RitaB Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Client who gets back about 8,000 in refundable credits said his neighbor had to pay in about $10,000. He then says to me, "How does anybody have to pay 10,000?!" I am convinced that there are a lot of people out there who have no clue that a tax return is not an application to determine how much money they print up for you. Well, ok, on the other hand... 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfassett Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Oh, I could not agree more! I have oft said that most of the HRB and the other big box clientele have no idea that it costs something to have their refunds, oops, I mean tax returns prepared. The fee comes out of their refund which comes out of yours and my pockets and the client is concerned about one thing and one thing only - how much am I getting back. I would never last at HRB because I would tell those folks - NOTHING, you did not pay anything in and you can get "nothing back". You had to go there on this wintery Saturday morning, didn't you? 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry D EA Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Tell him to get a higher paying job and take all of those credits away then I bet he'll understand how someone has to pay. Bye Bye handouts and get hand in wallet it is the American way. He must know we tax everything. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaB Posted February 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 You had to go there on this wintery Saturday morning, didn't you? Yes. Yes, I did. Tell him to get a higher paying job and take all of those credits away then I bet he'll understand how someone has to pay. Bye Bye handouts and get hand in wallet it is the American way. He must know we tax everything. Or just be self-employed, no kids, and make $42,035. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Oh, I could not agree more! I have oft said that most of the HRB and the other big box clientele have no idea that it costs something to have their refunds, oops, I mean tax returns prepared. The fee comes out of their refund which comes out of yours and my pockets and the client is concerned about one thing and one thing only - how much am I getting back. I would never last at HRB because I would tell those folks - NOTHING, you did not pay anything in and you can get "nothing back". You had to go there on this wintery Saturday morning, didn't you? It doesn't help when people are being bombarded by TV commercials showing tax preparers shoving pallets of money out the back of airplanes & floating down into their living rooms. It feeds their perception of the "handout" mentality surrounding the free money concept of tax refunds. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MsTabbyKats Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 In all the years I've been doing this...I have heard this a few times and only from Non-Americans. They have low incomes....and they have kids. EITC! Out of habit...I say "refund". I have been asked..."How do I get an $8000 refund if I only paid in $1000?" So...I have to explain "The American Way". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaB Posted February 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 So...I have to explain "The American Way". Yes, and I believe it is absolutely NOT the REAL American way, and it is depressing as $#&&. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcb39 Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Reminds me of the client who called yesterday and told me that her SE artist husband got a commission of $19000 for illustrating a book. When I asked how much he put aside for SE and income tax, she said, "Oh, we had to pay bills and we needed a new car." At the same time, in the mail yesterday she got a CP 2000 re a cancelled debt that she never showed me. She swore she never had any debt cancelled, but after much questioning, she said that the holder of their second mortgage had adjusted their interest rate because they couldn't make both payments. I need to see THAT paperwork. The worst part of this story is that this is the girl who worked for me for the past two years during tax season. As I told my husband; she learned absolutely nothing and my decision to get someone else this year was dead on. This couple is also used to the EIC, etc.; but I warned her last year that her credits were falling off. ARRRRGGGGG!!!! Thanks, Rita, for reminding me. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaB Posted February 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Oh, don't get me started! (Too late!) I had a guy in here bragging about how they finally got out of debt. I look in his crap, and there's two 1099Cs. He can't believe he owes tax on that. Hello??? You got $15,000 of shoes and make up at your house that you never paid for. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfassett Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 I just read a comment in an organizer. Client is a teacher and teachers are paid very well in these parts. Base income is great and all of the benefits that I can not afford to pay for myself make for a very good package. The comment: "Insurance is changing July 1st. We will have a $2.600 deductible (I will have to pay every dollar until $2600 and then the insurance pays everything) and I still have to pay the $140 per month premium." [To insure three people.] It took all of the compassion I could muster to give her a big "boo hoo". My costs surpass hers inside of 2 months. Cry me a river. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Cry me a river, Build me a bridge -- and GET OVER IT. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MsTabbyKats Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Oh, don't get me started! (Too late!) I had a guy in here bragging about how they finally got out of debt. I look in his crap, and there's two 1099Cs. He can't believe he owes tax on that. Hello??? You got $15,000 of shoes and make up at your house that you never paid for. Oh please.... I had a guy (I think I wrote about this a few years ago...when I was new here) who still owes on his student loans. He's almost 70. Anyway...a few years ago he gave me a 1099-C for $35,000....and he went ballistic when I told him he had to pay tax on the forgiven debt. I asked him if he knew he wouldn't pay off the debt...why did he spend the money. His response "They gave it to me". Then he hung up on me. Anyway...he came back to me the next year...and I told him he would have to pay me in advance. (I mean...I had done all the work..plus spend an hour on the phone to IRS just to confirm I wasn't missing something). He got mad...and said I forced him to find someone else the prior year who charged him a lot...and how he had trouble finding someone (we live in NYC...there are perhaps 1000 tax prepares per square mile). 