Comments on: Top 5 Tips for Hassle Free Tax Preparation

By: Wilson Pon

Wilson Pon — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:13:22 +0000

David, when it comes to the taxes, there’s always no “too early” in my dictionary. Honestly, I’ve already well-prepared for the upcoming 2010 tax payment…

By: Eric J. Nisall

Eric J. Nisall — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:19:29 +0000

Since my client list isn’t very extensive, and some are friends and family, I am able to keep pretty close tabs on their situations throughout the year David. It really isn’t very difficult, as all it really takes is a quick phone call at varying points during the year, but most importantly in the 3rd quarter to get a more accurate gauge of where they stand. When I worked at firms, many of the individual clients were also corporate clients, so we had quite a bit of their info throughout the year so that helped quite a bit.

What I plan on doing as my clientele expands is drawing up a form letter that I would send out in addition to periodic phone calls just to touch base and make sure that nothing drastic has occurred such as a large bonus or pay cut, planned stock sales or inheritances. To me, it’s more about developing and maintaining a relationship with clients that extends beyond just the accountant-client standard.

By: Eric J. Nisall

Eric J. Nisall — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:26:13 +0000

That, and the fact that they do not require any type of educational background or experience. All that is required is that they complete a 60 hour course where they think that all relevant topics will be covered. That 60 hours is the equivalent of ONE college course in an accounting tract, which by no stretch of the imagination is sufficient to prepare ANY tax return that consists of more than a single W-2.

I speak from personal experience as I have completed a 4 year degree in accounting, as well as having 8 years of experience working in CPA firms. I have even heard of college grads who could not process a fairly early return based on the fact that they had difficulty putting the tax and accounting theory into practice.

By: Eric J. Nisall

Eric J. Nisall — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:19:40 +0000

@ Del – Actually, the guest contributor is not anonymous, as his information is given at the end of the post. To address your assessment of chains being open at least one day, that may be true, but if you were going to use a paid professional (and I use that term loosely when referring to many who work at such establishments) wouldn’t you prefer to have access to them whenever you needed? And, not all CPAs/tax preparers are expensive, that is simply a common generalization. I will give an example for all: I did a return for a friend of a friend 2 years ago, and this lady had used H & R Block the year before. The chain charged her $180 for a simple 1040 (meaning that it was just the 1040 itself, no schedules, not even a schedule A). The most I have ever charged someone for a simple 1040 return was $100, and that was with e-filing included in the pricing. It is simply a matter of asking friends, family, co-workers, etc about their preparers and calling around and interviewing a couple to determine who is best for you.

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:16:46 +0000

Question for you… Do you actually work with your clients year round, or does your client have to call you up continuously to ask questions? I know my accountant never calls me until I find her, and even then, she sometimes gives me the feeling that she’s in a rush. However, at the rate I pay her ($200 a year for filing taxes), I can understand that she can’t possibly take care of me year round.

How do you do it?

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:14:10 +0000

I am sorry you didn’t get a chance to read the whole post, as the guest poster was identified.

I think Eric’s point is that finding the same tax preparer from those retail chains is very difficult because most are temporary workers working for a month out of the year.

By: Del

Del — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:46:55 +0000

Pretty lame, having an anonymous guest contributor. Not much responsibility there. There are retail tax preparation chains which are open all year, albeit, with reduced hours. They are generally willing to make an appointment for other hours if you make a request, as revenue is pretty scarce for them when not in tax season. I know the 3500 Liberty Tax Service offices guarantee to remain open at least one day a week all year. And most individuals do not need an expensive tax CPA (who are also not perfect by the way!)

By: Wealth Pilgrim

Wealth Pilgrim — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:12:11 +0000

I do all my books on Quickbooks so at the end of the year, it takes me about 30 minutes to put everything together for my CPA.

If someone is using a home-made software package that doesn’t prep them for taxes, it may cost them more in time than they save in dollars by not buying this kind of software.

By: Eric J. Nisall

Eric J. Nisall — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:15:05 +0000

@Samuel – The problem is, that most of those programs are not available far enough ahead of the end of the year for you to be able to take any real advantage of them. And, if you are using the prior years version, it will not be accurate depending on the variety of tax code changes and special tax breaks the government decides to put in place (ie: the first time home buyer credit, or the cash for clunkers credit). The goal is to have a clear enough picture ahead of time to be able to make adjustments should they be necessary, and Turbo Tax, Tax Cut, free e-file sites, etc simply do not not afford anyone those benefits.

@Samurai – Understood. I set my rates on a case-by-case basis, generally depending on the complexity of a return and the individual situation (I will give discounts to public servants like police and firefighters, single parents or households under a certain gross income level, etc) and that is one of the biggest points that I founded my company on–people before profits. Unless you have 10 K-1’s, are a day trader or have multiple rental properties (or something along those lines), I doubt that I could charge close to $500 for an individual return. There are people whose returns have cost several thousands which I have seen when I was working for someone else, but as I said, that person had almost 100 K-1s from various investments and a significant amount of time went into the preparation.

By: Financial Samurai

Financial Samurai — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:05:59 +0000

Hi Eric – My income is pretty consistent, except for when stock gets vested and bonus gets paid. It’s pretty straight forward i.e. income, + rental property, + stock proceeds and dividends. I don’t have anything funky. Mortgage interest deduction is straight forward too.

It all depends though. How much do you/your firm usually charge per individual? If it’s $500 or less, it’s probably worth it for me, but not so if more no matter how much I make.