Advised Not to File

[KBTS]

I was talking to someone at the store yesterday and the topic of taxes came us since the person knew I prepare taxes. They own a business, so I said something about filing season starting soon and needing to get ready. They said they still needed to get their 2006 taxes filed and I asked why they had not filed yet. Their response was that their accountant advised them not to file since they did not have the cash to pay the balance due and it would be best to wait to file until they could pay the entire amount.

Maybe they did not me all the details or there is more to the story, but that seems like really bad advice to me. Anyone else agree or can you think of a reason the accountant would recommend this?

[JohnH]

Perhaps

Is it possible that he advised them that he can't prepare anything for them until they can pay him for his work, and they are simply misquoting him?

[Jesse]

I would say this is very bad advice. If they did file without paying they would at least have saved the late filing fee.

[taxmandan]

That was bad advice from their accountant/barber, or was it the accountant/neighbor, or maybe the accountant/nieces' boyfriends' sister? No legitimate licensed Accountant/Tax Professional would say such a thing.

[Nashville]

Suspicious

I don't believe your client. Are there accountants that are so stupid? Maybe, but I don't know of any.

There is a 90% chance your client is making this up, a 9% chance he is confused, and at the most a 1% chance an accountant told him such a thing.

Every now and then, I get a chance to pick up a new business customer. During initial conversations they might tell me how happy they are that I will be doing their work because "the accountant we had last year was just simply horrible."

All too often, after getting knee-deep in their work, I will find out why they were on such miserable terms with their prior year accountant. Sometimes I go through their stuff and find out last year's accountant hasn't even been paid. They expect the accountant to fill in huge gaps of missing information, read their mind, and work with records which are either non-existent or fraudulent.

I would be suspicious.

[Bees Knees]

There is a 90% chance your client is making this up, a 9% chance he is confused, and at the most a 1% chance an accountant told him such a thing.

I agree. No tax professionals could be that stupid.

Just goes to show what kind of twisted things our clients could be saying about us after they leave to shop around for another tax person.