Accountant issue - what would you do?

[ponyfitness]

So I hired an accountant in January to do my unfiled tax returns from 2005-2009. She has taken care of everything after quite some time and so far everything has been smooth although she has taken her sweet time getting anything done.

Her original quote to me in January was $810 and she asked for a retainer which I provided. Tonight she emails me to tell me everything is ready but she needs one more piece of info - and by the way, her fees went up from $810 to $1300 because she had to take care of some extra forms due to me being self-employed (which she knew about originally). She is also demanding payment suddenly by Monday or she can't courier my returns on time.

I'm extremely pissed and sent her back a polite but firm email telling her so. In my opinion it's like a moving company loading the truck and then telling you they won't unload unless you pay them more on the spot.

Any ideas on how to proceed? If I don't file one return then I'm going to pay some hefty penalties so she probably knows she has me screwed.

 

[nimbus]

piitb

seriously though good luck man, i'd talk to a lawyer if you haven't already

 

[75th]

Did you sign an agreement before starting? What did you sign when you gave her a retainer?

 

[lander2312]

I guess it would really depends on a few important matters....
1) how did you come out? If it was on the good then i would just take it for what she said...there was more work involved and she deserves the pay.
2) If you dont have a writen agreement then she does have you by the balls too

either way looks like you will pay

 

[ceo]

I guess you could take your chances with the IRS.

 

[nydj66]

He actions are unprofessional but she does have you by the balls. Consider it a $500 life lesson and never use her services again.

 

[trex74]

yeah that burns but hopefully she did a good job
i agree- life lesson and don't use her again

 

[billfred]

$325/yr sounds pretty cheap to me. I would pay the bill and move on.

Oh - and I would file annually from now on but you already know that.

 

[chewyxrage]

You said she gave you a quote.

That's just a quote.

Do you have a written, signed agreement?

 

[digimon7068]

So I hired an accountant in January to do my unfiled tax returns from 2005-2009. She has taken care of everything after quite some time and so far everything has been smooth although she has taken her sweet time getting anything done.

Her original quote to me in January was $810 and she asked for a retainer which I provided. Tonight she emails me to tell me everything is ready but she needs one more piece of info - and by the way, her fees went up from $810 to $1300 because she had to take care of some extra forms due to me being self-employed (which she knew about originally). She is also demanding payment suddenly by Monday or she can't courier my returns on time.

I'm extremely pissed and sent her back a polite but firm email telling her so. In my opinion it's like a moving company loading the truck and then telling you they won't unload unless you pay them more on the spot.

Any ideas on how to proceed? If I don't file one return then I'm going to pay some hefty penalties so she probably knows she has me screwed.

on time for what?? are you under a levy notice from the irs??

i'm a cpa/cva and i have a masters degree in taxation. . .i doubt that i could do 5 years worth of tax returns for a self-employed person for $810. . .at my hourly rate, that would be 1 hour per return. . .not likely. . .in fact, if your records were clean and easy to make tax returns out of AND you required me to give you a quote, i'd probably use at least 3 hours per return and quote you $2,400. . .i'm very good, but i'm not very cheap. . .however, i'm almost always cheaper than h&r block, and they're morons

 

[bran987]

jesus she still gave you a great deal at $1.3k
pay her, you don't have a choice lol, she is risking that you'll ever use her again but hey, judging by your behavior you won't be hiring another CPA until 2016 right?? So what does she care??? LMAO

 

[-SD-]

I would use teh digi over teh h&r blockheads anyday.

 

[chewyxrage]

digi will you my taxes next year? what's the hourly rate?

serious here

 

[-SD-]

digi will you my taxes next year? what's the hourly rate?

serious here

If you have to ask you cant afford it

rob lol

 

[chewyxrage]

If you have to ask you cant afford it

rob lol

If dude charges less than Block, pretty sure I'm straight


or did you just want to use that lame ass line? saving it for a while? eh? lmfao

 

[SpyWizard]

on time for what?? are you under a levy notice from the irs??

i'm a cpa/cva and i have a masters degree in taxation. . .i doubt that i could do 5 years worth of tax returns for a self-employed person for $810. . .at my hourly rate, that would be 1 hour per return. . .not likely. . .in fact, if your records were clean and easy to make tax returns out of AND you required me to give you a quote, i'd probably use at least 3 hours per return and quote you $2,400. . .i'm very good, but i'm not very cheap. . .however, i'm almost always cheaper than h&r block, and they're morons

yep... I pay $450 per yr per company.. and my personal returns, so that adds up.. I have to do one for the wife's company as well..

 

[-SD-]

If dude charges less than Block, pretty sure I'm straight


or did you just want to use that lame ass line? saving it for a while? eh? lmfao

Digi is a professional CPA, h&r blockheads are vocational hacks. Guess who costs more, yea digi costs more. But im sure hes worth it, you dont want to fuck up on taxes.

 

[chewyxrage]

Digi is a professional CPA, h&r blockheads are vocational hacks. Guess who costs more, yea digi costs more. But im sure hes worth it, you dont want to fuck up on taxes.

I work with (aka, we pay) CPA's (lead their audits, so, my life sucks for a couple weeks at a time) - we fly them in from Boston. They got their shit down pretty damn good, which is why, I questioned Digi about the taxes. I'd rather have someone with a masters in taxation do my taxes than Block. I'm getting married, soon to buy a house so my shit is about to become much more complicated.

