To call or not to call, that is the question.

[Safire]

"They might want an appointment and I don't want any more!"


That's a good one, I hope some day I can say such. As it is I have worked my buns off this tax season just to pay my taxes April 15th. Neither my husband nor I are disciplined enough to pay in estimates.

[Drizzle]

I agree...it depends..

I agree with OldJack and Bob W. At some point you realize that, generally speaking, the people who are characterized by severe procrastination are often more trouble than they are worth. They often have a "cluster" of other personality traits that do not help your working relationship with them.

Like others have mentioned, we go through our list of not completed clients at 3/31for extensions, and that list will include those who haven't contacted us at all. We try again to contact the unknowns at that point. We don't worry about anyone that did not come in the previous year and has not contacted us this year.

Sometime after the 15th of April we discuss which clients we could perhaps do without next year, and put them on a "sayonara" list, so that I can send them a letter sometime after Thanksgiving advising them. Honestly, sometimes it just doesn't work, due to chemistry or personality or whatever, and they will be better off with someone who is more their style.

And life is too short. Both for you and your staff.

[Safire]

Good advice.

I may have to do that with one client this year. A young man who just started a business, has asked me a million questions, I did the return this year and am doing monthly bookkeeping.

I can tell that for whatever reason he seems to have lost confidence in me. It's always, his Dad said this or his Dad said that and what about this number on this report and why did I depreciate his equipment for 7 years. I'm thinking he needs to just go to whoever his Dad gets. LOL

I want my clients to understand their paperwork, but I don't like an accusing tone regarding my work. If you are not confident, were both better off if you go.

Sadly, I can't really affoord to lose him though.

[Gretel]

Sadly, I can't really affoord to lose him though.

Safire, I am in the same position as you are: I can't afford losing anyone.

I still would like to encourage you to let this client go if he is just a pain. You don't know you might be knocking on your door once you made this step (or who doesn't come because you hold on). Cosmic laws are a little different then our own.

[JG EA]

Letter.

ISometime after the 15th of April we discuss which clients we could perhaps do without next year, and put them on a "sayonara" list, so that I can send them a letter sometime after Thanksgiving advising them. Honestly, sometimes it just doesn't work, due to chemistry or personality or whatever, and they will be better off with someone who is more their style.

What do you say in your letter?

[Safire]

Gabriele, thanks or that advice, you are probably right. I will give it another month or two on the bookkeeping and see how it goes. If he continues to question every little thing, I think I will steer him in another direction.

[Jesse]

He said - she said

is what gets irritating. I like my clients that question my returns, but when everything I do should have ended w/ different results then it would be best if you went where your "advisor" goes to get those results.

I had a construction worker yesterday that wants to take all of their commuting miles because "all of their coworkers" are getting thousands of dollars back. In fact one of them drives to work and then hops in a dump truck, but he takes all of his miles to drive to work and is getting over $6,000 back.

I try to explain you don't know the entire situation. Is the guy single/married, have no kids/10 kids, make $50,000 and have $20,000 w/held, make $14,000 and get EIC and additional Child tax credit, dah dah dah dah dah dah..............If you think he or his preparer can get you better results then that is where you need to go.

I say... look at it this way, the IRS is my Boss, if I take your commuting miles knowing it's wrong and you get in an audit situation, I have to answer to my boss who can take my right to prepare income taxes away. My boss says you can't take the mileage even if your coworker thinks you can.

Thanks for letting me vent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I need to get back to some of my other problems.

[Safire]

I had a similar situation this year, only she took my word for it.

Lady got a 1099-Misc when she really was an employee, she said all the other workers got 1099's as well and the boss told them all to take their mileage back and forth to the factory every day to offset having to pay the tax themselves.

I told her, her boss was wrong and all those people taking the miles were wrong and she said "Are you sure?" and I sad "Yes Ma'am, I am sure"

Thankfully that was the end of it.

[Drizzle]

Letter content

What do you say in your letter?

JG,

I try to be as sensitive to the situation as I can while still being direct. I state that our firm is in the process of reducing our client load due to --insert reason here--, and I use a good reason, such as change in personnel, focus on other services, or other circumstance. I don't make anything up.

If the client's needs are not a good fit for our resources (from our point of view or from their point of view) then I refer to the fact that they are well advised to seek someone who is a better fit for their needs, eg. a CFP, regional CPA firm, or whatever. If it is a client who for whatever reason has trouble taking direction from us, then I have probably talked to them previously and I refer to the fact that it is to their benefit to find someone with whom they can work in a closer relationship.

I always include a couple of specific referrals, name and phone numbers, for the client to act on, so that they don't feel like they have been just abandoned. Providing you give them plenty of lead time it won't be a problem, and you have done the right thing for everyone.

Drizzle

[JG EA]

Thanks,

I think this is a nice direct thing to do. I do want so much to eliminate certain clients that have caused me so much sleep loss with too little rewards. Maybe I can take aspects from what you say and add that if they do come back in order to "something" (I don't know what to put there yet), I will need to increase their fee. Then give an example of what their fee would have been to correspond in 2005 to what it will be in 2006.

I have a few that I have each year talked to them about going elsewhere, but they keep coming back. A letter is a really good idea to cut it off or make the fee high enough to cover all the extra time that they require.

I did do this one time with a client that was poor. I gave them great breaks. Then they started a corporation with others and went to someone else for the corporation.They also paid others for the payroll, etc. Well, I wrote them a letter that I would be unable to continue to do their return at the price to which they were accustomed. I them told them what the price would have been. Well, the next year they still had me do their personal return at the higher price. They were happy and I was happy.

But, I have a few that are disorganized to such an extent, that is almost impossible to put what they give for facts, and in the order they give the facts into any kind of usable tax information. I spent hours trying to make lists, highlighting the needed information, and figure out just what the heck it is all about. I'm having this trouble right now with some very disorganized, but real property diversified taxpayers.

Right now as I write this, it comes to mind to make another appointment with them, instead of trying to make sense of the mess they gave me.

They are definitely getting one of the letters you suggest this coming year.