Tax organizer... You still use them?

[Unregistered]

I am currently in the process of printing off client organizers for my clients again. I think I have killed 10 trees this morning alone. Do you guys still use them? If not, do you offer them an online version, or? I still have several clients that like them but most do not even use them anymore. I use them more as a means of client retention. For some reason many clients believe that if their "tax person" has gone to the trouble of creating the organizer, they are obligated to have them do their taxes again.

Any thoughts?

[John of PA]

Yes I do

Yes I still use them. They are my quality control sheet where I write notes, etc. in the margin, to back up my 1040's. If the client does not fill one out, then I do as my worksheets. I tried the Email version and did not like it. There was too many questions from the client that the client did not know where to put items. One client did both a paper and an Email organizer just so I have the paper as a backup (making more work for me). While we must do what we can to save trees, we can't be saving trees when it gets in the way of getting the job done (being organized). Also trees can be replanted. Hope this helps.

[Bees Knees]

I had a client several years ago who got audited. Among other things, the auditor adjusted charitable contributions to half of what we had put on the tax return, because the client lost his records when his basement was flooded. The auditor’s reasoning was that everybody just estimates charitable contributions anyway, so since he couldn’t prove otherwise, he would split the difference.

Then I got involved with the audit and I submitted the original organizer that the client had filled out for me. I told the auditor that my client filled out the organizer at the time using the evidence that was no longer available due to the flood. Therefore, the organizer reflects a more accurate estimate of what the actual receipts would have proven had they survived the flood.

The auditor caved and gave him all his charitable deductions back.

[Unregistered]

Organizer

So those of you that DO still use an organizer, do you use a generic one or do you use one that prints from your tax software program. My organizers average between 20 and 30 pages long.

[Joe Btfsplk]

Organizer

I have had new clients come in with organizers the filled out for the prior accountant. I never give them an organizer since they cover the waterfront and contain superfluous info that does not affect all clients. It would seem to overwhelm a lot of people who come to a CPA because they do not want to fill out forms themselves. Filling out some of the organizers I've seen would take more time than I take to do the returns.

[natiro]

Organizers

I used to send organizers to all my clients. Now I only send organizers to clients who have used them (and returned them to me, filled out) in the prior year. For all the other clients, I sent out a letter which lists documents that I will need and also mentions that I only send organizers to clients who have used them in the past but that if they'd lke one, they should contact me and I'll send one immediately. Last year I sent out 70 organizers and got 2 requests for ones that I did not originally send out. The system works for me. . .saves me $ on paper, ink, and postage. . .not to mention time!

[natiro]

Organizers, again

I forgot to mention that I use the organizer from Lacerte but have it set up to only print pages when they are applicable to that client.

[Unregistered]

I used to send organizers to all my clients. Now I only send organizers to clients who have used them (and returned them to me, filled out) in the prior year. For all the other clients, I sent out a letter which lists documents that I will need and also mentions that I only send organizers to clients who have used them in the past but that if they'd lke one, they should contact me and I'll send one immediately. Last year I sent out 70 organizers and got 2 requests for ones that I did not originally send out. The system works for me. . .saves me $ on paper, ink, and postage. . .not to mention time!

Would you mind sharing the letter you send to those clients that do not receive an organizer?

Thanks in advance.

[DAVEEA]

Natiro is right on the money. I only send organizers from my software, Ultratax, that contain pages that are pertinent to that client, and only to clients who have used the organizer in the past, and still want to use it again. For all others I send a letter with info about what things to gather for the tax appointment, and the pre-scheduled tax appointment time and date.

Save trees ... go paperless, as much as possible.

[Petitfin]

No, it upsets my clients!

I found that my clients decided that when I sent an organizer, it made them work harder and they thought that was my job. I have 10 or 15 (out of 2,000) clients that request them, and of course I send them. But in my preseason reminder card, I tell anyone that wants one to request it and get only 10 or 15 replys.

[Jiggers]

Organizers

I send them to a select group of clients: Those that will use them! Just a few clients. I add a $2.50 Per organizer page for printing & mailing costs to my fee and then give a 20% discount if the client used properly.

[Jim R]

Nobody looks at them

At the start of the year I send a greeting letter, summary of tax changes and a 2 page organizer - checklist. I keep my total letter to less than an ounce to save postage. Most people do not use the organizer. I am always suprised at the number of people every year that hand me back my letter UNOPENED.

[Snaggletooth]

Double Work

I understand why you folks love these organizers, but my clients would think they are a joke. They simply wouldn't fill them out. Many of them figure out if they could spend the time to fill out all those pages for me, they might as well fill out their tax forms themselves.

Of course, if they did this they would make mistakes galore. But that wouldn't stop them from doing their own returns -- and I lose their business whether they are right or wrong.
If you lose business for the wrong reason, the effect on YOU is the same as if you had lost them for the right reason.

[Matt Sova]

Organizer

How can you save time sending organizers just to clients that use them? I have over 400 tax clients and it would take me FOREVER to figure out who used it, who did not, etc. I use UltraTax and it prints only the pertinent pages and I use the Lite version so it is not as thick as it use to be. One of these days when I am get even cheaper I will print it in duplex.

They do offer a web and an e-mail organizer, although I haven't looked into those.

[natiro]

organizer

It saves me time because I am a sole practitioner with no employees and do everything myself! I prepare about 290 returns during the year of which about 225 are for individuals. Many of my clients have been with me for 10 years so for the most part I know which clients use their organizers and which don't. It saves me time because I'm the one printing, stuffing, weighing and mailing and there's a big difference between 75 organizers and 225! I use my due date tracking software to export my client list data base and then choose the clients from the export to merge into each of the 3 different letters I send out. This process doesn't really take that much time. If I had a larger practice, with employees to whom I had to explain all this, I'd probably do it differently!!! As I do this each year, I am able to update client info (changes of address, etc.) in all three places that have that info. . .my due date tracking software, my time and billing software, and my tax program. While I try to update all three places during the year, I often find, during this process, that I missed the change in one place or another.

As far as client usage. . .the clients who use the organizers seem to like to have them. Some don't actually fill them out but they use them to remind them of the information they should be gathering since last year's info is included. Probably 75% of my clients came with me when I left the firm I used to work for and we sent them to everyone so they're used to getting them. Last year was the first year that I didn't send them to everyone and it seemed to work.