posted
For those of you who don't know, I'm a tax preparer for one of the major national companies during the spring...
So yesterday afternoon I had an appointment with a new customer. First thing she says: "You're gonna hate me before this is over. I've been procrastinating because I know we're going to owe a bunch of money."
She wants to file a joint return with her "husband" this year(2003). This will be their first joint return ever. They were both self-employed for about half the year, and they have W-2s for the rest of the year. "No problem," I tell her.
Her husband didn't even mail last year's (2002) return because he was self-employed and the lady that prepared his return said he'd owe over $6000. They just couldn't afford to pay that, so never filed. She wanted me to look it over and make sure it was right before she mailed it. "No problem."
She also has to amend her own 2001 return because the IRS sent her a letter saying she didn't report some income she received on a 1099. They show that she owes about $600 on that one. "No problem. Let's start with this one, and work our way forward."
So I amend her 2001 return. BTW, I hate the IRS every bit as much as everybody else, so I try hard to make sure they don't get any more of my customers' money than necessary.
After all of her expenses, she actually lost money on that 1099. Imagine that! So the IRS owed her about a hundred bucks.
She was just amazed. She even offered go buy me lunch, and I hadn't even looked at the other two returns yet.
The husband's 2002 return? He's a self-employed over-the-road truck driver. The idiot that did his taxes used his actual expenses instead of the standard mileage rate...and then didn't give him even half the standard meal rate for truck drivers. Instead of owing over $6000, he actually owed about $200.
By then, she's practically bouncing all over the office. She's hugging me, telling the other customers that were waiting how great I am...
posted
No kidding!! I think I put my W-2 around here somewhere... Do I need to do that soon? Is tomorrow too late?
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Congratulations!! It's a service that needs to be done, and it sounds like you are incredible at it. What a good day.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
I used to think we got great tax refunds. But that was before we had two kids and a mortgage. This year, our refund has been enough for a down payment on our dream minivan and a trip to Disneyland.
I know, I know, a big refund just means you paid too much in taxes during the year, and you would have been better off not having so much withheld. But I sure love getting that check.
And I love the van.
Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
From what I hear from the people on these boards, it sounds like Bush's financial domestic policy is fairly effective.
Posts: 2258 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I hate taxes. I hate filing in 2 states. But at least I don't owe anything.
2 years ago I was told by H&R block they wouldn't do my taxes. What's up with that?? They weren't *that* difficult just confusing. I probably did the m wrong but I had to do them myself since apparently they were too difficult. Oh and I think the unofficial advice the lady gave me was totally wrong.
Do they make it so confusing to try to con you out of more money than what you're owed?
Posts: 872 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Wish my ex-husband could find someone like you. He hasn't even FILED taxes for over 10 years (we've been divorced 13 years, and I don't know if he has done it since). He gets overwhelmed and just puts it off until it never happens. He was an OTR truck driver for several of those years. He doesn't even know where to start.
Too bad too -- because if he ever WAS due a refund -- it would have gone to back child support! <WINK>
posted
If you are anything except for a single one-job salary/hour wage person, I whole-heartedly recommend finding an accountant you can trust and have them do it every year. Especially if property is involved.
It's worth the 50-100 dollars, if only for the peace of mind alone.
posted
I decided to give the H&R block guys a try, after we did our taxes first. They weren't able to find us any more money. But we are a single-income family with one house, and no other debt. Pretty simple.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
WE have a CPA do ours, and this year she called us and said too many of her other customers who pay her more than we do need her so we're getting an extension.
Dontcha just love it when your accountant says you aren't worth her time during tax season?
I suppose we should pay her more than a six pack of Dr. Pepper.....
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I always assumed that was S.O.P. for CPAs dealing with small businesses. We had extensions almost every year, even when we had 2-3 million in revenue. Basically, I've seldom gotten good customer service from them, and we shopped around.
posted
One year this friend of ours, who does tax returns for friends for free (though he doesn't sign as the tax preparer, and thus assumes no risk) did our return and saved us about $2000.00. We were so sure it was a mess, but evidently it wasn't.
We gave him a peanut butter pie. He'd been at a party where ron brought his famous peanut butter pie (1000 caleries a slice, but oooh so tasty) and had tried to eat the whole thing, telling people it was awful and they wouldn't want any as he went for his second slice
He was as excited about the pie as we were the $2000.00. Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Just to reiterate, most of the tax cuts that middle class people are benefiting directly from were wholly supported by the Democrats in Congress, and most of them were on both party's agendas -- not just Bush's, so they were hardly "Bush's" tax cuts.
Its the tax cuts whose benefit (or detrimental effect) you can't see directly which are/were contentious.
In fact, a lot of those haven't even come into effect yet. So you could hardly be seeing benefit from those parts of Bush's tax cuts, and giving them credit for anything is just wishful thinking.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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