Doing Clients by Mail

[myerstaxes]

To Black Bart

Bart, I am a female...LOL...
Anyway, I never worked in a Service Center, but when I was an analyst I had to visit them, and evaluate some of their projects...Been to Fresno, Ogden and Cincinnati Service Centers...Oh and Memphis too!!
To answer your question, when paper filed returns come through they are transcribed by the staff there manually...They do not have time to flag them for issues per se,(but they can bounce out of the system for various reasons based on the input of the data, such as a tax protestor, EIC and exemptions) they are on production and work at an amazing speed to transcribe all the data on them...Basically, returns are selected for various reasons, dif selection, income matching (much later in the year when all data is in from Detroit) EIC, special projects (they have a smooth system to drill down to these), exemptions that have been claimed by someone else (this happens very quickly when the SSN's bump up against one already filed for that child)...Other than that, not having been a service center employee, I am not familiar with all they do at the input stages...

[JohnH]

OK - My turn to ask

I'd like to ask if you can enlighten us about whether filing an extension has any impact on audit probability. I've read all sorts of speculation about it.

The one that has the most appeal to me is that returns filed in Sept- Oct have missed the current audit cycle and are thrown in with the following year. With incomes generally rising due to market forces and inflation, this would mean that your DIF score is being calculated against returns having a higher probability of higher DIF scores in relation to yours and thus you would have a slightly lower probability of audit. Barring a glaring problem that would cause you to be selected for audit outright, this line of reasoning does make some sense from a statistical sampling point of view.

Do you have any insight into that question?

[oceanlovin'ea]

Fax 8879

I have several clients that live out of state. I fax them a copy of the return and the 8879. They sign it and fax it back to me. Works great.
Also some children of clients who are away at school. I do the returns give the parents the 8879. They fax to children and children fax to me. Works great too. These people I have not seen, but I trust their parents.
Last year I did have one man I never met that we emailed and faxed form to him. His sister had recommended he call me and he was in Texas for the winter.

I think it should be based on an return by return basis. You know if that person sounds on the level or sounds fishy. I think by now we all have pretty good instincts about these things.

Linda F

[geekgirldany]

Since this thread is about mailing returns I thought I would just ask this here than starting another one.

For those that mail the returns to customers what method do you use? USPS, UPS, FedEX?

It seems to me that by the time I stand in line at the Post Office and pay for priority/certified mail it costs as much as UPS. I sent a customer's return to them today at UPS and the cost was $8.50. But it only took me 5 minutes.

[Larmil]

USPS Priority with delivery confirmation

Since this thread is about mailing returns I thought I would just ask this here than starting another one.

For those that mail the returns to customers what method do you use? USPS, UPS, FedEX?

It seems to me that by the time I stand in line at the Post Office and pay for priority/certified mail it costs as much as UPS. I sent a customer's return to them today at UPS and the cost was $8.50. But it only took me 5 minutes.

using Stamps.com. I print the label & postage. The carrier picks it up.

[geekgirldany]

Do you do certified mail?

[Larmil]

Do you do certified mail?

No, unless it is to the taxing authorities. We just use delivery confirmation on client mail.

[myerstaxes]

To John

I'd like to ask if you can enlighten us about whether filing an extension has any impact on audit probability. I've read all sorts of speculation about it.

The one that has the most appeal to me is that returns filed in Sept- Oct have missed the current audit cycle and are thrown in with the following year. With incomes generally rising due to market forces and inflation, this would mean that your DIF score is being calculated against returns having a higher probability of higher DIF scores in relation to yours and thus you would have a slightly lower probability of audit. Barring a glaring problem that would cause you to be selected for audit outright, this line of reasoning does make some sense from a statistical sampling point of view.

Do you have any insight into that question?

I have audited many returns, and no I never noticed any difference between those filed timely and those on an extension...

[Black Bart]

Dear Ms./Mrs. Myers

Bart, I am a female...LOL...
Anyway, I never worked in a Service Center, but when I was an analyst I had to visit them, and evaluate some of their projects...Been to Fresno, Ogden and Cincinnati Service Centers...Oh and Memphis too!!
To answer your question, when paper filed returns come through they are transcribed by the staff there manually...They do not have time to flag them for issues per se,(but they can bounce out of the system for various reasons based on the input of the data, such as a tax protestor, EIC and exemptions) they are on production and work at an amazing speed to transcribe all the data on them...Basically, returns are selected for various reasons, dif selection, income matching (much later in the year when all data is in from Detroit) EIC, special projects (they have a smooth system to drill down to these), exemptions that have been claimed by someone else (this happens very quickly when the SSN's bump up against one already filed for that child)...Other than that, not having been a service center employee, I am not familiar with all they do at the input stages...

We aren't gender-biased (cross my heart) and even though I don't get all the candy in the store, any insights (IRS or otherwise) you have are much appreciated.

Thanks & regards, BB

[geekgirldany]

Myers would you happen to be the same Myers that is over at the TaxChat on Yahoo?

[taxxcpa]

Nigerian clients

How do you know who your talking to, if you've never met them. 8879 instructions indicate "You should confirm the identity of the taxpayer(s)". Let's hope they don't live in Nigeria.

All my Nigerian clients actually live in the USA and have a Nigerian email address for scamming purposes.

[taxxcpa]

Walk-ins

I have a few clients I have "Never" seen...One is an elderly lady that has had numerous strokes...She was referred to me by a dear friend who is a lodge brother to her son...Those types (usually referred to me by my former IRS co-workers who live far away) I do not mind...I get more documentation than I ask for, so I do have what I need and trust what I have...

As for identification, my client base is mostly located here in my little suburb, and they are referrals...I have a home office, so no walk-ins either...

Now about the couple with the foster children...If they are in CA, they get big bucks for those foster kids...I know of people who do not work a regular job, cause they have several kids and get at least $900 or more a month per child...Well, of course that is a job in itself...and it is tax free monies too boot!

I used to get walk-ins before I switched to a home office. There were constant problems with duplicate claiming of dependents, incorrect social security numbers and numerous telephone calls from non-clients asking for free information. And every April 15, I was flooded with people who came to pick up tax forms since it was too much trouble to go to the Post Office or the IRS office to get them.

I get a lot fewer new clients now, but have a lot fewer headaches, practically no EICs, and no requests for RALs.

[myerstaxes]

Geek Girl

Myers would you happen to be the same Myers that is over at the TaxChat on Yahoo?

Yes, I am the same one...I love these boards, it helps so much when you are a solo preparer...

[geekgirldany]

Great to see you here. These boards are excellent. And the gang here is so helpful.

[Fuzzy Faced Leader]

I often wondered about whether filing late would reduce the chance of audit. One day I was representing a client at the local IRS office, and asked the auditor how many of the 13,000 returns to be audited would she get. She said she thought 4-5, but they wouldn't be picked until October. Thus, the IRS seems to wait until the extended returns are in, before picking the returns.