Well folks, it had to happen sooner or later. I am between jobs with nothing
going on except my 120 tax clients. A friend of mine runs a fast refund tax
place, and had one of his people quit, so I offered to come help him for a
couple weeks during the heat of the season. It was a real fire drill.
I've heard all the horror stories from the earned income crowd, and had the
opportunity to see just how bad it was. A 350 lb. woman came in and said
she cleaned houses for a living. No W-2, no 1099, but claimed she cleaned
4 houses a week for $50 per house. A daughter she claimed lived with her
meant [poof!!] a $2500 refund. Dropped her handbag and she couldn't bend
over to pick it up. But she cleans houses for a living. Also I was amazed
at the large number of customers who had no bank accounts.
Even with me helping, the office was swamped. The IRS had shut down
another fast tax place in town for undisclosed reasons, and my friend was
getting the overflow. One customer came in to get her taxes done, and said
she had worked at the other place before they shut it down. My friend hired
her on the spot, after filling out her taxes. I kid you not.
I found out quickly about my friend's expertise. He knew more than any of
his crew, but he knew more about e-filing and bank products than anything
else. Overall, a decent guy and not a crook. I brought him "grey area" decisions
to make since these were his customers. Most of the time he was easier
than myself, but not always.
The "fast tax" option was with a bank I never heard of, and to be honest
with you, the fees were reasonable. A flat $35 plus about 54% interest. This
may sound high, but the total fee was about 1/3 of what was being charged
by HRB in most cases. Charges never ran over $220 even including the
preparers' fee. If all RALs were this reasonable, I would not be so adamant
against them.
One of the other experienced preparers attempted to coax customers into
claiming enough income to reach some $15,000 where EIC is maximized.
I had a real problem with that. I would estimate some 50% of these people
were lying about either their marital status or children, or maybe both. One
woman brought in six social security cards with five different last names,
all of them supposedly her own children. Supporting all of them as head
of household on a $9000 W-2.
There was a huge number of amended returns, and he wanted me to do all
of them because I knew more about them. People would come in and
somehow "forget" they worked 3 months for another employer. In such a
terrible hurry to get their hands on money with no concern about the effect
of having to refile. After cashing out on their original return, they would bring
in another W-2 and pay another $50 to get the amended return filled out.
I believe the amended returns resulted in a bigger refund maybe 60-70%
of the time.
His office processes over 2000 returns typically, and I hope with the shutdown
of the other competitor, he will do over 3000 this year. Population in his county
is around 25,000 including children. Not bad for the kind of operation he has.
Maybe some of you will find this interesting. It was quite interesting for
myself as well.
going on except my 120 tax clients. A friend of mine runs a fast refund tax
place, and had one of his people quit, so I offered to come help him for a
couple weeks during the heat of the season. It was a real fire drill.
I've heard all the horror stories from the earned income crowd, and had the
opportunity to see just how bad it was. A 350 lb. woman came in and said
she cleaned houses for a living. No W-2, no 1099, but claimed she cleaned
4 houses a week for $50 per house. A daughter she claimed lived with her
meant [poof!!] a $2500 refund. Dropped her handbag and she couldn't bend
over to pick it up. But she cleans houses for a living. Also I was amazed
at the large number of customers who had no bank accounts.
Even with me helping, the office was swamped. The IRS had shut down
another fast tax place in town for undisclosed reasons, and my friend was
getting the overflow. One customer came in to get her taxes done, and said
she had worked at the other place before they shut it down. My friend hired
her on the spot, after filling out her taxes. I kid you not.
I found out quickly about my friend's expertise. He knew more than any of
his crew, but he knew more about e-filing and bank products than anything
else. Overall, a decent guy and not a crook. I brought him "grey area" decisions
to make since these were his customers. Most of the time he was easier
than myself, but not always.
The "fast tax" option was with a bank I never heard of, and to be honest
with you, the fees were reasonable. A flat $35 plus about 54% interest. This
may sound high, but the total fee was about 1/3 of what was being charged
by HRB in most cases. Charges never ran over $220 even including the
preparers' fee. If all RALs were this reasonable, I would not be so adamant
against them.
One of the other experienced preparers attempted to coax customers into
claiming enough income to reach some $15,000 where EIC is maximized.
I had a real problem with that. I would estimate some 50% of these people
were lying about either their marital status or children, or maybe both. One
woman brought in six social security cards with five different last names,
all of them supposedly her own children. Supporting all of them as head
of household on a $9000 W-2.
There was a huge number of amended returns, and he wanted me to do all
of them because I knew more about them. People would come in and
somehow "forget" they worked 3 months for another employer. In such a
terrible hurry to get their hands on money with no concern about the effect
of having to refile. After cashing out on their original return, they would bring
in another W-2 and pay another $50 to get the amended return filled out.
I believe the amended returns resulted in a bigger refund maybe 60-70%
of the time.
His office processes over 2000 returns typically, and I hope with the shutdown
of the other competitor, he will do over 3000 this year. Population in his county
is around 25,000 including children. Not bad for the kind of operation he has.
Maybe some of you will find this interesting. It was quite interesting for
myself as well.
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