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Hello...and Former Client Needs Help


MsTabbyKats

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Hi...I was on this board for a few years and retired 2 years ago.  I hope all of you are doing well and that this has been a productive tax season.

Some may recall, I when I retired I sold my business to a CPA who is, well, let's just say really not very good.

I continue receiving e-mails from former clients about the IRS catching "his mistakes" etc.....and I usually give very general advice.  But, I wont get involved beyond that.

One of "the formers" e-mailed me a few days.  It seems that for 3 years she had a pension plan at work, took an IRA, but he forgot to "check the box" on her return, so it was deducted although her income was too high for the deduction.  The IRS did not catch this; her friend did.  I told her he should amend...Form 8606 needs to be generated....etc.   She called him and he was verbally very abusive to her (not the first time I got this feedback).  I told her finding someone new would be costly (I mean, he should do this for free). 

She is very stressed out. And, continues to e-mail me, although, I told her that I don't want to be involved as I am retired, I never handled anything like this so I don't know the penalties etc, and that it's his responsibility.

If anyone would be interested in handling his, please pm me.  I've told her that nobody anywhere would be available before 4/17.

Since I am retired I don't really care about "the rules"...so please, no advice.  Unless I can give her a referral I'm ignoring her e-mails.

Thanks to anyone who wants "an introduction"!

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Good to hear from you, Ms. TabbyKats!  You seem happy in retirement although dismayed about the resulting former clients treatment.  Tha's one reason I won't sell my practice, just assist clients with a transition to another practitioner of their choice.

Sorry that I am unable to help from Ohio.  I imagine this person would appreciate face to face assistance.  Hopefully someone else here will be able to step up.

Wishing you happy retirement ongoing!

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8 minutes ago, Margaret CPA in OH said:

Good to hear from you, Ms. TabbyKats!  You seem happy in retirement although dismayed about the resulting former clients treatment.  Tha's one reason I won't sell my practice, just assist clients with a transition to another practitioner of their choice.

Sorry that I am unable to help from Ohio.  I imagine this person would appreciate face to face assistance.  Hopefully someone else here will be able to step up.

Wishing you happy retirement ongoing!

I don't think she needs "face to face".  She's a computer person.

You know, the guy has an MBA, a Masters in Taxation and is a CPA.  He's about 60.  I checked his credentials at the time....and yesterday.  He is still a current CPA in NY.  I gave him about 300 clients.  I think he did 180 the first year....and I got about 150 unsolicited complaints about his lack of communications and his mistakes.  After that year I got more complaints.  I think maybe he has 5 of my former clients left (well, now 4).  He continues to call me to ask for advice and I tell him he has to do the research.  The only reason I respond to the former clients is that I feel so bad about the mess he made.  It took me 20 years to get to where I was.  It took him 20 weeks to completely destroy it.

I used to think he had alzheimer's or some sort of dementia.  I now think he never did a personal return and decided "oh, they must easy"....and never put any effort into learning what to do.

 

 

 

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20 minutes ago, Margaret CPA in OH said:

Good to hear from you, Ms. TabbyKats!  You seem happy in retirement although dismayed about the resulting former clients treatment.  Tha's one reason I won't sell my practice, just assist clients with a transition to another practitioner of their choice.

I sold my practice to a fellow CPA a few years ago and no one has complained.  

 

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1 hour ago, MsTabbyKats said:

Hi...I was on this board for a few years and retired 2 years ago.  I hope all of you are doing well and that this has been a productive tax season.

Some may recall, I when I retired I sold my business to a CPA who is, well, let's just say really not very good.

I continue receiving e-mails from former clients about the IRS catching "his mistakes" etc.....and I usually give very general advice.  But, I wont get involved beyond that.

One of "the formers" e-mailed me a few days.  It seems that for 3 years she had a pension plan at work, took an IRA, but he forgot to "check the box" on her return, so it was deducted although her income was too high for the deduction.  The IRS did not catch this; her friend did.  I told her he should amend...Form 8606 needs to be generated....etc.   She called him and he was verbally very abusive to her (not the first time I got this feedback).  I told her finding someone new would be costly (I mean, he should do this for free). 

She is very stressed out. And, continues to e-mail me, although, I told her that I don't want to be involved as I am retired, I never handled anything like this so I don't know the penalties etc, and that it's his responsibility.

If anyone would be interested in handling his, please pm me.  I've told her that nobody anywhere would be available before 4/17.

Since I am retired I don't really care about "the rules"...so please, no advice.  Unless I can give her a referral I'm ignoring her e-mails.

Thanks to anyone who wants "an introduction"!

You are retired, you don’t get involved and let the friend who found the mistake handle it.  People have to respect your space and their is nothing wrong with informing them, I just had a last minute client send me their information thinking they are getting priority, who are they kidding B)

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Just a sample of how this guy communicates: (honestly....can anyone believe he is in business?)

Hi Bonnie, 
 
Thank you so much for getting back to me even though you didn't have to. You are such a nice person with so much integrity. After trying to contact David from past two days, he finally called me today (about an hour ago) and instead of being apologetic of his mistakes he was verbally abusive to me. He used the words such as "pain in the ass" and mimicking my voice as to what I was saying. He also called me bitch in the past. He hung up on me few times without even letting me complete what I have to say. Even though he made these mistakes but I was still polite to him understanding that people make mistakes. 
 
Anyways, you will be surprised to learn what he told me. He said why do you want to update your return? Do you want to pay more taxes? You can just leave it like that and not be be worried as IRS has not contacted me yet for any of these returns. I was shocked as to how a professional can given me such an advice. 
 
The conclusion is he has agreed to file my amended return but I am not sure if he is going to pay any interest and penalty (if applicable). I asked him that and he was not clear if he is going to take care of it or not. 
 
I just need your advice about the interest and penalty. Since, I did not have to pay any penalty for several years and filed all my returns on time, do you think IRS might waive the penalties for these returns? If not how I can make David pay for it? For 2017 return, I think there will be no penalty anyways if I file the updated return before the due date (April 17th) but there might be for 2015 and 2016.  
 
Finally, I have decided I am not going to do my taxes with him any more as I am disappointed and shocked of his behaviour and rude attitude. His behaviour was completely unprofessional.  I am so sorry that I had to write to explain all this to you. You did such a good job in the all the years you did my return. I missed you all these tax seasons so much.
 
Thank you again, 
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