Fee Increases

[Lee B]

Drake's survey of 3200 preparers said they expected to increase their fees by 10 %

[Lion EA]

That's great, because I'd already decided to raise my prices by 10%.

[WITAXLADY]

still doesn't cover increased cost of toner, paper, postage, etc

[Lion EA]

I'm also decreasing use of toner, paper, and postage next season. Really pushing delivery via portal more than ever. And, eSign includes the client's returns anyway.

[mcb39]

How much will the market bear?

[Lion EA]

I'm hoping the market bears a little less than my increase, so a few clients fire themselves. I do have a Fire list this year, also. I haven't been increasing prices enough; I haven't been firing enough. That changes this December!

[mcb39]

On 11/11/2022 at 12:05 PM, Lion EA said:

I'm hoping the market bears a little less than my increase, so a few clients fire themselves. I do have a Fire list this year, also. I haven't been increasing prices enough; I haven't been firing enough. That changes this December!

I did some firing last year and have never looked back or felt better.  RELIEF!!!!  More new clients moved in to replace than the ones that I fired.

[WITAXLADY]

we discussed the verifyle/mango/efile approach to delivering their tax returns - But what do we do with those who gave us their tax papers?

Easy decision when they emailed their documents - not sure what the solution is when they mail or drop off?

D

[Sara EA]

I find it very difficult to work with emailed docs (especially when they send piecemeal so you have to go back through ten emails to be sure you got everything--a portal would help here).  It's not a big problem when they just have a couple of W2s and mortgage 1099, but when you start getting multiple brokerages or eight 1099Rs, I really have to print them out to put them in reasonable order.  When I am done with a return, I manually add up all the W2 income, bank interest, withholding, etc. and check it against the return, then put a check mark on the original doc.  I find it impossible to run this check on 25 helter-skelter docs.  How do others work with emailed docs?  Don't get me started on phone pictures of docs.  Our client letter states in all caps NO PHONE PHOTOS.  Never can read them, often can't print them or send to electronic file cabinet.

[Lion EA]

NO emailed tax documents. Upload to my portal. If they mail/drop off/fedex/etc., then when I have time (it's going to be December this year) I mail back. I might start uploading their original documents to my portal and shredding their original documents.

FREE smart phone app Scannable, blue logo with a butterfly, cleans things up. I've convinced clients to use it to scan/upload documents to me.

[RitaB]

12 hours ago, Sara EA said:

I find it very difficult to work with emailed docs (especially when they send piecemeal so you have to go back through ten emails to be sure you got everything--a portal would help here).  It's not a big problem when they just have a couple of W2s and mortgage 1099, but when you start getting multiple brokerages or eight 1099Rs, I really have to print them out to put them in reasonable order.  When I am done with a return, I manually add up all the W2 income, bank interest, withholding, etc. and check it against the return, then put a check mark on the original doc.  I find it impossible to run this check on 25 helter-skelter docs.  How do others work with emailed docs?  Don't get me started on phone pictures of docs.  Our client letter states in all caps NO PHONE PHOTOS.  Never can read them, often can't print them or send to electronic file cabinet.

I can relate to this so much!  The pictures of documents are the absolute worst.  It's awesome to keep people out of here for stupid things (hey, when can I bring my stuff in? ), but I am happy as a clam that most of my clients hand me a stack.  Even unopened mail. 

Just wrapped up one who moved to another state, mailed her docs to me, along with some things I didn't need (I can live with that), emailed me probably 14 times, and was very slow about responding to my questions.  This all started on Saturday, September 10.  I hope she fires me.  Very nice lady, and I hope to never hear from her again.  

[mcb39]

Personally, even though I know I am old-fashioned, I still like paper.  From the same standpoint, I won't read an E-book.  I want the paper in my hands and I read a LOT.  I don't mind a pile of junk.  It gets annoying at times, but I would rather have too much info than not enough.  I just had a young man walk in the door with an amended K-1 for 2020 and his paperwork for 2021.  Wowza!!!  I never met him before because his mother always brought his info in.  Apparently he decided to become an adult.  BUT, they have their Partnerships prepared by another accountant and he just finished with the K1s for 2021.  Will be interesting to see where this one ends up.

