The last returns

[veritas]

How many calls can you make to get missing information? Is 6 calls enough? 10? Why is it while I am struggling to complete these last tax returns my clients are answering me from fishing boats and hunting trips? What is wrong with this picture?

[DTS]

Fishing boats

It's the same here! I believe two calls, maybe three, which would include emails is more than enough.

I'm taking the attitude: if they don't care enough, I don't care enough!

Dennis

[JohnH]

I've resorted to threats

I'm telling my final procrastinators that I need to be out of the office from Oct 10-18 for personal reasons, so if they don't get their info to me before Oct 10, their return may be late-filed. So far that's shaken info loose from a half-dozen of them.

[S T]

What I have done

After 4 months of trying to obtain the necessary information, I have notified the "stragglers" that if I do not have their information in by 9/25/07, their return will not be completed for the 10/15/07 deadline, as we are relocating the office and installing new computers systems during the month of October.

That has produced some information needed via email and fax.

Sandy

[sea-tax]

I give people two phone calls or e-mails and a letter first of August giving them until sept 1 if I don't hear from them then they are SOL . I will finish it when I see fit , if they don't like it then they can find someone else. I also include a heafty PITA fee.

After that I simply let it go , i forget about it , The work could sit in my files for months and it could collect all sorts of dust , makes no matter to me.

[JohnH]

The one I like best

I have one client who for years has followed pretty much the same pattern:

1) First phone call in early April to ask me to file an extension - 1/2 hr
2) Panic phone call in early Aug asking if it's due by the 15th - 1/2 hr
3) Next phone call in late Aug telling me she's working on it - 1/2 hr
4) Panic phone call in mid-Sept asking it it's due by the 15th - 1/2 hr
5) Phone call in late Sep-early Oct to tell me info is almost ready - 1/2 hr
6) Follow-up phone call to tell me she did put info in the mail to me -1/2 hr
7) Time to prepare return & mail it back to her - 3/4 hr

Total billable time for a 45 minute return -> 3-3/4 hrs

Sometimes there's also a panic call in late Oct to tell me she forgot to mail the return. Not a big deal since she usually has a refund. I try to be nice about it and usually don't bill her for this call.

[geekgirldany]

I've got 4 that have not picked up returns or gave me enough information to finish them. Plus two that have not even called or came by. I told one lady to come in September. This is when she called the day before August 15 thinking her return is due. I have another customer that his tax return is completely done. But before it is finish he will will call me atleast 3 days before it is due to see if I can make additional "adjustments". It always comes out the same I can't make additional adjustments it is what it is.

I thought I would like this extended date of Oct 15 but I am not really diggin it. This thread reminds me to call and send out letters next week.

[Jiggers]

Getting information

While I bill based on the form or schedule, I do keep track of "interruptions" trying to get the missing info. Starting and stopping and waiting takes time. That time I bill at $90/hour to my regular fee. Maybe not enough, but does cover some of the aggravation.

[geekgirldany]

I need to start billing for time on the phone. I have found myself lately spending anywhere from 20 minutes to 40 minutes on the phone with a customer. I have never billed for this time but it is getting to the point where I may have to. More time on the phone than working. I have even started setting a time to call people back. Trying not to answer the phone either.

[JohnH]

Do you use email with clients?

I've cut my phone time considerably by emailing clients. I'll email a simple question to a client rather than pick up the phone & call them, simply in order to establish that as a preferred means of communication. Then if you have a lengthly question that requires a detailed answer, email is already understood to be the default method of exchanging info. It takes much less time than making phone calls back & forth, leaving messages, talking about the weather, etc.

Establishing email communications is also great with clients who have questions during the off-season. They can email the questions to you and you can respond at your leisure, usually in much more detail than in a phone conversation. And the rigor of their writing their questions & your writing your responses really focuses on the issue at hand, forcing both of you to stick to the subject wirthout getting distracted by side issues.

[TaxBird]

I don't agree with making up reasons to establish deadlines with these characters. I just tell them 'if I don't get it by this date, it doesn't get done'. And then I stick to it. No one has asked why. I suspect they know why.

[TaxBird]

Emails

I use emails for the majority of client correspondence. Not only is it a time saver but it serves as my audit trail as to what I did or did not tell them. I only have a few weasels as clients but for the few who are intentionally obtuse it saves me the 'you didn't tell me that' conversation.

As for the phone, I avoid it. I have a standing policy to return calls within 24 business hours. However, throughout the day I let the voice mails accumulate and set aside two or three times during the day for call backs. First thing in the morning is when I return calls from the night before.

I also shut off my cell phone when I leave for the day. Some people think any time is a good time for chit chat - rarely have any 'late night calls' been emergencies.

[Golden Rocket]

Their Problem

Six times? Ten times? As long as YOU are the one being driven crazy, there is no limit to how many times you will have to call. If you are calling six times or ten times, your strategy is obviously not working.

What you have to do is turn the tables such that the fallout is on THEM and not YOU. For example, my fees are 50% higher for people who do not make their appointment by April 1st. I don't think our attitude is right if we take the position that we "don't care." But I like the post which says "if it doesn't get done, it doesn't get done."

Geekgirl had an interesting post, indicating she first thought moving the deadline from Aug 15 to Oct 15 would help. In reality, all that happens is the August logjam stress has become the October logjam stress. Same people, late every year. You can give them until December and it wouldn't make any difference. Their habits, and not the dates, are the real problem. Out of the extension crowd, very few of them have legitimate reasons for not filing on April 15th. It may be argued that some corporate circumstances or other entity problems create these delays, but if you looked into it, you would discover that they approach their corporate accounting with the same degree of urgency that they do their personal.

One method which may get their attention is to send in a large payment with the April extension. The same clients who somehow think they can jerk you around, fully understand that they cannot influence the IRS to wait on their money without penalty.

What I've found out about "late" tax behavior, is that it is 50% procrastination and 50% inability to make decisions. If you can help them make decisions earlier, you might avoid some of the October stress.

At any rate, you will not see improvement with this group of clients until you can place the consequences on THEM and not YOU. This doesn't require a bad attitude, or arbitrary countenance, just a firm hand.

[DTS]

Late filers

GR,

I like your approach of turning the tables on them, putting the consequences of delaying on THEM and not us. I do try to stress this when the deadline starts to approach and info is still not in. I used bad terminology when I said I "don't care". Not true, as I do care. However, I do see a lot of clients that do take the lazy, laid-back attitude, which I interpret as "not being concerned" with the consequences.

I just get to a point after months of doing this dance with these clients that I don't feel like opening the file for the 20th time, revisiting and going over all the information, once again, when the return could have been completed months before. Then the calls with "their" sense of urgency.

So, from now on, I'll tell "if it doesn't get done, it doesn't get done". I bet I'll see a change of attitude quickly!

Dennis

[JohnH]

Caring vs feeling

I'm a feeling person, but not a caring person.
What's the difference, you ask?

I really don't care, but sometimes I feel bad about not caring.