Tax Documents

[Tax Sleuth]

A client wants me to contact his financial advisor to obtain needed tax documents. Clients are expected to provide my firm with the tax documents needed for tax preparation in accordance with a written contract that they sign. Do you think I should have to get the tax documents for the client in this situation? Besides, doesn't a tax practitioner have to obtain written permission from a client to be able to speak with a third party, such as a financial advisor, to avoid violating confidentiality?

[Rapid Robert]

No way would I request docs directly from a third party, except under extraordinary circumstances.

Such as, a long time business client sets me up with read-only access to online bank statements for purpose of Quickbooks reconciliation, and even then I should have an engagement stating the purpose of the access to third party data.

Or, I have signed consent to disclose letters (Sec 7206) from clients authorizing me to share info with their financial advisor. Renewed each year. Then I would accept documents from that advisor, for example 1099-B, 1099-DIV, etc, which I could easily confirm to be legit.

My due diligence requires I get documents directly from the taxpayer in most cases.

[taxea]

A client wants me to contact his financial advisor to obtain needed tax documents. Clients are expected to provide my firm with the tax documents needed for tax preparation in accordance with a written contract that they sign. Do you think I should have to get the tax documents for the client in this situation? Besides, doesn't a tax practitioner have to obtain written permission from a client to be able to speak with a third party, such as a financial advisor, to avoid violating confidentiality?

I totally agree with no way. They are responsible to provide you with all W-2, 1099s, 1098s, etc. Not your job to hunt them down.

If clients have investments they get monthly statements as well as a full year summary at the end of the year. It is their responsibility to retain these. I have recommended that the client place them in a 3 ring binder with each account separated by an tabbed index page.

I provide my clients, each year, with worksheets and a documents checklist with instructions not to give me anything until they have all worksheets completed and documents together. I also do not accept invoices or receipts. They are required to total everything and put it on the applicable line of my worksheets.

[ATSMAN]

I have a similar situation this year with a client. Supposedly his K1 for oil and Gas partnerships will be available on a website only and he e-mailed me his account and password for me to download his K1s. He only has a smart phone and can't print?

[Gretel]

Elderly Clients

I agree with all of you. However, elderly clients sometimes need a little more help, and some of them no nothing about internet access (80+) and do not have anybody close by to assist them. It's getting increasingly difficult to help them. So far I haven't encountered any unsolvable problem but I see it coming. And no, it's not profitable in any way but what is the alternative?

[Rapid Robert]

elderly clients sometimes need a little more help, and some of them no nothing about internet access (80+) and do not have anybody close by to assist them.

That excuse wears a little thin after a while. If they are in their eighties now, they were only in their sixties when the web first came into widespread use, and they've had twenty years to learn and adjust. And they were only in their fifties when personal computers became widespread. Or are we going to start saying that someone in their sixties can't be expected to learn anything new, even with twenty years in which to do it?

And why does someone need to be "close by" to assist? An adult relative anywhere in the country could easily assist someone with downloading a tax document from a web site.

[TAXNJ]

Say goodbye....

I have a similar situation this year with a client. Supposedly his K1 for oil and Gas partnerships will be available on a website only and he e-mailed me his account and password for me to download his K1s. He only has a smart phone and can't print?

to the client's "password" protection for that account if sent via email!

Hopefully client has changed the "password".

[kamckinley]

I have a similar situation this year with a client. Supposedly his K1 for oil and Gas partnerships will be available on a website only and he e-mailed me his account and password for me to download his K1s. He only has a smart phone and can't print?

If they are in your office you can have them login to the site and then you can download the K1 for them. No way would I use their account and password to login without them present. If they can't come to your office, ask them if they have a relative, friend or neighbor who can help them.

[TAXNJ]

What a ridiculous....

That excuse wears a little thin after a while. If they are in their eighties now, they were only in their sixties when the web first came into widespread use, and they've had twenty years to learn and adjust. And they were only in their fifties when personal computers became widespread. Or are we going to start saying that someone in their sixties can't be expected to learn anything new, even with twenty years in which to do it?

And why does someone need to be "close by" to assist? An adult relative anywhere in the country could easily assist someone with downloading a tax document from a web site.

comment.

Whether it is a senior and/or younger person who does not use a computer and/or internet, it is their preference. There are contractors who refuse to use computers. There are some accountants that don't use computers.

If they want to continue to use paper, so be it.