[KATHERINE]

14 hours ago, Sara EA said:

I find it very difficult to work with emailed docs (especially when they send piecemeal so you have to go back through ten emails to be sure you got everything--a portal would help here).  It's not a big problem when they just have a couple of W2s and mortgage 1099, but when you start getting multiple brokerages or eight 1099Rs, I really have to print them out to put them in reasonable order.  When I am done with a return, I manually add up all the W2 income, bank interest, withholding, etc. and check it against the return, then put a check mark on the original doc.  I find it impossible to run this check on 25 helter-skelter docs.  How do others work with emailed docs?  Don't get me started on phone pictures of docs.  Our client letter states in all caps NO PHONE PHOTOS.  Never can read them, often can't print them or send to electronic file cabinet.

Sara, try Verifyle.  A friend here recommended, I convinced clients to use it and both sides feel paperwork are more organized.   As the host, you can always remove the outdated doc so client wont get confused from multiple drafts.   The only thing I would like them to improve is, if they can put a sign on each unread message from client on the dashboard to remind us to check.   currently, the message is sorted by date only, and they will send message reminder, which is not good enough when you get busy.    May someone has other suggest, but you could try if you didnot find any solutions yet.  Thank you! 

[Abby Normal]

17 hours ago, Sara EA said:

I find it very difficult to work with emailed docs (especially when they send piecemeal so you have to go back through ten emails to be sure you got everything--a portal would help here).  It's not a big problem when they just have a couple of W2s and mortgage 1099, but when you start getting multiple brokerages or eight 1099Rs, I really have to print them out to put them in reasonable order.  When I am done with a return, I manually add up all the W2 income, bank interest, withholding, etc. and check it against the return, then put a check mark on the original doc.  I find it impossible to run this check on 25 helter-skelter docs.  How do others work with emailed docs?  Don't get me started on phone pictures of docs.  Our client letter states in all caps NO PHONE PHOTOS.  Never can read them, often can't print them or send to electronic file cabinet.

When I get email docs, I save them all to the client's current year folder, as they come in. And if the email contains any useful info, I print the email to a PDF in the same folder.

Good naming conventions help keep this files organized (22 W2 X company, 22 1099R Z corp, etc.). You can merge them all into one PDF and rearrange the pages, or work with them as separate PDFs.

All PDF viewing software has some ability to type on the PDF. I usually put a dot with pen tool by clicking or type some text or paste in an adding machine tape, like we used to do with actual tape and actual adding machine tapes. Electronic is far superior. I also draw arrows or ovals or rectangles around important data to make it easier to see for when I'm reviewing a return.

I was always holding paper docs up in one hand to read them, now I just have them on another monitor, and zoom in as needed to read smaller text. Used to use a magnifying glass.

And if a document is searchable, I can copy/paste EINs, SSNs, or amounts from the docs into the software. I prefer to copy/paste ID#s and addresses so there aren't any typos.

And I just convert photos of docs to a PDF, after cropping, resizing and enhancing if needed. This work replaces going through paper records, removing staples, rearranging, etc. Clients who do better jobs of organizing and properly scanning their records, are rewarded with lower fees.

[Terry D EA]

"Easy decision when they emailed their documents - not sure what the solution is when they mail or drop off?"

I don't think you have a choice. Could be wrong but, I mail the docs back with their copy of the return. 

"I can relate to this so much!  The pictures of documents are the absolute worst." I agree totally. Been trying to figure out how to turn the monitor around, up and down, to see the ones they send upside down and backwards.

[mcb39]

1 hour ago, Terry D EA said:

 

"I can relate to this so much!  The pictures of documents are the absolute worst." I agree totally. Been trying to figure out how to turn the monitor around, up and down, to see the ones they send upside down and backwards.

I totally agree that pictures are not to be tolerated.  I have clients in other states and the time wasted on a document I can't read is not allowed.  A texted screen shot is a crying shame.  I want original or PDFs of the documents or I get a little crabby.  A few clients are thoughtful enough to make copies of pertinent info before they bring it in.  If they bring in originals, they get them back with a red check mark which means that they are entered.