2022 tax appointments

[Bucky]

Just wanted to get a fell what others are doing this tax season concerning sit down appointments. I had almost everyone drop off/mail-in or send online through a portal all their tax info. Previously I was about 80% sit down office appointments 20% mail in etc. I like in office but with the new variant etc not sure how to proceed.

[RWG1950]

I'm office in-home. Haven't allowed a customer in my office since March of 2020.
Probably the new normal for many of us. Even prior to that though, I'd been weening customers off office meetings.
Office face time is expensive for a preparer. Most of us are probably more productive without this.
If a preparer stays in touch with a customer during the year, dropping off or mailing docs will work well.
When a customer requests a face to face for a signature, I have them park at curbside & go out to their car to get it.
Just like a Mcdonald's drive through - without the coke & fries.

[Gretel]

This is a very personal choice. I have a very small office in a rural very small town. I never closed my doors, my clients and I like the personal touch. I learned early on - through experience with a friend with Covid and me getting Covid myself - that this a so much not in our control that we as well might want to relax and enjoy life as best as we can.

[BOB W]

I give all my client the choice of drop off, mail, email, fax, or a sit-down appointment. For me sit-downs are the most productive. I can finish their return with all the questions answered and wrap it up with signed 8879s, plus print the returns, give them their copy and collect my fee (never to see them until next year). I tell them that I have a plexiglass screen and I sanitize in between each appointment and wear a mask. Last year it was about 50/50. This year I expect 80/20. 80% for appointments.

It just seems, without an appointment, so much time is spent with phone calls (playing phone tag) for sometimes as little things like driver's license expired during the tax year, "can you text me the front and back". (NYS requires info on the back of the driver's license). This year the advanced child tax credit and $1,400 stimulus verification needs to be addressed and a host of other issues when reviewing 2020 to 2021 for potential missing items. The list can go on and on.

[taxgirl]

I plan to do what the client wants. Both have their advantages

[Lion]

I'm pretty much like RWG, except I do NOT go out to their car. If a client wants to sign or pick up or whatever locally, I put a card table in my garage and open the garage door when they arrive. They can be out of the winter weather but have no contact with me. I have a large mail slot in my front door for drop-offs, even if I'm not around. With Omicron and wanting/needing to babysit my granddaughters (too young for vaccinations) for a week this winter, NO one will enter my home office during this coming tax season.

[Twin Turbo Z]

We did some remodeling. Always had a small lobby/waiting area, but it was open to the office area. Put up a door and installed sliding glass and some stainless steel counters for clients to drop off and sign. No sit down appointments (more efficient). The past two years we have utilized a pick up box and drop off box (separate boxes). Scheduled all pickups by appointment. Was a hassle, especially when clients scheduled pickup and reschedule at the last minute. With the closed off lobby clients can come and go during operating hours. And there is limited contact. The past two years we have not gotten sick from clients who do not care if they make you sick. Want their taxes done no matter how sick they may be. Prior to the shutdowns, getting the flu or some bug was the norm during tax season. Times have changed. If clients insist they need a sit down, and a phone call will not suffice. We kindly thank them and send them on their way.

[MRPLOW]

Last season I was 85% sit down and 15% drop-off. I expect that to go back to around 95% sit down this season.

I'm also a fan of sit-down appointments, way to much phone and email tag. With Drivers license, stimulus credits, advance child credits, and Bitcoin. Accuracy is also much higher in sit-down appointments, not to mention tax planning tips. There are just to many questions for the average return now. I've also found that just doing drop-offs really makes the day drag and is generally boring.

My version of a sit-down appointment is entering basic tax info (W-2's, 1099's, ect.). Brokerage statements and other complications are worked on later. This is about 20-40 minutes for most clients. Come back in 3-7 days to pick up completed version. I have about 20 returns that I complete and hand the finished product to client at end of appointment, for various reasons (easy returns they and live 20+ minutes away).

About 50% of returns are completed at appointment. Give them an estimate and talk about changes, after they walk out the door I print the return, set it in my pile and call for pick-up in a few days.

[Snaggletooth]

I meet with customers in their home, only a handful come to the house. Too many coming to the house endangers domestic tranquility, and my wife is hurting from a Thanksgiving lung cancer operation (which was successful).

I can't deduct office-in-home, but I have tremendous write-offs for auto expense. The autos I use are 15 yrs old, so my true operating cost is less than half of the mileage allowance.

[EvenKeelTax]

Most of my clients, 95%+, will be sit-down clients face-to-face. I'll finish the majority of them the same day because I have a lot of simple ones. SSA, 1099R, w2, stuff like that. The more complex ones and the ones that require many pages of brokerage statements will be drop-offs to finish later after an initial meeting. I do have an office separate from my home.