Limited Scope Engagements

Let's face it more and more people are doing their own taxes and that leads to a lot of things, some good and some bad. From time to time someone will come to me and ask to look over a particular form in their self-prepared return (for a fee of course). In some cases the tax return has already been filed and there is an issue or correction that needs to be made. I usually turn down this kind of work but I'm wondering if I'm being too stringent considering the prevalence of do-it-yourself taxpayers these days. Would you take on this kind of limited scope engagement?

If it's already been filed and they have an issue with it, I will consider accepting this kind of engagement. I evaluate whether I would accept it in the same manner as any other consulting engagement.
Because it's come up, Circ 230 bars us from reviewing tax returns before they are filed unless we are listed as the preparer on the form, which is a nice "out" for those kinds of requests.

If you have a strong 1040 practice, then this type of request is almost inevitable. Sometimes you can snag a good long-time client out of it, but sometimes people just want a one off service and return to self-filing in the future. I would absolutely not do this during busy season, but if you're willing to do this then you can generate some offseason billables.

The proper fees do not match the public's expectation of these requests. It takes a lot more time and effort to reverse engineer/review their work than it takes to do it right the first time, so many times there is a sticker shock to it -- the proper fee would be higher than if they came to us to prepare the original return in the first place.

Let's face it more and more people are doing their own taxes and that leads to a lot of things, some good and some bad. From time to time someone will come to me and ask to look over a particular form in their self-prepared return (for a fee of course). In some cases the tax return has already been filed and there is an issue or correction that needs to be made. I usually turn down this kind of work but I'm wondering if I'm being too stringent considering the prevalence of do-it-yourself taxpayers these days. Would you take on this kind of limited scope engagement?

Yes but I would tell them I have to process the return the same way as filing it, so they would have to pay full price for the service.

If it's already been filed and they have an issue with it, I will consider accepting this kind of engagement. I evaluate whether I would accept it in the same manner as any other consulting engagement.
Because it's come up, Circ 230 bars us from reviewing tax returns before they are filed unless we are listed as the preparer on the form, which is a nice "out" for those kinds of requests.

Thank you Circular 230.

Yes but I would tell them I have to process the return the same way as filing it, so they would have to pay full price for the service.

Exactly what I say and we have Cir. 230 to back us up. Some people think that getting a second look free is like an entitlement. Over the years if I had a $ for every time someone asked me to do that I would have retired

Last tax season my neighbor wanted me to review his daughters tax return self prepared on TT. He does his own return but was not sure about a few things. Just to keep harmony, I told him I can't do that BUT I will prepare her return free as a favor. Which I did and he invited me for a bar B Q last summer.

The bbq was nice. Some people send me a gift card for that, even if I charged. And some treat it as an entitlement.

Some Kitchen Table Preparers offer free consultation to get business. We have a fellow in my area that does a good business with union folks, hunters etc. Before COVID he used to organize a "Tax Prep Party". His clients and potential clients would gather at the Elks Lodge and he would spend the entire day preparing returns. He also had a converted van that was his office on wheels for the shut ins. It was hard to compete with him!