[Originally published on Forbes.com]

At this point it should not be news to taxpayers that the last two filing seasons have been hard on tax professionals and that this season is not showing any signs of improvement. Still, it’s tax season and taxpayers need to be able to communicate with their tax professionals to ensure that their returns are filed timely, accurately, and most importantly this year, electronically. Indeed, according to a recent survey of tax professionals by Thomson Reuters communication skills are one of the most highly sought after talents in the tax industry. If communication and communication skills are so important, why aren’t tax professionals returning their clients’ calls? Maybe they are, just not in the way clients expect.

Most clients grossly underestimate the sheer volume of client calls and e-mails tax professionals receive during filing season. Clients prove it every time they start a call or e-mail with “I know you’re busy but…” Even tax professionals who have administrative support to help with the volume are often overwhelmed by it. Amanda McGowan, an Enrolled Agent in the Denver, Colorado area, teaches a class on achieving the “no call office.” But after speaking with many tax professionals on social media it has become clear that “no call” doesn’t really mean no calls at all. Even the most vehement proponents of the no call office realize that speaking on the phone has its advantages:

  • It provides flexibility for clients with different communication styles and different resources.
  • Voice inflections often add important nuance to the conversation.
  • It allows for open ended questions and, consequently, a more thorough discussion.
  • Sometimes it’s simply faster to pick up the phone to do a deeper dive into the reasoning behind a question than to draft an e-mail that contains enough questions to provide a thoroughly anticipatory follow up discussion.

Nevertheless, in the recent chaotic filing atmosphere many tax professionals have realized that the only way to handle call volume is to set firm boundaries around how and when calls will be taken and returned. To ensure that they get enough time to focus on tax returns some tax professionals practice time blocking. They set aside time, usually the times they find most productive, for deep work and block less productive time for returning calls and answering e-mails. How does that look in practice? Well, if your tax professional is a morning person it usually means your calls and e-mails will go unanswered until the afternoon. If your tax professional is a night owl it means you could receive an e-mail response to your voice message in the middle of the night (they aren’t expecting an immediate reply) or that they will return your call in the morning because they reserve their afternoons and evenings for deep work.

Often time blocking is used in addition to call scheduling. To make the best use of their time tax professionals are not refusing to take or return calls, they are simply refusing to take unscheduled calls. Unscheduled calls disrupt workflow and often cannot be resolved without additional research, which then necessitates yet another call. Tax professionals who require calls to be scheduled also typically require the reason for the call to be provided before booking the call. Providing the reason for the call when you book the call allows your tax professional to look up your tax information, review your question, and do any research necessary to answer the question before they ever get on the phone. Pre-booking often makes for a much more satisfactory experience on both sides of the call.

Sometimes, however, tax professionals prefer to follow up to voice messages by e-mail. Why? Because they need to document the conversation for your file. Responding to voice messages by phone typically requires the tax professional to respond twice: once by returning the phone call and again by typing notes documenting the call into your tax file. If the question requires research or is reasonably complex, often the most practical solution for the busy tax professional is to “eliminate the middle man” and respond with an e-mail instead of by phone even when that is not the client’s preferred means of communicating.

Remember, tax professionals are business people and they have to work in ways that are good business. In other words, it may only feel like your tax professional isn’t being responsive when they are, just perhaps not in the way you expect. So what can taxpayers do to help ensure their tax professional returns their calls?

