In this case, the people that referred her were shocked and appalled. They apologized for sending her to me.

This world is full of crazies.....we have to be careful who we invite into our homes. Not far from here in Tarpon Springs, a man set his uncle's gun shop on fire, went home, killed uncle, uncle's girlfriend and his grandmother who was in the house and then shot himself. The neighbors were shocked....said he was close to his grandmother.

Linda, EA

[JohnH]

We all have stories about creeps and jerks, don't we? Mine was from a couple of years ago, when I had a client who had separated from her husband late in the year and she was supporting the kids (3 or 4 children as I recall). Not a child molester or rapist - just your basic run-of-the-mill jerk who won't support his kids.

Some details escape me, but there was some tax benefit to filing jointly, so she had him call me to get the scoop. I filed individual extensions for both of them and after missing two or three appionments he finally showed up the evening of Apr 14. He didn't understand the extension process, so he thought the return had to be filed the next day and he could bully me into preparing the return at the last minute on HIS terms.

This guy was a real first-class know-it-all. Came in telling me how he had consulted with his lawyer and his CPA and was just doing us all a favor by cooperating. After some discussion I showed him how she would benefit by only a few hundred dollars on the MFJ return, but he would save much more because he would otherwise have to file MFS and wind up paying more than the increase in her refund.

I was thinking that might free up some money to help him support the kids a little. (How naive could I be?). His only concern was whether I could guarantee that she would split the refund down the middle with him, which I couldn't. He then said if I couldn't give him that guarantee, he would just file MFS (did I mention what a genius he was?).

I can still savor the enjoyment I felt when I handed him his W-2's and said, "Sorry, filing MFS would be a conflict of interest for me, so you'll have to go somewhere else." I don't even think I told him the extension had him off the hook for Apr 15 - I visualize him spending the better part of the next day sitting in a JH or HRB office somewhere.

[oceanlovin'ea]

Husband filed joint

New client came in a couple of weeks ago. I finished her return and she picked it up Saturday morning. Last year she and husband got a divorce.I filed her as single. It rejected......reason was her ssn had been used as a secondary number on a return OTHER THAN 3 or 4. So I asked her when the divorce was final. Was it final before 12/31?
She said the court date was in December so she called her mom (she was at work) and found out it was final in 2011. So I told her we would have to change her status to MFS and retransmit. (I should have asked better questions)
The only way he could have filed MFJ is to have forged her signature. So she says they have to see the lawyer on Monday on another matter and she will bring this up to him then.
Her return is filed right now......but not his!! He is a real piece of work other things he did to cheat her!!! I hope they get him good.

Linda, EA