 

[digimon7068]

Digi is a professional CPA, h&r blockheads are vocational hacks. Guess who costs more, yea digi costs more. But im sure hes worth it, you dont want to fuck up on taxes.

no. . .i'm dead serious. . .even at $160 per hour, 99% of the time i cost less than h&r block. . .and that person has a 6 hour tax course under their belt. . .i have 22 years of experience in public accounting working with small to mid/large (non-publicly traded) companies, i'm a cpa, i'm a cva and i have a masters degree in taxtion that cost me 2 years of saturdays in class at robert morris college (now university ftw?) and two years of sundays at the duquesne university law library (no football, no nascar, no nothing for two years). . .and i do approxiamtely 60 hours of continuing education per year to maintain my license and professional certifications.

sure, i'll do anyone's friggin' tax return. . .pm me

 

[-SD-]

Why do you cost less than h&r blok? Not that i ever checked their prices but from a "get what you pay for" view it doesnt make sense. Of course from the supply and demand view it might be different.

 

[digimon7068]

Why do you cost less than h&r blok? Not that i ever checked their prices but from a "get what you pay for" view it doesnt make sense. Of course from the supply and demand view it might be different.

i don't have a clue. . .here is a typical example though. . .got a client this year, husband and wife, two kids, two w-2's, home mortgage interest, real estate taxes, charitable contributions, some schedule b stuff, some schedule d stuff. . .compared the 2009 info to 2008 to see if anything was missing, prepped the return, kept my time at $160 per hour to the tenth of an hour (i.e., at 6 minute intervals). . .my bill for 2009 $192. . .h&r block's bill for 2008 $320. . .no rapid refund or any of that bullshit in 2008. . .makes no sense to me at all. . .they must just charge by the form. . .so much for 1040, so much for schedule a, so much for schedule b, so much for schedule d, so much for electronic filing, etc. . .me?? i just charge by the hour. . .period. . .and $160 per hour is pretty dang good. . .for me. . .and for my clients

 

[digimon7068]

i don't have a clue. . .here is a typical example though. . .got a client this year, husband and wife, two kids, two w-2's, home mortgage interest, real estate taxes, charitable contributions, some schedule b stuff, some schedule d stuff. . .compared the 2009 info to 2008 to see if anything was missing, prepped the return, kept my time at $160 per hour to the tenth of an hour (i.e., at 6 minute intervals). . .my bill for 2009 $192. . .h&r block's bill for 2008 $320. . .no rapid refund or any of that bullshit in 2008. . .makes no sense to me at all. . .they must just charge by the form. . .so much for 1040, so much for schedule a, so much for schedule b, so much for schedule d, so much for electronic filing, etc. . .me?? i just charge by the hour. . .period. . .and $160 per hour is pretty dang good. . .for me. . .and for my clients

oh. . .and for 2010, it will probably be even less for the above client as there is always at least .2 to .5 hours of time the first year setting a new client on my software and making sure i capture all the carryforward data and prior year drivers (e.g., prior year agi, prior year tax, etc. to satisfy the safe harbor requirements).

 

[-SD-]

Im going to go to h&r blok next year just so i can see why it would cost more than a cpa with 22 years experience.

 

[digimon7068]

Im going to go to h&r blok next year just so i can see why it would cost more than a cpa with 22 years experience.

they charge as much as they think they can get away with while maximizing profit. . .i'm sure they have a formula after so many years in business, where by they make the most money that they possibly can from january 1 to april 15. . .will their fee structure turn some people away? yes. of course. but they don't care. . .they have a formula that they use to maximize profit. . .and, judging by the amount of money they spend on advertising, i'd say they must be doing a pretty good job at maximization. . .plus they have "the" name. . .if you did a word association game with people and one of the words was "taxes", i'll bet an astonishing number of people would reply "h&r block" (not "the irs" or "death and" or "suck"). . .and that's ok. . .most of their clients wouldn't be happy with a guy like me anyway. . .i won't do their return in 15 minutes while they are sitting their watching me. . .my clients drop their data off or i go their office and pick it up and then i prioritize them. . .then, when i start working on them, i actually "think" about them while i'm doing their return. . .and i think about their prior returns and i think about their future returns, and i think about past, present and future changes in the tax laws and, where possible, i make recommendations on how they can make changes in the way that they do business or conduct their lives so that they can maximize their own personal cash flow (taxes being just one small part of the whole picture). . .and my bigger clients, i meet with them monthly or quarterly and we go through that same analysis each time, as their cash flow planning is more "perpetual" than "periodic".

you know the really funny thing? when people ask "how much do you charge to do a tax return?" (a fair, but utterly ridiculous question) i tell them i charge by the hour, and they ask my hourly rate, and i tell them $160, and a lot of them turn white or red or they laugh at me and tell me "that's very expensive, don't you think?". . .meanwhile, i end up being like half the price of h&r block. . .you know what's really expensive?? ignorance

 

[nimbus]

Im going to go to h&r blok next year just so i can see why it would cost more than a cpa with 22 years experience.

if a large company fucks up you probably have a lot more recourse than you would if some dude you hired fucks up. also h&r block has to pay for real estate and advertising.

sure we all trust digi, but why would some random stranger who finds him in the phonebook trust him?

 

[digimon7068]

if a large company fucks up you probably have a lot more recourse than you would if some dude you hired fucks up. also h&r block has to pay for real estate and advertising.

sure we all trust digi, but why would some random stranger who finds him in the phonebook trust him?

exactly. . .100% of my business is via referral.

oh and, i have pretty expensive insurance, so you probably have more recourse with me than with h&r block.

 

[ortiz34]

Same thing in my business vs Home Depot. People go there because "they thought they would be cheaper"
apples to apples on custom ordering stuff, I blow them out of the water

american consumer=teh stoopid