Re-Delivery - Causing a crisis within our practice

I'm mostly retail 1040. Heavy on Schedule C clients. We charge flat rates, but we also charge by the hour for clients that need extra time and attention for any reasons (that you are all quite familiar with).

Moving to online delivery seemed like it would be a time saver.

But clients are not signing - instead they are taking days and weeks to correct one item at a time, forcing me to redo and redeliver the tax returns several times.

To combat this, I'm sending drafts and telling them they get one redo. "Tell me now because once I send for signature I charge for changes and it goes to the back of the line (extension)".

I'm always nagging my client and I don't like that - but not sure what else to do.

Another problem is that now they are sitting on it for weeks and not responding to the draft.

When they would come in to review, we'd fix any misunderstandings, they would sign, I would file, and they would forget about it.

Now it takes me 4 times the work to complete a majority of the tax returns, and they are piling up. We're working harder and our numbers are way down.

Are the corrections from errors you made, errors the client made, or general miscommunications that cannot be assigned to either party? If they are client errors of the "I forgot to include this number on my organizer" type, I charge to reprint. We do include bolded wording explaining that the return needs to be reviewed and authorization signed promptly. Is there a chance that a year or two of (admittedly unpleasant) retraining is what is needed?

"I forgot to include this number on my organizer"

it's this

No excuse, in my opinion. Bill for time to change and reprint.

No excuse, in my opinion. Bill for time to change and reprint.

Agree 100%. You can't be expected to eat work that wasn't due to anything foreseeable on your part.
An easy way to approach this might be: Please review this return carefully. Be advised there is a $XXX(X) fee for any changes required to be made after final assembly.

OK, yeah - I have this so far:



Attached is a draft of your tax return for your review.

I need your help.

The modern age of electronic delivery has caused many clients to change their tax return again and again and wait until the last minute to provide corrections and to sign their return.

Please promptly provide all needed corrections/updates and I will be happy to redo the return and send a revision.

But once I finalize the tax return and send for signature, however, we charge a fee to redo that tax return and it may take a few weeks for me to get to it.

Do you see any needed corrections before I finalize the tax return and send for your signature?

Sorry and thanks.

I would go lighter on the justification and ask for what I want, but that may not work for you. You have an established clientele and may need to be more polite. I have been accused of being blunt more than once.

I'm not a fan of the tone and delivery.

I think this is best managed on the front end, not when you deliver the draft.

I'm very clear with my clients in my early season e-blasts that a tax return doesn't get added to queue until the organizer has been submitted and ALL tax documents have been uploaded to the portal. If they're waiting on tax docs that won't arrive until March or early April, and substantially all tax docs have been uploaded, I ask them to email me this information and list what's outstanding along with ETAs, and I decide at my discretion if we have enough to add them to the queue.

Ideally, you only run one draft. That's what's most efficient and best for your practice.

I had one client last year (no longer a client) that kept finding tax information after each draft. Ran three of them. On our closing call, I was very clear that: (1) next year ALL tax docs need to be uploaded on the front end, (2) running more than one draft is very rare for my firm -- it almost never happens -- let alone three drafts, and (3) if multiple drafts occur again next year I'd have to bill accordingly.

Of course, no longer a client, but you get the point.

I don't like the apology at the end ("sorry"). It doesn't come across as sincere...just sounds like you're saying it because that's what you feel you should say. You shouldn't apologize for established and reasonable protocols. The ones that don't like that are headaches and you'll be better off without them.

Dear client,

Attached is a draft of your tax return for your review.

Please review carefully and completely. If there are any corrections/updates, I will be happy to redo the return and send a revision.

Once returns are finalized and sent for signature, however, there is a fee for our additional work and those projects are dealt with as new projects on the date you inform us of any needed changes.

Thank you for your business and trust in us with this work!

Sincerely,
ItDepends

Once the PITA clients get billed for this they either leave or stop doing it.

With the COVID restrictions we had to change our procedures drastically (I don't like it either).

1) If I don't get all the information with the Organizer or uploads by the date I give them, then it goes into a pending status. I fire an e-mail reminding them of what is missing (best guess) and I give then 15 days to get it to me.

