Topic

5-Mar-2021 3:51pm

Somebody needs to make a You Tube video to train clients on how to deliver their tax information to their preparer.

We can all offer our clients a $25 discount if they check a box they watched it.

Helpful hints like:
* Don't give us receipts. Provide summary totals.
* Fill out the Schedule C & Schedule E organizer pages. "This will lower your prep fees!"
* Give us your entire 1099 Composite report, not just the pages you think we need.

Add some humor to the video - Go ahead and make fun of us tax preparers, if you need to.

Just think of how many clicks this video will get. You will be an instant quincezillionaire!

5-Mar-2021 5:16pm

That’s a GREAT idea!!!!

5-Mar-2021 8:14pm

I believe AlexCPA puts out Youtube videos. May be he will take on this challenge :?:

Alex are you listening

5-Mar-2021 11:21pm

I'll do it this off-season if Alex doesn't want it first.

I've produced on YouTube for non-tax related topics and was planning on crating tax videos this summer.

6-Mar-2021 12:19am

Thank you for the mention ATSMAN -- I've been reading and learning from your posts for quite a while now! After dealing with the "interesting" ways in which clients provide information for tax preparation over the last few months, I already had an idea similar to this which I'll be pursuing after busy season. I'll post a link here when it's ready.

And ItDepends, let's both have a go at it and let the community decide on a winner!

6-Mar-2021 3:46am

Wiles wrote:Somebody needs to make a You Tube video to train clients on how to deliver their tax information to their preparer.

We can all offer our clients a $25 discount if they check a box they watched it.

Helpful hints like:
* Don't give us receipts. Provide summary totals.
* Fill out the Schedule C & Schedule E organizer pages. "This will lower your prep fees!"
* Give us your entire 1099 Composite report, not just the pages you think we need.

Add some humor to the video - Go ahead and make fun of us tax preparers, if you need to.

Just think of how many clicks this video will get. You will be an instant quincezillionaire!

And please open up the envelopes and look through them before you give them to me. Especially envelopes that DON'T say TAX DOCUMENTS on them.

6-Mar-2021 10:36am

Totally agree. In fact, I am putting together an email to address these exact points and a bunch more.

6-Mar-2021 11:29am

And please open up the envelopes and look through them before you give them to me. Especially envelopes that DON'T say TAX DOCUMENTS on them.

I agree this is very important because we are not the sorter! Just got of the phone with a fellow that gave me his Dec 2020 UBS packet with all sorts of reports and projections but had no idea where his 1099-R, 1099-B and 1099-Div forms are. He got a bit irritated with me because I kept on telling him the packet he dropped off is of no use to me.

Mind you he gets a checklist each year from me, but I guess he never bothers to cross reference it :cry:

7-Mar-2021 1:48am

I put a blurb in my client cover letter that goes with the organizer "Please open ALL mail unless you with to pay me $ 250 to do it for you". It's been reasonably effective. And I have billed a few - a separate line item on the invoice - for mail opening services. They mostly get the message, pay the bill, and open their own mail then next year. Back in the day of in-office appointments, I would hand any unopened envelopes back to them and comment 'you can't afford to have me open your mail for you' with a pointed look/smile.

8-Mar-2021 4:27pm

Wiles wrote:
Helpful hints like:
* Don't give us receipts. Provide summary totals.

It's amazing to me how many people are under the misguided belief I do free bookkeeping. If they give me receipts I tell them I'm going to do a quick once over - that's it. If there are missing items, oh well.

Had a husband lecture me last year that his wife's lack of bookkeeping on their rental properties was somehow my fault. This year she delivers her numbers and everything is listed as "repairs". Now he wants to know why I didn't write off the utilities.

8-Mar-2021 5:45pm

ALL of our client quotes include:

$150/hour - Bookkeeping (adding of receipts, journals, bank statements, unorganized data, client refuses to fill out simple organizers, etc)

and

Bookkeeping is not included with the standard tax return rates. The client can add up all receipts, statements, journals, and provide categorized P&Ls (or fill out our organizers) to avoid additional bookkeeping fees. We charge hourly for those who need extra time and attention.

And our engagement agreement has stronger, more detailed language.

All clients get this when getting an estimate and upon engagement.

11-Mar-2021 4:42pm

Feel free to upload your 19 or so donation receipts to your portal folder, but writing "See Receipts" in the organizer will increase your tax prep fee and may cause us to miss one or two.

11-Mar-2021 5:35pm

And please don't question my competence when I miss receipt 17 of 23.

15-Mar-2021 4:35pm

... And no pictures of documents. Support the postal service and just mail it to us.

16-Mar-2021 6:10am

I've forewarned my clients to use the Dropbox upload link I provide to each request, because if they start attaching to emails, the email gets deleted. Leniency for a solitary 'forgot this one and too lazy to use the link', but none for those who think sending sporadic attachments over the course of weeks is appropriate!

(Have you noticed how screwed up the formatting is for an email chain that includes an attachment?)

13-Apr-2021 2:38pm

Do not print me a P&L from QB and deliver that to me. You print it out at home. Transfer numbers from the P&L to the organizer. Each number you are writing on the organizer you are affirming it is correct and will withstand an audit.

Client's think there is something magical about a QB P&L. It's as if the computer audited their crappy bookkeeping and it passed muster.

$10,320 in Uncategorized Expenses is not OK just because it is on a pretty looking report that says "Profit & Loss"

13-Apr-2021 2:52pm

What do you mean!? QuickBooks Online said I'm "All Caught Up!"! :shock:

14-Apr-2021 7:02am

Wiles wrote:Do not print me a P&L from QB and deliver that to me. You print it out at home. Transfer numbers from the P&L to the organizer. Each number you are writing on the organizer you are affirming it is correct and will withstand an audit.

Client's think there is something magical about a QB P&L. It's as if the computer audited their crappy bookkeeping and it passed muster.

$10,320 in Uncategorized Expenses is not OK just because it is on a pretty looking report that says "Profit & Loss"

Some people think QB is magic and th P/L statement is all you need to prepare their tax return. Last week I got a P/L e-mailed from a logging company that had a Gross of $185,000 and a net profit of $7,800. What?? I have no idea what expenses are being booked. So I called the bookkeeper and asked what was she doing? Can I get a list of accounts and the activity in each. Her response was I got to watch the You Tube video first!