Has this ever happened to you? Unbelievable!

[mblatour]

I work for H & R Block and we get a lot of similar problems. It is fairly common to go through a pretty simple return, tell the client the refund and have him/her say that our answer agrees with what they got with Turbo Tax and could they have their W-2s back. And we have no choice and have wasted our time!

Another problem is with our advertised "Second Looks". We advertise that we will take another look at any return prepared by taxpayer or another tax professional at no charge with the idea being that we might find errors, increase refunds and gain future clients. These people often really just want us to check their work for free! I recently spent quite a bit of time with someone who ended up owing over $2k more than he had calculated (forgot an IRA early withdrawal penalty). So...he went home and redid it with Turbotax.

And that's the way it is! You win some and lose some.

You have so much more tolerance than me and I give you credit!! To be honest, I've been in situations in my life many times where I've seriously been taken advantage of because of my good graces and generous nature. But this is my business, I own it. I just celebrated my 10 year anniversary this season. Therefore, as I continue to regrow a backbone I have decided that I no longer have to put up with clients such as this. People who make me feel unappreciated. I have so many that are just awesome! I just wish I could keep the wife and send him packing...... lol

[RitaB]

El Cheapos

Definitely a "get something for nothing" personality type.

The couple who just picked up is like that. Were complaining because an animal removal guy charged them $85 to remove raccoon from their basement. In the middle of the night. It couldn't wait. Because Mr. Raccoon was destroying their collectibles.

You can't reason with that person. Same guy will tell you how worthless your yard sale item is, then brag about what a great deal he got to someone else.

[mblatour]

You've got it Rita!! So very true!! $85 to remove a critter in the middle of the night, are you kidding me?! I wouldn't put my clothes on and drive to town to pick up a sack of potatoes in the middle of the night if someone offered me $85. I need my rest, as I am lucky to get 5 hours a night these days.

[Lion]

If someone asks me to review a return he or someone else prepared, I refuse during tax season; but I might offer to do it in the off-season if I like them. I also do not prepare a part of a return, a Schedule C or deal with their D, for instance. But, no one has ever asked me to do either of those. They've just prepared their own return for informational purposes, as a challenge, to get an idea of how much money they will need, whatever. I prepare their return as usual. If they want to match up the two returns line by line, they can do that at home. If they have questions like all clients might ask, why is my AMT higher this year, am I getting much benefit from my mortgage interest now that my mortgage is almost paid down, that kind of question, I answer as we discuss my results. I don't look at their calculations. Besides, they already know how many hours it took them, so they don't question my results nor my fee.

[Burke]

How did he present the return to you? Like "I've already done it... check it".
I have two clients that do their own return every year in pencil by hand. They just want to see how they are coming out before they come to me to prepare the return. I always get them back more in refund. Give yourself a day or two to think about it. He may not meant for it to go over the way it did. On the other hand, if he is a smarty pants about it all. Then do not prepare their return any longer.

I agree. I have a client whom I have done for 15+ years or more. He always gets the forms from the IRS and pencils in his copy. Then he compares what he gets to what I get; it is never the same and I explain what the differences are. Sometimes its very minor. Other times he is just lost -- esp when he gets option grants, etc. It's just for his own edification, and I have never taken offense from it. But he is a nice guy. And he comes back every year without question. I think he just doesn't want any big surprises or is curious to see if he really knows what he is doing. Another client I have done for more than 25 years, cuts out every article in the newspaper, magazine or other publication about changes in the tax law, and/or "things you never knew about" sort of articles and includes them with his papers. I don't mind. Your guy sounds like a real patootie.

[Burke]

You have so much more tolerance than me and I give you credit!! To be honest, I've been in situations in my life many times where I've seriously been taken advantage of because of my good graces and generous nature. But this is my business, I own it. I just celebrated my 10 year anniversary this season. Therefore, as I continue to regrow a backbone I have decided that I no longer have to put up with clients such as this. People who make me feel unappreciated. I have so many that are just awesome! I just wish I could keep the wife and send him packing...... lol

I had a married couple like that. She was a sweetie. He was impossible, I don't know how she lived with him. He would say things like "my cousin does taxes and he would do this for nothing." I finally told her to come back without him next year. And I haven't seen him since. But I am still doing the return.

[RitaB]

Informed bunch

...cuts out every article in the newspaper, magazine or other publication about changes in the tax law, and/or "things you never knew about" sort of articles and includes them...

Raise your hand if you got 187 articles about that $30 - $60 phone tax credit. Never mind that they had $60,000 in stock sales and didn't provide the basis. Gotta get that phone credit.

[Burke]

I love the ones who download every crackpot on the Internet about what you can deduct and to tell your tax preparer all about it, then send them along to me and ask "is he right about this?"

[origun]

$7 meals for police

I had a client yesterday who told me that his friend (a fellow police officer) had an accountant (i.e., a REAL professional, not just a plain old EA like me!) do his taxes and he was told that he could deduct $7 for meals while on the job. Why wasn't I asking him about that?!

