I think a new client wants their stuff back, what would you do

[michaelmars]

I don't want to see medical receipts and in fact clients that give them I tell them they can add it up.  they are allowed to have some privacy.  I am not doing an audit.  I explain what is deductible and ask for an amount or list of categories.   $11,000 in medical is easy to get to if you need dental work for example, why assume fraud right away?   With my new insurance my family deductible is $10,000 and I meet it plus co-pays every year. 

[joanmcq]

Yes, I've actually had to explain to some clients that, yes, glasses and hearing aids and wheelchairs do count as expenses. And if you are paying premiums and not getting insurance through your employer I can see a lot more people taking medical expenses. 

Of course I'm also going to start amending that extremely egregious fraudulent return I got as a prior year return for a new client. I ask, I explain, and I always want the prior year. How else do you know if they itemized, or have carryovers without looking at the prior year?

[SFA]

1 hour ago, michaelmars said:

I don't want to see medical receipts and in fact clients that give them I tell them they can add it up.  they are allowed to have some privacy.  I am not doing an audit.  I explain what is deductible and ask for an amount or list of categories.   $11,000 in medical is easy to get to if you need dental work for example, why assume fraud right away?   With my new insurance my family deductible is $10,000 and I meet it plus co-pays every year. 

Good point Michael. For crying out loud, why should we be riffling through somebody's medical bills! We do however, need to know that our clients understand what is deductible and give them some guidance on how to organize their information for us so that we can complete the medical input fields in our software. Our client base is aging and so we are expecting to see more of them trying to itemize medical expenses--even if it ends up being a waste of time--as it so often does.