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILLMAS Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Sometimes I feel if I wasn't in this tax business I would be so naive too, nah maybe not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Since you forced hinm to find someone else and pay more, I think you should reimburse him the difference. Good client relations and all that stuff, you know. After all, whatever happens to him has to somebody else's fault - may as wel be you. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Since he found someone else and paid more but is calling you again, obviously you have to charge him more. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcjenkins Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Anyway...he came back to me the next year...and I told him he would have to pay me in advance. (I mean...I had done all the work..plus spend an hour on the phone to IRS just to confirm I wasn't missing something). He got mad...and said I forced him to find someone else the prior year who charged him a lot...and how he had trouble finding someone (we live in NYC...there are perhaps 1000 tax prepares per square mile). Meaning he had trouble finding someone who would do it without payment up front....... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MsTabbyKats Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 No...what I think happened is that he had to find someone who would "check the box" indicating that for whatever reason, he wasn't liable for the tax...and the person charged him accordingly. He did not want to pay me up front....got really angry and sent me some nasty e-mails. One said, since we are of the same ethnicity....I should be more considerate towards him. Another one said I was bigoted against Chinese people. (His wife is Chinese...but I never even met her.) Then, after he probably paid dearly to get this person to "check the box" he came back to me because I'm cheaper. I mean...70 and still hasn't paid off his student loans!!! I think the 1099-C was credit they got in the wife's name. Listen to the stuff I had to put up with: His wife takes the subway to work...about an hour away. So..they rented a second apt closer to her job...which of course, he wanted to take as a deduction. His reasoning was that "she is such a fragile little thing...you cannot expect her to travel for an hour each way by subway". No...friends...he didn't get that deduction. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfassett Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Abusive clients - I run a highly respectable and professional practice. I have had a couple situations over the years where a client was verbally abusive to either myself or one of my employees. I never ask the employee for an explanation when it happens, I simply sever the tie with the client immediately. One that sticks in my craw - the guy became verbally abusive with me and started on me with personal insults and all of that. I am bigger than trying to go toe to toe with these folks. When he was done with his rant, I told him he was not welcomed here anymore. His wife called back a few hours later and told me that her husband was sorry and they truly do appreciate me, my staff and our work. In a weaker moment, because she reached out, I said all would be forgiven as soon as the husband calls me and apologizes for the personal attack. That was some ten years or so ago - I am still waiting for that call. I guess he wasn't all that sorry after all. There are enough good clients out there who appreciate us. When this crap happens, tell them to hit the bricks and don't look back. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Here's your hat and don't stumble on the way out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 The wife who tries to clean up her husband's messes. You can imagine what she goes through. Hope someone works an intervention soon to get her into a shelter and and eventually to forge her own life. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcb39 Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Oh, don't get me started! (Too late!) I had a guy in here bragging about how they finally got out of debt. I look in his crap, and there's two 1099Cs. He can't believe he owes tax on that. Hello??? You got $15,000 of shoes and make up at your house that you never paid for. At least yours brought in the 1099Cs. Mine doesn't have a clue what that is. She just e-mailed me a copy of her payment voucher. What????????? While on the subject, since this is a mortgage on her house, is there any chance of it being exempt per the 982? Also, they definitely have more debt than assets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted February 14, 2015 Report Share Posted February 14, 2015 Is it original mortgage on their principal residence? Might get it exempt from income that way. Or, part of it. Otherwise, yes, go the insolvency route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcb39 Posted February 15, 2015 Report Share Posted February 15, 2015 Is it original mortgage on their principal residence? Might get it exempt from income that way. Or, part of it. Otherwise, yes, go the insolvency route. It is a second mortgage that was charging 13% interest. This reeks of the Wells Fargo class action suite of a few years ago. I truly believe that they are insolvent, but it would have been much easier to file the 982 last year if she had only brought in the 1099C. I don't have time to fix these kind of dumb and careless issues right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted February 15, 2015 Report Share Posted February 15, 2015 It is a second mortgage that was charging 13% interest. This reeks of the Wells Fargo class action suite of a few years ago. I truly believe that they are insolvent, but it would have been much easier to file the 982 last year if she had only brought in the 1099C. I don't have time to fix these kind of dumb and careless issues right now. 100% increase in your normal fee to correct the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted February 15, 2015 Report Share Posted February 15, 2015 100% increase in your normal fee to correct the issue. Paid in advance! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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