[WhiteOleander]

I work for H & R Block and we get a lot of similar problems. It is fairly common to go through a pretty simple return, tell the client the refund and have him/her say that our answer agrees with what they got with Turbo Tax and could they have their W-2s back. And we have no choice and have wasted our time!

Another problem is with our advertised "Second Looks". We advertise that we will take another look at any return prepared by taxpayer or another tax professional at no charge with the idea being that we might find errors, increase refunds and gain future clients. These people often really just want us to check their work for free! I recently spent quite a bit of time with someone who ended up owing over $2k more than he had calculated (forgot an IRA early withdrawal penalty). So...he went home and redid it with Turbotax.

And that's the way it is! You win some and lose some.

In our office we will only do a Second Look if the return has actually been FILED. We don't look over an unfiled return and see if it is correct or not.

[AZ-Tax]

I think most of us are too low with our fees

I've been told I'm about 40-50% less than H&R and those percentages climb for some of the big firms in town.
~Becky

I think most of us are too low with our fees. New client comes in: MFJ Sch A, Sch B and Sch D.......his in the eighties tax preparer who charged him $60, retired. I told him I will need to charge him at least twice that and fortunate for me he was ok with my fee. 4 yrs ago I was referred the sister of a client I had for 2 yrs. Even send this client business. I was just about done completing the sisters tax returns but needed something. Keep emailing and calling and finally after 2 weeks the sister told me she had her taxes done somewhere else. Got $0 for all the work I did plus the client who referred me never came back. My fault since I never demanded a deposit and that is because I believe the market is not ready to demand deposits because most of you on this board do not demand up front deposits especially on individual returns. Maybe in Becky's case, once her client slide his penciled tax return to her, Becky should have replied, it will be $150 and this year I am starting to require a 30% deposit before I begin work on your tax return and the balance due upon completion or your tax return. If they really valued your business relationship, they would have paid the $45 w/o blinking an eye. As what happened to Becky, this is part of our business and we should expect it.

[Steve Stang]

No Freebies

I work for H & R Block and we get a lot of similar problems. It is fairly common to go through a pretty simple return, tell the client the refund and have him/her say that our answer agrees with what they got with Turbo Tax and could they have their W-2s back. And we have no choice and have wasted our time!

Another problem is with our advertised "Second Looks". We advertise that we will take another look at any return prepared by taxpayer or another tax professional at no charge with the idea being that we might find errors, increase refunds and gain future clients. These people often really just want us to check their work for free! I recently spent quite a bit of time with someone who ended up owing over $2k more than he had calculated (forgot an IRA early withdrawal penalty). So...he went home and redid it with Turbotax.

And that's the way it is! You win some and lose some.

In my service agreement, I have a line that specifically says that if a client withdraws before filing that they owe me a base fee. I've had folks come in and tell me that they don't like the result (too little refund or owe too much or me disallowing the boyfriend from claiming the EIC on kids that aren't his) and I say 'fine, that'll be $120 please." Some have been shocked. I had one come back and tell me that after talking with someone who told her that without an agreement/contract I couldn't do that. So I pulled out my copy of her signed agreement and showed her the line (she had a copy that I had given her after the first interview but 'forgot').

I had one client come into my office before she became a client. I had a waiting line. She said that she had a quick question about depreciation for one of her rental properties. I told her that I can't simply answer a question without any information. She then scheduled an appointment. But I told her that there was a fee for me to do any evaluation. She agreed. She ultimately decided that it was just easier for me to do the whole return. I credited the evaluation fee to the final prep fee.

[Openfire]

If you truly believe he was being sarky, and not just cerebral, I think I would prepare the return as you always do. Hand him back his handwritten copy, and tell him he was pretty close. Tell him you are too busy right now to find his errors, but he should review his copy as well as your copy to find his mistakes.

You might then tell him he is welcome to file his copy, but with the errors he will likely get a pen pal correspondence going with the IRS for about 6 months. But, if he keeps working at it, maybe if you get really busy he can come work for you as an assistant.

He may not come back, but it won't be because he thinks he was intimidating, or that you were hurt.

[mblatour]

If you truly believe he was being sarky, and not just cerebral, I think I would prepare the return as you always do. Hand him back his handwritten copy, and tell him he was pretty close. Tell him you are too busy right now to find his errors, but he should review his copy as well as your copy to find his mistakes.

You might then tell him he is welcome to file his copy, but with the errors he will likely get a pen pal correspondence going with the IRS for about 6 months. But, if he keeps working at it, maybe if you get really busy he can come work for you as an assistant.

He may not come back, but it won't be because he thinks he was intimidating, or that you were hurt.

I like your spin on things....but of course I didn't think to try something like this! lol I ended up sending back his paperwork with a letter. My husband thought it was too polite and professional, but I thought I did a good job of getting my point across. I had an EA friend of mine (who's been around the block and near retirement) take a look at the letter and he said he was very proud of me, so it must have been alright. The letter generated a phone call with a very coached apology in my opinion. If I had to guess, I'd say his wife gave him an earful. I have now moved onto other clients and will not look back, despite his request to call and discuss the matter. I have a lot of clients who respect me and value my services to attend to. ;o)

[Openfire]

Wonderful! Good for you. Onward and upward. Have a great season!