Need to vent

[oceanlovin'ea]

New client came in tonight. Was 1 hour late. That is irritating...you don't want to get something else out and start working on it so you just waste time. He had a letter from IRS for 2006. They had changed his return and he didn't know why but he now owed over $2000.
For 2007 he had a W-2 from a auto body shop for about $1400 and a 1099 from one of my other clients for playing in his band during the year. I asked him what he did the rest of the year and he said he hustled and did some painting and auto body work around. He got CHECKS for $900 and 2 for $500 each and another for $300. I asked how much he made all year on that work. He said about $3500. But he didn't keep any records. I asked about expenses and he said he did buy some supplies but not many. No receipts.
Then he keeps talking. He said he came from Jamaica 18 years ago and he has never taken help from the government. He said some people have to but he can work. He just hustles around and finds work. He don't ask for anything. Then he says, "I don't have to claim the cash money I get do I?" I said, "Yes, you earned it. You have to claim everything you make working. When you don't work for someone else in a business and they take out taxes from your pay check, you have to pay your taxes yourself." "Oh, well, ok, if you say so. I didn't do it before."
I honestly hope this man doesn't come back. I don't have time for this kind of people. Oh, he also asked if he could claim a blind girl in another city that he helps support. I told him if she was his child and she didn't live with him he couldn't claim her. He said her aunt did for years and she didn't live with her aunt. He said he claimed her one year. BUt I told him you can't do it if she doesn't live with you. Then he wanted to know if he could claim his kids in Jamaica. He has to send them money every week.
I have no time for these people.
Thanks for letting me vent.

Linda F

[Snaggletooth]

He won't be back

Linda he won't be back to your ocean-lovin' office.

I'm assuming where you live there are tax preparers that will get 'r done. I would prefer to think that they are not all crooked, but he will go into their office and change his story somewhat, and give them enough information to file a return. For example, he will tell them he made only $1200 instead of $3500, and he will tell them the girl lives with him, etc. etc. And like yourself, the other preparer will become suspicious at statements he makes that contradicts himself.

I hate to be the bearer of even worse news, but the large storefront stores have to deal with kind of clientele day in and day out. If any of their preparers started asking questions as to how some dude can support 4 kids on a $5000 W-2, some of the abuse would stop. But it's not going to happen. If we started filing Forms 8275 on some of their dependency and filing status "more likely than not" standard, there would be so many the IRS could not act on them.

[Gene V]

LInda,
I know just how you feel, I had a few like that in the past, and I got rid of them fast.

Just want to correct you on one of your sentence.

"I told him if she was his child and she didn't live with him he couldn't claim her".

If the child meets the other tests, he could claim her as dependent under
Relatives who do not have to live with you.

Keep

[erchess]

Snags

I used to work in one of those storefront offices and during the 1/20 to 2/20 rush I would see one of those guys every day and after that i would see at least one every other shift. I am talking about cases where there was no way on earth the person could have supported the kids being claimed on the income being claimed. Some said they were getting public assistance or private charity of some kind. Some got angry at the question. I never got reprimanded because one of them got angry but I heard of offices where I would have gotten reprimanded and even my managers gave the returns to preparers who would keep careful notes on what we were being asked to believe and prepare the return the client wanted unless that return was so wrong you could look at it and prove it was wrong. You know what I mean, prove as opposed to know. And of course our pay was based on the fees paid by clients for whom we were preparer of record and so each time I lost a client to another preparer I was losing money.

