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Sometimes I feel like I have too much of a personal connection to my clients. I've known most of them for 30 or more years. I have lost many of them and now prepare returns for the grandkids. I know more about many of them than I would like to know. I feel like a therapist for many and they would love for my to be their attorney, banker and financial advisor, but I don't get into any of that stuff. I do have to try to limit my time with some of them or they would stay for hours and I would never get any work done. I care a lot about my clients and that is one of the reasons that it is difficult for me to raise my fees. I know that coming to me is a financial burden for some and I give them a discount, even though my time spent with them warrants a much larger fee. I hear about it constantly from my family and it is difficult now that I am the breadwinner since my husband became disabled. I did lose a couple of clients last year that get later and later every year about bringing in their work way after my deadline. I finally put my foot down in 14 and put them on extension, instead of busting my rear to get their returns done in April.

I guess it is up to us to decide how much of a friend, confidant, and advisor we decide to be with our clients. Knowing so many for so long makes it difficult to not listen as they consider you more than a preparer. During tax season I'll limit the other than tax stuff talk and will gladly call them back after the season ends to "catch up." But you know the ones that you just can't resist hanging out on the phone with because you happen to like them and they are nice people. Something I've been doing for a few years is I will record their birthdays on a calendar and make about 50 Happy Birthday calls. I don't sing, but they are really impressed you remembered them. These are the people I can consider more than a client and the few minutes I spend on the phone is enjoyable for them and makes me feel good that I did it. And the little old ladies that have been around forever, believe me, that makes their day, I did a good thing, maybe I'll get a room with a view in tax heaven.

I like espresso and kittens.

I really try to stay away from face time as much as possible. Those client who hack and wheeze with their colds and flu all the way through the appointment. Unattended children are given a free espresso and a kitten.

Some of these comments make me wonder if never/rarely giving clients face time contributes to the commoditization of tax prep (" the process by which goods that have economic value and are distinguishable in terms of attributes (uniqueness or brand) end up becoming simple commodities in the eyes of the market or consumers." Wikipedia). Drop your tax docs off, get a phone call that returns are done, come in, sign, pay, do it again next year. Kind of like dropping off your dry cleaning. I admit that I have many clients whom I've never met. Yet with many of them we have multiple phone conversations and emails throughout the year so I feel that I know them. (Kind of like online dating?) I do make a point of calling every client when his/her return is done to discuss the results and perhaps offer some insight into what to expect next year. Now I wonder if that's enough. Just maybe the fact that clients don't have a personal connection to their preparer drives them to DIY software? Maybe we should do more to engage them personally, even if it takes away precious work time? I work hard on every single return (treat every one like it's your only one), and do my best to find every tax break, and now I wonder if that gets through. Thoughts?

A little sambuca or anisette in the espresso does have a calming effect but only for the "children" 18 and over.

One idea that's frequently floated as a simple solution is a national sales tax, but I don't worry about that one at all. As we know, millions of people pay no tax at all and simply file to get EIC refunds and all their withholding back. The only tax they pay now is about 8% state sales tax every time they buy something. If the feds pass a national sales tax of, say 15-25%, the states aren't simply going to go away - they'll still want their money too. Anyway, after a few months of every soul in the country paying a total 23-33% surcharge on each item they buy every day, year-round, there would be a deafening roar heard all the way from Podunk Junction to Washington, D.C. for repeal of this "simple" tax.

Reminds me of a couple summers ago when I was still at my home office only. Client dropped by unexpectedly to discuss a situation that had just come up. I was working in my garden after a rain, mud from hands to elbows and from feet to knees. He paid me to sit on my back porch with him and talk, while he pulled pertinent documents and held them so I could read them. Then he opened my back door at my direction and put all the papers on the kitchen table - I wasn't going to touch them until after I'd cleaned up, which wasn't going to be until I was done in the garden! And he apologized for interrupting my work, and then made nice comments about my garden.

I'm going to Sacramento for a week to see some clients in person. These are either people that don't do computers and/or some special ones I like to socialize with. I'm not set up here to see people. Remote or nothing! i bill if I have to get dressed. Last year I wore slippers for everyone. Bought black ones so it wasn't as obvious as the bright pink fluffy ones.

I work at my home office. If I have to put shoes on, someone is getting a bill.

Well, you do have a point, Rita. Reminds me of the time I was speaking with a banker at church, when another member walked up to us. She reminded me of a previous conversation when I had told her she should not apply for a separate Fed ID Number for a sub-ministry of the church because it needed to fall under the blanket exemption the church enjoyed. She said she had called IRS and they had told her it was OK to do, so they sent her the application form and she had filed it anyhow. I thanked her for letting me know and she went on her way. The banker then asked if it bothered me that she didn't listen to what I had originally told her. I told him it really didn't bother me that someone didn't value advice I gave for free, because people frequently pay me for advice they don't follow...

It would be even more pleasant if somebody paid me to chat. There's that...