New client Tuesday night. Charged them $175, refund $3300.
One of the spouses said, "Well that's good. Paid a woman $150 last year but she only got us back $350." Kinda frustrating to listen to that because I had no idea what circumstances were prevalent in 2009, and the woman might have done the best she could under the circumstances. If faced with the same situation in 2009, I might not have done any better than she did.
The client who made the statement above revealed a shallow perception of what a preparer is supposed to do and what his/her responsibilities are. However, this was only the voice version of what nearly all customers think, and she was just more blatantly honest than some.
You hear it all the time. "My sister said her preparer deducts tennis shoes" "My cousin says you can sell your farm and if you replace it with one of equal value then you don't have to claim the gain." "Paula told me her new preparer didn't get her back much money."
"I made the same amount of money as Ed, and he got back LOTS more than me!"
I do think good preparers make a difference, but for the most part, the taxpayer's withholding, habits, and behavior affect the refund more than we do.
One of the spouses said, "Well that's good. Paid a woman $150 last year but she only got us back $350." Kinda frustrating to listen to that because I had no idea what circumstances were prevalent in 2009, and the woman might have done the best she could under the circumstances. If faced with the same situation in 2009, I might not have done any better than she did.
The client who made the statement above revealed a shallow perception of what a preparer is supposed to do and what his/her responsibilities are. However, this was only the voice version of what nearly all customers think, and she was just more blatantly honest than some.
You hear it all the time. "My sister said her preparer deducts tennis shoes" "My cousin says you can sell your farm and if you replace it with one of equal value then you don't have to claim the gain." "Paula told me her new preparer didn't get her back much money."
"I made the same amount of money as Ed, and he got back LOTS more than me!"
I do think good preparers make a difference, but for the most part, the taxpayer's withholding, habits, and behavior affect the refund more than we do.
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