When I was a manager I had a couple come in but I don't think the woman said anything the whole time they were with me. They wanted the manager to do their return. The man introduced the woman as his wife and they both had wedding rings. They presented me with returns for the previous year done by our firm in another state, but they had seen different preparers at roughly the same time and they had each been filed HOH with nondependent children. The address and telephone numbers were the same. When I asked I was told that they had gotten married many years previously and were still married. I should note that for both years each had pension and IRA income in the 50K range. The man told me that the reason why MFJ was out of the question was that his refund would be taken due to the fact that he owed tax debt so great that the IRS had given up on collecting it other than taking his refunds. I forget the reason but before I brought it up he gave a rationale for rejecting injured spouse. So I prepared MFS returns and sent them away, under the belief that they were happy with their paper returns. I also no longer remember why they would not efile. Well the next day they were back with their returns. The man explained that he had not realized how little she was getting back my way and he instructed me to prepare the returns as they had been prepared last year. When I explained why that was illegal he pointed to the fact that their wedding bands were gone and apologized for the misunderstanding but asserted that they were not married. I said that I did not believe him and he assured me that he would never tell anyone he had told me they were married and would bear himself all the risk of getting caught. He stated his intent to go to another office of our company and I am sure he did. But since he had literally everything I had given him, client copies and copies for mailing, and envelopes, I had to put him in for a refund. It gets worse. On one occasion in my first class before I went to work for this company, our instructor told us that there would from time to time be returns we could not do the way the clients wanted because of what we knew. In such cases we were to explain in detail what was wrong and offer a correct return. If they did not want the correct return we were to suggest that they come back to this office on another day and specify to the receptionist that they did not want us or they could go right now to another office. If their prior year return had been done in our office it was considered nice to put it on a floppy and give it to them to take to the other office if that was their desire. Then after I had been working a while I was told that in such cases I should suggest to the client that speaking with the manager might be a good idea. The manager would take the client to another preparer who should know enough to not have heard anything that might have transpired 20 feet away and work based on the client's new story and the client's papers. After this policy went into effect I personally saw a case where it took three tries for the client to get it right.

[oceanlovin'ea]

Gene V

I meant to say, If she WASN'T his child and didn't live with him, he couldn't claim her.

Guess I was typing too fast or thinking too slow.

Linda F

[oceanlovin'ea]

Paper return

I will probably prepare a paper return for him if he comes back. I'll be sure to get my money before he gets his return. Then I will have prepared as accurate return as I can. I will keep a paper copy in my file as proof of what I have done.

Then he can go whereever he wants and tell that person whatever he wants to tell them and get whatever kind of return he wants. I just won't do it his way and he will end up owing money my way.

I'm sure he is just one of a HUGE group of people that work for cash doing odd jobs to support themselves. They work enough to pay their rent, buy necessities and to get by. If they have children and can get EIC, they may come out okay. But not a single person.

Remember on Father Knows Best, sometimes the Andersons paid someone to clean up the yard and haul off trash. I wonder if he filed a tax return.

Linda F

[cathyan103]

Not Burger King

Let me start off by saying that this is NOT directed at anyone in particular, it's just a general observation.

I've seen many posts in the last few years where someone is talking about doing a return "how a client wants it done." This is very true of the storefronts. Well, my office is not a fast food joint. You don't get it 'your way', or my way, either. Your return gets done the way it is supposed to be done. Sometimes I have to remind people that the reason they pay me to do their return, is because I do it right, having kept up on all changes, and it is less likely they will get into any trouble in the future.
Having a small, home-based practice, I do get to know everyone personally, and try to educate people on what they need to do, also. I've had some come in with a couple of 1099's, saying they started a small side business, some quite profitable, and no receipts for anything. I tell them how a lot of places will have records of their purchases, and to get them, and get and keep them in the future. How to keep track of mileage. I've even had 2 that went on to build small shops on their property, move the computer out of the living room, and get a % deduction for shop/office.
I've also, like this year, had 2 kids come in with 1099's, and after talking to them, found out they should have W-2's. The girl worked in the office! I'm going to bat for them. One came in and TOLD me she files HOH. After talking with her a bit, i found out she was married, but "my husband doesn't work" Income was in the range where they got a bigger EIC filing joint as opposed to HOH. Happily paid my fee.
The CADE program with it's faster, 4-5 day DD turnaround will put a lot of shadier places out of business, but that means WE will all have to be more on our toes for those who "want it their way"
I feel better now. And remember, this is my opinion, and opinions are like a__holes, everyone has one.

[beverlyk@embarqmail.com]

At your expense you made my a m

I have been in the past ignorant to the fact there are these people. What irritates the H--- out of me is they think it perfectly ok to cheat and we are the bad people. I want clients to have every credit or break they can take. Have you ever noticed how they won't sit down and plan next year or so and expect you to know. By the way at the IRS forum they talked about these people, their advise "DUMP THEM YESTERDAY"

WONDERN'