Another Turbo Tax story

[rfassett]

Thursday I got a call from a client I helped last year win a battle with his girl friend over who claims the one year old twins. The dollars were significant (for him) so I am thinking this guy is a lifer. The call went something like this:

Client: I need you to do my return this year because I tried doing it on Turbo Tax and it kicked back because the kids social security numbers were used on someone else's return. I have a court order permitting me to claim them. So I am going to fax you my info - can you have my return done by tomorrow?

Me: Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Really? You fired me now you want me to bust hump to get your return done? Why don't you just print it and send it in?

Client: I don't know how to do that.

Me: Put your stuff in the mail and I will add your name to the extension list.

[Lion EA]

Ok, so someone who does not know how to print thinks he knows how to prepare taxes?! At least it seems he's seen the light. Put him at the bottom of the pile and make sure you charge him more than before!

[jklcpa]

An acquaintance asked me how to change the address on their tax return in Turbo Tax. I think that's even worse than not being able to print. I haven't seen the home version of TT, but I'd think that one could type the address on the 1040 form itself. If home users of TT buy the program year after year, does the information roll over from the prior year?

[joanmcq]

I think they ask at the beginning of the interview if anything has changed. and you check off things that have, and they take you to the screens to update. But don't tell.

[JohnH]

Did you discuss fees?

I'm thinking he's going to want a discount because "it's pretty much done - all you have to do is push the send button."

Besides, you couldn't get it done on time so he did you a favor by letting you put it on extension.

(Just trying to think like the client here for a minute)

[rfassett]

He already knows I upcharge to push the "print" button. That's the one that needs to be pushed - he tried the "send" button and it rejected. Yep - he knows - and I do not normally charge for extensions - but I told HIM I do - so I am good.

[kcjenkins]

Hopefully you will also find at least one small mistake he made. Often, when dealing with the same sort of situation I found that they had either left off something or entered something in the wrong place. Making it easy for me to point out their need for my help. The best thing about that they cheat themselves more often than they cheat the IRS, in my experience. Which makes them appreciate my value all the more..

[Jim Oh Bkkr]

"50% of self-prepared returns are wrong, and 90% of those are wrong in the IRS' favor."

That has been my sales pitch to potential new clients for years. And they are percentages that have stood the test of time for the 25+ years I have been in this business.

They may not always be "big" enough to fix, but when they are, I am a hero for a lot of years. (And they [almost] always lead to referrals.)

Jim

[Randall]

I think a lot are wrong in the IRS favor but the other way around. In other words, when corrected, the client will owe more tax. Like charging the same business miles on a Sch C and 2106 for the same business activity.

[kcjenkins]

Sometimes that is the case, but in my experience it's more often the other way around.

[Lion EA]

At the income levels I deal with, people erred in their own favor, usually unknowingly, sometimes because they were told by promoters, etc., and then received that goverment letter. The clients that did a rollover and didn't report it, but maybe had 20% W/H so that'll be taxable. The NY commuter who worked from home and didn't report it as NY-sourced income. The OIH who used the same area % as the depreciation % (that was a HRB preparer doing returns on the side from their kitchen table, paper and pencil, for a baker using her home kitchen on Saturdays, not regular nor exclusive anyway, but 25% ?! Whole house'd been depreciated in four years long ago!). The IRA distribution with 10% W/H who didn't report it "because I already paid taxes on it." The multi-state returns that didn't start with federal AGI but just with their income in that state. The SE that deducted 100% of their car or their cell phone or.... Those ladies who sell clothing or make-up or...at home parties and deduct their own products and the furnishings they bought for their living rooms to show their products and their vacations where they wore their products or.... The losses reported on sales of primary residences. Have one now who got caught in 2010 for 2008 not reporting his investment income; but he didn't amend NY and CT. Now, NY wants as much in taxes, penalties, and interest, as his unreported income was! And, it's too late to get him a credit in CT for 2008. Yeah, when I fix the DIY, it costs them more.

[kcjenkins]

Sure, we all have those types. But we also have the folks who start a business and buy equipment, etc but take no depreciation "because I did not know what that was" and took no mileage "because I did not keep the gas receipts" even tho they did keep a mileage log. And the ones who did not claim their child "because he turned 18 this year" even tho he was still in school and had no income except the $2000 he earned on his summer part-time job. Etc.

[mcb39]

KC.......those are generally the type that I see. I also get many new clients as soon as their kids start college because they know "there is something out there, but don't know what or how" That is also when you start finding the things they missed on their prior self-prepared returns. Half of my extension box is filled with returns from prior years needing amending either by self-preparers or HRB or free preparers. Thus is the nature of this job.

Hope and pray all things are on the upward swing for you and Don.

[taxtrio]

I had a client call me in March asking me to "forgive him"... I wasn't sure what the problem was.

I knew he had not beenin yet this year. He kept on about he needed me to forgive him. I asked him again what the problem was and he said he had done his return on turbo tax this year and wanted me to forgive him. I said that it was his choice and that maybe I would see him next year. He then told me that if I would forgive him he would never stray again! I again asked him what the problem was.

He then told me he had done turbo tax and messed it up and wanted to know how much it would cost for me to fix it for him.....

Sometimes they have to "stray" for a year before they really appreciate us!

Taxtrio

[Jack from Ohio]

I had a client call me in March asking me to "forgive him"... I wasn't sure what the problem was.

I knew he had not beenin yet this year. He kept on about he needed me to forgive him. I asked him again what the problem was and he said he had done his return on turbo tax this year and wanted me to forgive him. I said that it was his choice and that maybe I would see him next year. He then told me that if I would forgive him he would never stray again! I again asked him what the problem was.

He then told me he had done turbo tax and messed it up and wanted to know how much it would cost for me to fix it for him.....

Sometimes they have to "stray" for a year before they really appreciate us!

Taxtrio

I have several "retread" clients that leave for one year, and are back the next year with hat in hand and a new appreciation for what I do.

[Lion EA]

The TT that come in -- after getting an IRS letter -- deducted their equipment and their new SUV (not just the mileage) long before they ever started the business. I have one now who opened three LLCs in CT and has been ignoring the $250/year/LLC notices from CT and kept calling to ask why I wanted her to pay all that money by 15 April, why I included CT Forms OP-424 with their returns. DIY software computed ES payments they never made; now they want to know why they're getting letters to pay more because they paid the "right" amount of balance due. TT lets them take their grown children living at home as dependents long after they're making as money as Dad, long into their 20s and 30s. TT doesn't add a Schedule C "because I'm not making any money yet," but then they call when they receive a Form 1099 in April or an IRS letter in June. My clients are smart enough to answer the TT questions in the way that gives them the lowest tax liability, and are sure they're smarter than IRS civil servants -- until they get that letter!

[kcjenkins]

I've found that the worst thing about Turbo Tax is that when they answer a question, and see the little box with the refund change to go down, often they go back and answer it the other way, to see it go back up. Since they really did not understand the point of the question in the first place, naturally they stick with the answer that gives the best outcome. Usually I honestly think they were not deliberately trying to cheat, they just don't understand the tax law behind the question.

[Randall]

Many times with those questions, people think it's an option and they can take the best outcome for themselves.

[kcjenkins]

Exactly.