As poster GRETEL says, "...elderly clients sometimes need a little more help...", so those that can help them the better.

Who are you to judge their method of record keeping? If you do not want that type of customer, fine, but no reason to judge their record keeping preference.

[Burke]

I have been doing taxes for 40 years. A lot of my clientele is aging and some do not have computers. I have gotten brokerage 1099 statements from financial advisors via email with whom I work every year, with the client's permission, without the least bit of trouble. It takes 3 minutes max. Some them just send them to me automatically. There are at most three to five clients. I just print what I need and my preparation fee reflects that. I do not call banks for info, or track down deductions like real estate and property tax amounts, etc. etc. I guess it depends on your clientele and the relationship you have with the taxpayer. Perhaps that is why I rarely lose a client to another preparer or even to TurboTax.

[Rapid Robert]

What a ridiculous....comment. Who are you to judge their method of record keeping? If you do not want that type of customer, fine, but no reason to judge their record keeping preference.

What a ridiculous comment. I'll judge whoever I want whenever I please. I have several elderly clients who like to work with paper, but they don't expect me to get their documents from a third party. This a tax forum, and I was expressing an opinion about an excuse being offered for why someone couldn't handle basic tax filing requirements. I didn't expect everyone to agree, but to imply that I can't even offer an opinion here is what is ridiculous, others including you do it all the time.

[Gretel]

That excuse wears a little thin after a while. If they are in their eighties now, they were only in their sixties when the web first came into widespread use, and they've had twenty years to learn and adjust. And they were only in their fifties when personal computers became widespread. Or are we going to start saying that someone in their sixties can't be expected to learn anything new, even with twenty years in which to do it?

And why does someone need to be "close by" to assist? An adult relative anywhere in the country could easily assist someone with downloading a tax document from a web site.

And how is this helpful?

It's OK if you operate your business not having any compassion, and I mean compassion not pity - that just makes people blind.

[taxea]

That excuse wears a little thin after a while. If they are in their eighties now, they were only in their sixties when the web first came into widespread use, and they've had twenty years to learn and adjust. And they were only in their fifties when personal computers became widespread. Or are we going to start saying that someone in their sixties can't be expected to learn anything new, even with twenty years in which to do it?

And why does someone need to be "close by" to assist? An adult relative anywhere in the country could easily assist someone with downloading a tax document from a web site.

Not everyone cares about computers and the internet. I hate it when companies assume otherwise.

[Rapid Robert]

And how is this helpful?

It's OK if you operate your business not having any compassion, and I mean compassion not pity - that just makes people blind.

My comment wasn't intended to be helpful. It was an opinion. I was simply pointing out that the Internet is not something that just suddenly fell out of the clear blue sky last week onto the head of the elderly person. Constantly classifying a subset of seniors as people who need "extra help" isn't doing them or anyone else any favors. Seniors (including me) are going to be under enough pressure in coming decades as they swell the upper age range of the population and take more and more government benefits without paying much back in. We don't need any additional perception of being incapable of basic tasks of a citizen.

As to the another comments, someone who CHOOSES not to uses computers or the internet cannot legitimately use that as an EXCUSE, since it was their choice. It would be like telling your boss that you are routinely late to work because you CHOOSE to drive a car and get stuck in traffic instead of taking available public transit. That's not an excuse, it's a choice. The comment I first responded to made it sound like these poor seniors had no choice, I was simply pointing out that for decades they actually have had a choice.

[taxea]

My comment wasn't intended to be helpful. It was an opinion. I was simply pointing out that the Internet is not something that just suddenly fell out of the clear blue sky last week onto the head of the elderly person. Constantly classifying a subset of seniors as people who need "extra help" isn't doing them or anyone else any favors. Seniors (including me) are going to be under enough pressure in coming decades as they swell the upper age range of the population and take more and more government benefits without paying much back in. We don't need any additional perception of being incapable of basic tasks of a citizen.

As to the another comments, someone who CHOOSES not to uses computers or the internet cannot legitimately use that as an EXCUSE, since it was their choice. It would be like telling your boss that you are routinely late to work because you CHOOSE to drive a car and get stuck in traffic instead of taking available public transit. That's not an excuse, it's a choice. The comment I first responded to made it sound like these poor seniors had no choice, I was simply pointing out that for decades they actually have had a choice.

And if it their choice they are entitled to it.