assorted tax clients
Mar. 17th, 2024 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingProfessional tax prep is kind of like... look, income has to be reported. But sometimes clients get kind of weird about forms?
Like, "What do you mean the distributions from Random Partnership aren't on any of the forms I gave you? My brokerage company handled all of that, I don't have direct contact with Partnership, and I sold all those shares last fall anyway. It should be in the brokerage documents."
Okay, fine, but your brokerage company specifically said that the information about the quarterly distributions that they provided on the combined 1099 form ISN'T everything you need to report this particular piece of income. You should receive a K-1 from Random Partnership that explains what income category those distributions belong to, and if you haven't received a paper form, you need to create an account on their website and download the electronic copy. The IRS almost certainly has received a copy of that K-1! (Always assuming Random Partnership has their act together, which, eh. You would be amazed how many businesses fuck up their accounting procedures.)
And then the client looks at me like I'm speaking Klingon, logs into their brokerage company to show me the same combined 1099 form they already handed me, and is obviously going to just straight-up walk out if we don't file TODAY. *headdesk*
So I winged it. I mean, I put the income on their return! It is being taxed! (Hopefully in the correct category at the correct rate.) But man, that is not how any of this is supposed to work.
And I couldn't talk them into the extended guarantee where we help you with letters from the IRS, represent you during an audit, and will reimburse several thousand in back taxes if the IRS disagrees with a position I took on the return. They are in EXACTLY the situation that guarantee is meant for, which I explained several times (pointing out how we were fudging the Random Partnership distributions) but nope, they don't care. *double headdesk*
-----
In other frustrating tax prep news, the client whose return is on hold because they were missing two income documents (and I wouldn't file their return without reporting that income) hung up on me when I called them last week to ask if they'd found the forms. This week they sent me straight to voicemail, but hopefully they listen to the message instead of auto-deleting it because the gist was, "Hey look, if you aren't going to bring me those two forms, can you please come to the office, pick up your other papers, and confirm that you're not going to file with us? That way I get your unfinished return out of my workload and you get off my call list. Win-win!"
I emailed another client to say, "Hey, we do need to finish your return, please schedule an appointment!" because their phone number just rang forever and then said it couldn't connect. I left voicemail for a third client to say, "Have you worked out with your child which of you is going to claim your grandchild so we can either edit or paper file your return?" And I emailed a fourth client to be like, "Hey, I uploaded your return a couple days ago, but you need to actually approve and sign it in order for us to send it to the IRS! Please let me know if you're having trouble."
We shall see if anything comes of those efforts.
-----
Today's client was lovely, though. They are a disabled veteran who likes to have someone look through their documents and see if they need to file. This is the third year I have reviewed their situation, and once again they were not required to file a federal or state return. We could have filed to get their small amount of withholding refunded by the state of New York, but that would cost more in prep fees than they'd get back. So they decided not to file, and I told them to let the payroll people at their extremely part-time job know to stop withholding state taxes they way they'd already stopped withholding federal taxes.
I always enjoy chatting with that client. Absolutely lovely human being. :)
Like, "What do you mean the distributions from Random Partnership aren't on any of the forms I gave you? My brokerage company handled all of that, I don't have direct contact with Partnership, and I sold all those shares last fall anyway. It should be in the brokerage documents."
Okay, fine, but your brokerage company specifically said that the information about the quarterly distributions that they provided on the combined 1099 form ISN'T everything you need to report this particular piece of income. You should receive a K-1 from Random Partnership that explains what income category those distributions belong to, and if you haven't received a paper form, you need to create an account on their website and download the electronic copy. The IRS almost certainly has received a copy of that K-1! (Always assuming Random Partnership has their act together, which, eh. You would be amazed how many businesses fuck up their accounting procedures.)
And then the client looks at me like I'm speaking Klingon, logs into their brokerage company to show me the same combined 1099 form they already handed me, and is obviously going to just straight-up walk out if we don't file TODAY. *headdesk*
So I winged it. I mean, I put the income on their return! It is being taxed! (Hopefully in the correct category at the correct rate.) But man, that is not how any of this is supposed to work.
And I couldn't talk them into the extended guarantee where we help you with letters from the IRS, represent you during an audit, and will reimburse several thousand in back taxes if the IRS disagrees with a position I took on the return. They are in EXACTLY the situation that guarantee is meant for, which I explained several times (pointing out how we were fudging the Random Partnership distributions) but nope, they don't care. *double headdesk*
-----
In other frustrating tax prep news, the client whose return is on hold because they were missing two income documents (and I wouldn't file their return without reporting that income) hung up on me when I called them last week to ask if they'd found the forms. This week they sent me straight to voicemail, but hopefully they listen to the message instead of auto-deleting it because the gist was, "Hey look, if you aren't going to bring me those two forms, can you please come to the office, pick up your other papers, and confirm that you're not going to file with us? That way I get your unfinished return out of my workload and you get off my call list. Win-win!"
I emailed another client to say, "Hey, we do need to finish your return, please schedule an appointment!" because their phone number just rang forever and then said it couldn't connect. I left voicemail for a third client to say, "Have you worked out with your child which of you is going to claim your grandchild so we can either edit or paper file your return?" And I emailed a fourth client to be like, "Hey, I uploaded your return a couple days ago, but you need to actually approve and sign it in order for us to send it to the IRS! Please let me know if you're having trouble."
We shall see if anything comes of those efforts.
-----
Today's client was lovely, though. They are a disabled veteran who likes to have someone look through their documents and see if they need to file. This is the third year I have reviewed their situation, and once again they were not required to file a federal or state return. We could have filed to get their small amount of withholding refunded by the state of New York, but that would cost more in prep fees than they'd get back. So they decided not to file, and I told them to let the payroll people at their extremely part-time job know to stop withholding state taxes they way they'd already stopped withholding federal taxes.
I always enjoy chatting with that client. Absolutely lovely human being. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2024-03-18 06:35 am (UTC)I don't have to deal with the complexities of the US tax system, but my tax stuff is complicated enough that I get a professional to deal with it. The first time I worked with my tax guy, he wanted stuff sorted in certain clusters, so I rejigged my reporting docs to spit stuff out to make his job easier. 15 minutes now and we're done. Unless you're a multiple national company with a seven figure income and an army of accountant to hide that income, this is not the kind of thing you want to play silly buggers with.
Nice to hear you had a sane client after the difficult ones.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-03-21 12:44 am (UTC)I have some clients where I have explained, "Okay, this is the information I need to fill out X complicated form, and it's really helpful if you can sort it into the following categories so I don't have to sit here and muck around with a calculator and highlighter for half an hour to make sure I don't miss anything," and then they sort their information that way the next year. I cherish clients like that. :)