Divorce

[taxman36]

I have a client that I have been dealing with now for over a month and they are going through a divorce. Every time I turn around another email comes as to we want this changed and that changed. How about this and that. I say enough is enough!!!!!!!!

What would you charge? I thought at first I charged enough and was a fair price. I charged a little extra than I normally would because I just saw that this may run into problems but now I am thinking maybe I should charge like a lawyer every change,phone call, email ect is an additional fee. Does anyone have any experience and what have you done in the past or current on this type of problem client?

Taxman36

[AZ-Tax]

Nothing quite like that but very close

I have a client that I have been dealing with now for over a month and they are going through a divorce. Every time I turn around another email comes as to we want this changed and that changed. How about this and that. I say enough is enough!!!!!!!!

What would you charge? I thought at first I charged enough and was a fair price. I charged a little extra than I normally would because I just saw that this may run into problems but now I am thinking maybe I should charge like a lawyer every change,phone call, email ect is an additional fee. Does anyone have any experience and what have you done in the past or current on this type of problem client?

Taxman36

New client comes in and I give him a range. He replies "I was thinking more like this" and gives me a amt. Well I went for it and now that I dug into his stuff, its about $50 more or the top of initial range I gave hime. I would like to charge him more but he is going to retire and start a self employed business so I need to look to the future which we all know is not guaranteed. Each call is made on the individual client and its a hard call each time.

[RitaB]

That is a problem

Taxman 36, I guess I would lose on them, hoping it pays off later. I never keep up with my time adequately on those, cause I usually don't have to keep up with my time at all. It's aggravating. I kinda feel like that situation needs an extension just for cooling off purposes.

But, you're exactly right, their attorneys are charging for opening e-mails and writing stupid letters back and forth about every two months. THAT process is ridiculous.


AZ- wow I can't stand that type client. You may not even want him in the future.

[geekgirldany]

This close I would do an extension and spend my energy on other returns. It seems that it will be something all the time with them. So wait until later. When I send an email or call a client I make sure I have their tax return open in Drake. It tracks the time spent on the return. If the time spent goes over my per form price I add extra.

[mactoolsix]

Usually divorces are good for business

You might end up with two returns next year. That's what usually happens in divorce - a "two for one split."

Many years ago two of our long time clients got married - a reverse split. We still do their return, but one MFJ doesn't add up to two single returns.

Oh well, they're happy