Our CPA misled us

[luke]

What did I miss?

this post is from 2007 - I'm still fairly new to forum so what's up?

[BOB W]

How did this thread come alive again?????????? Don't bother reading it as it will take an hour or more.

[dsi]

Veritas nailed it. Nevertheless, I would never consider asking someone else to pay the penalties & interest that I was if fact responsible for. All to often in the world today, nobody seems to want to be accountable for themselves.

[Zee]

To be honest, I'd return your tax preparation fee, and tell you to find someone else next year. Anyone can make a mistake, and I agree with many of the others. You asked him for an estimate before he had a chance to complete the return, but want a guarantee of accuracy. I suppose I might guarantee the accuracy of such an estimate, but you'd pay for it in the preparation fee. Would you have doubled his fee if your refund was twice as much as you expected, or complain about it?

[kthurman]

Undercharging for tax preparation services

You all asked for the results.

Hubby & I tried to 3-way call the CPA (he IS a CPA) today. As usual, he did not answer and we waited until early afternoon for him to call back. Hubby got the call.

Apparently the issue was a dispersement that Hubby had entered into the spreadsheet of income & expneses. CPA did not see that and was going off the the W-2s only when he said hubby was getting a refund.

So, yes, it's a classic case of miscommunication. Hubby is mad now, because he says CPA should have looked more closely. I would say they both bear some responsibility.

His penalty is about $75. I do plan to deduct this from the CPA's bill of $325.

To answer some of your questions about why hubby owes from years past... he was always self employed and never hired an accountant to help him. He was young and, well, stupid about taxes. April would come, and he had never saved enough money. He was a single dad and was pretty poor. He was just trying to eat. He comes from a family that never taught him about finanes. They are all pretty irresponsible.

Now that we are married (and he is actually in a salaried position for the first time) things will be better because I am handling all the books and bills. This will NOT happen again.

Personally, this is why I think it makes sense to prepare less returns for higher fess than fewer returns for lower fees. There's no way I could do a tax return for $375 and make a profit on it. Rushing through returns because you undercharge and have too many prepare does a disservice to both Taxpayers and the CPA profession.

[Bird Legs]

Hear from the Breck Girl Again?

Maybe they have left on their missionary trip. Be back next year at this time.

[BOB W]

I wouldn't be suprised if 50% + of those small businesses that do not have employees, have "off the books" employees........

[Black Bart]

Beats me.

Question:

...are we to assume these are Schedule C or 1065 businesses that do not have employees? Or can an owner/employee of an S Corporation fit into this category? Are these business owners who do all the work themselves? Or are these businesses that pay their workers on a 1099 rather than a W-2? Are we to assume that there is an abuse of the employee / independent contractor issue? Or a combination of all of the above?

Having frequently copied my homework word-for-word out of the encyclopedia, I tend to go with Thoreau, but there's bound to be some of your fellow nit-pickers on the board that know.

[Bees Knees]

Question: By using the term “non-employer,” are we to assume these are Schedule C or 1065 businesses that do not have employees? Or can an owner/employee of an S Corporation fit into this category? Are these business owners who do all the work themselves? Or are these businesses that pay their workers on a 1099 rather than a W-2? Are we to assume that there is an abuse of the employee / independent contractor issue? Or a combination of all of the above?

We need some tax terminology translation here before we can analyze these numbers.

[Black Bart]

Filibuster

Looks like we're shooting for 5K, so I'll do my part.

Ahem: The following wonderfully interesting and informative information is courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau ('02 count). I'll be paraphrasing (look it up) a bit -- oh, nevermind; don't look it up; I'll tell you what it means. It's restating the meaning of something by using words that are different from the original words of the document. I've noticed famous writer folks do that a lot and, aspiring to also be artsy-smartsy, I'm doin' it too (now you've learned somethin' besides taxes today and you're a better person for it ).

(1) About 75% of all U.S. business firms have no payroll. However, since their sales are only 3 1/2% of total receipts, they are not included in most business statistics, for example, most reports from the Economic Census do not include them (but isn't being 3/4 of all businesses significant, regardless of sales?).

(2) Since 1997, nonemployers have grown faster than employer firms.

(3) Number of firms: all firms - 23,343,821 / employer - 5,697,759 / non-employer - 17,646,062

(4) Employment size of firms
Firms with 1 to 4 employees - 2,695,606
Firms with 5 to 9 " - 1,010,804
Firms with 10 to 19 " - 613,880
Firms with 20 to 99 " - 508,249
Firms with 100 & above " - 869,220
(I've heard politicians say that small businesses employ the majority of people in the U.S. and I guess it's true).

(5) Receipt Size of Employer Firms
Less than $100,000 - 1,291,552
$100,000-$500,000 - 2,387,780
$500,000-$1 million - 819,513
$1 to $5 million - 906,936
Above $5 million - 291,978

Class dismissed.


Simplify; simplify. -- THOREAU

[S T]

Do you ever think

Will we ever hear from Breckgirl again???

Sandy

[RLymanC]

Cpa

Whay was the question????

[Bird Legs]

Why Not Keep It Going

It is still 4 months before tax season will be starting again.
Or has this one ended yet?
Ditto about hearing the outcome of all this.

[oceanlovin'ea]

I'll do my part

to boost the ratings on this thread.

I too would like to hear from Breckgirl again.

Linda F

[thomtax]

Heck

I would not want to miss being a part of possibly the longest thread going.