2) If step 1 is satisfied it moves to the tax prep stage and we start inputing data. If step 1 fails then it goes into a long term pending box and I will not look at it unit I have some time. Most will get the extension.

2) Once a return is completed and it is ready for filing I e-mail a pdf with Preliminary Copy watermarked that MUST be approved within 7 days. If not it goes into the pending box.

3) If I have prepared a return and signature forms are e-mailed and client wants to change something, it will be extra cost depending on the changes requested OR it will go into the extension box.

Having said all this I am trying to figure out how to handle the process to fix UI and PTC recapture corrections.

I updated my "can", thanks for all the input! It mostly looks like Cook's suggestion now. I was just a bit more clear on what "dealt with as new projects" means deadline-wise.

I like the idea of correcting the behavior and guiding them rather than charging them.

Last off-season, I raised prices drastically on my biggest PITA clients. In general, this made them more demanding, less patient, and even spiteful. Now I know I just need to fire these clients. It's like 5 clients out of 1200 that I need to fire each year. I figure that if I can't do that much, I must doing it wrong.

It's many good clients that are making me do the re-deliveries. I don't want to offend or fire them.

Over the years I have noticed that most clients who have "common sense" will figure out that if they give you the information promptly their return will be done promptly and every one is happy! The stupid ones wait till the last minute and cause all sorts of problems. I have categorized my clients and try to reduce the "stupid" category by attrition, raising fees or straight disengagement. If you hold the line that if they fail to meet your deadline it will be an extension, they learn real quick to get you what you asked or they suffer.

Right now I have a client that called me yesterday and told me to put his return on "hold" and if I have to file an extension he completely understands. That is the type of client I want who will take the responsibility and tell me to put the return on extension if they can't meet the deadline. I really don't care what the reasons are for the delay. This takes the pressure off me and I can deal with them after 4/15 when I have more time.

Over the years I have noticed that most clients who have "common sense" will figure out that if they give you the information promptly their return will be done promptly and every one is happy! The stupid ones wait till the last minute and cause all sorts of problems. I have categorized my clients and try to reduce the "stupid" category by attrition, raising fees or straight disengagement. If you hold the line that if they fail to meet your deadline it will be an extension, they learn real quick to get you what you asked or they suffer.

Right now I have a client that called me yesterday and told me to put his return on "hold" and if I have to file an extension he completely understands. That is the type of client I want who will take the responsibility and tell me to put the return on extension if they can't meet the deadline. I really don't care what the reasons are for the delay. This takes the pressure off me and I can deal with them after 4/15 when I have more time.

+1000 on all of this post.

This takes the pressure off me and I can deal with them after 4/15 when I have more time.

I think the professional can go a long way to "train" their clients in this manner. I used to work at a firm that would work insanely to not extend clients that really didn't care that much, but we trained them to expect that. It was difficult to reverse that approach.
Alternatively, my current firm is very comfortable asking (or informing) for an extension. Everyone is better off.

We are 95% remote delivery, and we don't experience this. Maybe it's the transition from meetings to virtual and they're not trusting of the process. The only suggestion I would follow is the one about billing for time for corrections that are the client's fault.

Sounds like it's "my" failure - but I'm working on it. I'm pretty happy with my can so far.

Your clients are idiots - multiple drafts - are you kidding me ? Anyone who can’t keep solid books to give you correct info up front needs to be fired or charged triple. This isn’t some newspaper editorial board with various revised drafts - just simple record keeping for a tax return

I think part of this problem is self-created.

You're literally inviting the client to provide information piecemeal, even after you've delivered a draft: Please promptly provide all needed corrections/updates and I will be happy to redo the return and send a revision.

I think your problem can be solved by modifying your protocol and making sure that clients understand your new protocol and abide by it. See my post #8.

Man vs Tax is pretty much correct. Sounds like you just need to clearly communicate with your clients about how your office works or this will not stop.

On a related topic - We are posting here since we all know how hard it can be to manage a tax practice and deal with difficult clients. Hopefully, you will use all of this constructive criticism to find a better way to manage your business


I don’t know every single nuanced detail of what is occurring , but it just sounds “disrespectful” to you that clients waste your time like this. I just think that you deserve better and could manage the time better. All that time wasted on disorganized clients could be better invested in tax planning., or marketing or whatever you want to focus on.

Good luck