Beverage Service in the Office?

[Koss]

I'd love to know what other tax professionals do. I am well aware that many of you work out of your home, while others work in shared office space.

Please check all that apply.

[JohnH]

A Keurig is a great thing to have in the office. It allows you to offer an almost unlimited variety of brewed beverages (coffee, decaf, tea, specialty coffees, etc) in individual sevings with almost no mess to clean up. You can also buy a reusable basket for your highest-volume item(s) if you wish, which decreases the cost per serving for routine use.

[kpangelinan]

We've always had a water cooler that the clients have really appreciated over the years during the hot summer days......of course, we are a year round practice....in the winter, while we offer coffee with a pod machine, it's only used by a client a few times a year and is mainly for the staff; but we do offer it to them....I even made a sign once letting them know it's available.

[JohnH]

Put a jar beside the pod machine with a "suggested" cost (probably 50 cents). People know there a cost per serving and some are reluctant to use it for that reason. Give them a chance to pay their way if they wish, while making it clear that it isn't required. More people will use it and they will feel better about it. They will also tend to put in $1 whether they get a single serving or a couple of servings, which will reduce your costs somewhat, but that really isn't your objective in the first place.

[kpangelinan]

Put a jar beside the pod machine with a "suggested" cost (probably 50 cents). People know there a cost per serving and some are reluctant to use it for that reason. Give them a chance to pay their way if they wish, while making it clear that it isn't required. More people will use it and they will feel better about it. They will also tend to put in $1 whether they get a single serving or a couple of servings, which will reduce your costs somewhat, but that really isn't your objective in the first place.

I like that idea alot....thanks!

[MAMalody]

Don't forget to put 50 cents in the jar. I call that priming the pump...but it actually communicates that people are using the coffee and it is okay for the to do so also.

[JohnH]

I think it's nice for the note to say something to the effect that:

"We don't expect payment for coffee, tea, etc.
It is available to our clients for free because we value your business
But if you feel compelled to pay, we can tell you our cost is about 50 cents per serving."

[Roberts]

I'd love to know what other tax professionals do. I am well aware that many of you work out of your home, while others work in shared office space.

Please check all that apply.

I don't offer anything. Generally, nobody visits our offices long enough to consume a beverage.
I used to have a small fridge full of sodas, water, some beer for after hour meetings. The contents would disappear every month but clients never drank any of it so I stopped stocking it.

The idea of billing someone $100 per hour for tax prep and then suggesting they spend $.50 on a cup of coffee is hilarious.

[manyhappyreturns]

I have a water cooler that has cold and hot water available. I have a one-cup coffee maker (the cheapo kind, not the Keurig, so the pods aren't so expensive) and I have a variety of tea bags, caffeinated & herbal, as well as packets of hot cocoa mix. I also have a candy dish I keep stocked with foil-wrapped chocolate candy, which proves to be the most popular item by far on the drink bar. Next is cold water, then tea, then hot cocoa, and very rarely does anybody have coffee, which is what I started the thing for in the first place. Coffee drinkers oftentimes have their cup of Starbucks in hand when they come in anyway. I brought in donuts one year on a Saturday morning that I had several clients scheduled, thinking they'd think that was pretty awesome, and nobody took me up on it. I ended up eating 4 of them myself that afternoon and got so sick I never did that again!

[JohnH]

The idea of billing someone $100 per hour for tax prep and then suggesting they spend $.50 on a cup of coffee is hilarious.

What wold be more hilarious is a client who can afford to pay $100 per hour but is incapable of stringing 3 sentences together into a complete thought.

[kpangelinan]

I don't offer anything. Generally, nobody visits our offices long enough to consume a beverage.
I used to have a small fridge full of sodas, water, some beer for after hour meetings. The contents would disappear every month but clients never drank any of it so I stopped stocking it.

The idea of billing someone $100 per hour for tax prep and then suggesting they spend $.50 on a cup of coffee is hilarious.

The taking of drinks out of your fridge sounds like a staff issue.....I can barely beg my staff to "NOT" pay me for a single stamp that they used for their own personal envelope they needed to mail, let alone drink up all of what I had stocked up in my fridge for their use.

And to think there is anything wrong with offering money for coffee doesn't sound unreasonable to me.....some of my clients pay me far more than $100 an hour for other services and would feel guilty using our machine for a free cup of coffee, so the fee cup takes that pressure away.

[kpangelinan]

I have a water cooler that has cold and hot water available. I have a one-cup coffee maker (the cheapo kind, not the Keurig, so the pods aren't so expensive) and I have a variety of tea bags, caffeinated & herbal, as well as packets of hot cocoa mix. I also have a candy dish I keep stocked with foil-wrapped chocolate candy, which proves to be the most popular item by far on the drink bar. Next is cold water, then tea, then hot cocoa, and very rarely does anybody have coffee, which is what I started the thing for in the first place. Coffee drinkers oftentimes have their cup of Starbucks in hand when they come in anyway. I brought in donuts one year on a Saturday morning that I had several clients scheduled, thinking they'd think that was pretty awesome, and nobody took me up on it. I ended up eating 4 of them myself that afternoon and got so sick I never did that again!

I forgot about the candy.....my two desks in the lobby have candy bowls that I keep stocked on them and the clients absolutely love them.

[Koss]

Priming the pump?

Don't forget to put 50 cents in the jar. I call that priming the pump...but it actually communicates that people are using the coffee and it is okay for the to do so also.

That's a good idea, but...

How do you account for that fifty cents? Is it an expense, that you paid out of your business account?

Or did you take it out of your own pocket, putting it into the business, thereby making it a capital contribution?

And what about the money paid by clients?? If your business is a sole prop, is the coffee income subject to SE tax? Or can you put it on line 21??

Did you create a coffee account in QuickBooks? LMAO

BMK

[kpangelinan]

That's a good idea, but...

How do you account for that fifty cents? Is it an expense, that you paid out of your business account?

Or did you take it out of your own pocket, putting it into the business, thereby making it a capital contribution?

And what about the money paid by clients?? If your business is a sole prop, is the coffee income subject to SE tax? Or can you put it on line 21??

Did you create a coffee account in QuickBooks? LMAO

BMK

Hahaha....only on a tax board....very good!

I think the $.50 would be a capital contribution, but could also be considered a loan to the company and be paid back the moment a client puts some money in there.

I am split on whether the money from the coffee sales would be subject to self employment tax or not because I suppose it could be considered "un-earned" or some type of investment income.

[JohnH]

I think it would fall into investment income.
But hopefully it's short-term gain.
I'm not sure I want to be drinking coffee that qualifies for LTCG treatment.