Things that we wish for

[schirallicpa]

Ok - A lot.  Like a million dollars so I could quit this business. 

But, here and now, I wish ATX had a simple little extension letter I could spit out: Hey - Filed your extension. NYS took this fee.  IRS is happy til Sept.  Stuff like that.  

[jasdlm]

An electronic buzzer that shocks clients if they are toodling along doing their own bookkeeping and they make a prior year change.  Yes, one can lock them out, but that's not always as fool-proof as it sounds.

Oh, and tax documents without bits of dried food on them ... that would be another one of my wishes.

[Catherine]

2 hours ago, jasdlm said:

An electronic buzzer that shocks clients

Just this. Sounds really good to me today. 

[Lion EA]

Can we use the buzzer for lots of things, such as clients emailing us more than once to ask when their returns will be ready?

[mcb39]

That clients would not come in with a pile of unopened envelopes.

[schirallicpa]

21 hours ago, mcb39 said:

That clients would not come in with a pile of unopened envelopes.

Yes- let's issue a disposal fee for all the envelopes. 

[schirallicpa]

I have a button that is similar to the Staple's Easy button, but it says "NO" in various tones.  My husband had it when the kids were little and now I have it.  It's perfect on Friday evenings when someone wants to drop by late.  

I also have my kids' old Oscar the Grouch button saying grumpy stuff.  That one is handy too.

[Lee B]

My son-in-law gave me a Bulls**t button

[Abby Normal]

On 3/13/2025 at 12:11 PM, schirallicpa said:

I wish ATX had a simple little extension letter I could spit out: Hey - Filed your extension. NYS took this fee.  IRS is happy til Sept.  Stuff like that.  

The beauty of ATX is that you can type up any letter you want and insert variables to make it say what you want. Then roll that letter over to next year.

[mcb39]

16 hours ago, schirallicpa said:

Yes- let's issue a disposal fee for all the envelopes. 

We have an outdoors wood burner; so immediate incineration of all unwanted paperwork from this office.  Very little shredding here.

[Catherine]

17 hours ago, schirallicpa said:

Yes- let's issue a disposal fee for all the envelopes. 

I've added disposal fees, staple removal fees, and more. Some clients learn & clean up their acts. Others just pay. Either way, I figure it's a win. Try it! If you don't have an easy way to burn it all, as does mcb39.

[kathyc2]

1 hour ago, Catherine said:

I've added disposal fees, staple removal fees, and more. Some clients learn & clean up their acts. Others just pay. Either way, I figure it's a win. Try it! If you don't have an easy way to burn it all, as does mcb39.

Don't forget the dang sticky notes.  Sorry, you don't need to write me a note that your W2 is a W2!

[Lion EA]

Especially since their pile stapled together with the W2 note also contains a 1099-INT and 1098 and maybe their car tax receipt.

[mcb39]

It's the time you spend biting your tongue while they slowly open all the envelopes.  I even hand them my envelope opener.  My fuse is getting short.

[Lion EA]

I've stayed virtual, so if they drop off or mail/ship unopened envelopes, at least I can use my letter opener and rip them all open and toss envelopes in my recycle bin and flatten out their documents in a mad flurry, all unobserved. Thank goodness, I do have lots who use my portal. I guess that's one of my criteria for firing/selling clients.

I remember a strange old lady at HRB years ago that reported me to our manager and everyone in ear-shot in the office and probably to regional/national supervisors/whatever saying I shredded her tax papers! I opened each envelope and put envelopes in my wastebasket under my desk. All documents remained in her sight ON my desk. Our office shredder was in another room, so if I were going to shred anything, I'd save it in a pile until that client was done.

[JohnH]

Years ago I intentionally began using mail and night drop to encourage my clients to leave their info during off-hours. Eventually email and text accelerated that process. The intent was always to keep my clients out of my office so I could get some work done. 
 

But I do miss one aspect of the personal interaction.  As we sat there talking about kids, church, politics, etc,  I’d be casually pulling all the boilerplate, empty envelopes, and pages “intentionally left blank”  out of their stack and shoving it into the shredder. Watching the expression on their faces while that shredder ground away was always priceless. 

[Catherine]

On 3/15/2025 at 12:06 PM, kathyc2 said:

Don't forget the dang sticky notes.

At least those rip off FAST. Unless they're stapled in place.