  • Don’t call with questions that can be answered by looking at the firm’s website (e.g., Are you open on Saturday?). If your practitioner’s firm has a website try looking there for answers before you call. Many firms have prepared handouts that answer common questions available on their websites (e.g., valuing charitable contributions, tracking business mileage, deductibility of business meals, etc.).
  • Don’t expect exceptions to be made for you. If your tax professional sends office updates, newsletters, or other mass e-mail messages, read them. Often these one-to-many communications contain answers to your questions because many other clients are asking the same questions and it’s more efficient to respond to everyone at once than to provide individual responses.
  • Respect the office policy concerning when calls will be returned and by whom. Schedule your call if that is what the office requires. Don’t insist on talking to a firm principal or partner when someone else has been provided with the information you were seeking and has been tasked with returning your call.
  • Provide a reason for the call when you are calling. Often it is more practical for the tax professional to return your call using e-mail rather than the phone. If you just leave your name and number but no reason for the call, depending on the office your call may not be returned at all.
  • Don’t phone to ask if your tax professional got your e-mail or your earlier voicemail unless it has been longer than five to seven business days after you reached out to them.
  • Don’t call or leave a voicemail just to see if your tax professional has everything they need to prepare your return. Pro tip: If a tax professional is missing information, they will contact you.
  • And never, ever call your tax professional just to “check the status” of your return or you may find yourself looking for a new tax professional.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking with some colleagues about being forced to watch videos to learn features available in new software and just how much I didn’t like that. The videos are slow. I can read faster than that and I comprehend better as well. Usually, I’m going to want to read about something and then maybe watch the video to see how it’s actually done. That’s not how I roll 100% of the time, but in general I’m a reader not a watcher.

I’m considering this in light of recent client pushback concerning my (admittedly lengthy) “help” e-mails. I’m writing volumes of free help information that targets specific issues my clients are having and distributing it to clients along with links to video help and the knowledge base provided by the software. My business is doing tax returns, not doing tech support on my client management software. That said, I want to help when different clients are all having the same or similar problems. So, I write. Why don’t I do video? Because the software has done that. Also because some people, like me, prefer written to video help. So, I’m doing my best to do both what works for the office and what allows me to “meet clients where they are” so to speak.

While the office has always been able to manage contact free service in one form or another (mail, portal, etc.) after last year I decided that we needed to automate some of the more routine administrative aspects of the return preparation process as well as to increase our “one to many” communication. The change was necessary in order to accommodate client volume while still maintaining a degree of personal service and some work life balance for the office staff (me and Cat). We want to be able to focus on tax returns and complex issues, not booking appointments or answering e-mails about the secure portal. Pushback on these changes has included clients leaving and me telling clients that we can no longer meet their expectations and to find a new preparer. Yes. I have fired clients who, instead of asking for help with a specific problem, simply wanted to complain about not liking the changes I am making—to my business.

I get it. Change is hard. No one likes it. Me included. I’m in my 50s and it’s not getting any easier for me to adapt either. But sometimes it’s adapt or die. Last year it became adapt or die for this office. The changes I’m implementing, while causing some short-term pain, will be both beneficial and necessary for the long-term future of my business. So, while it is unfortunate that some clients have chosen to leave or I have chosen to curate them from my client list, I still hope that they find another preparer who meets their needs. Specifically I hope that

  • The new #taxpro pays attention to office and internet security
  • The new practitioner’s business model meets both their price point and their income needs
  • If the new practitioner’s business model is built on working 60-80 hour weeks during tax season (especially during this tax season which has been compressed by an additional two weeks and hundreds of pages of new tax law) that they are able to prepare the return accurately. The cognitive decline that comes from a lack of sleep is a real thing. Tired #taxpros make more mistakes.
  • If the new practitioner’s business model is built on doing a high volume of returns at a low price that they spend enough time with you and on your return to prepare it accurately the first time. And if they don’t that they are around in the off season to help you with any resulting IRS or state notices.

Why do I hope this? Because high-volume, low- to mid-price business models are getting increasingly harder to sustain without automation. The Covid-19 related legislation alone is adding 20-30 minutes to each tax return I prepare just to make sure I’m getting clients all the benefits for which they may be eligible and the correct amount of stimulus money. I read about one #taxpro who says he spends his summer amending returns for free because of all the mistakes he makes during season. He works six or seven days a week and ten to fourteen hour workdays. No wonder he’s making mistakes. Then there’s the general cognitive decline that comes with age. I do not have the memory I had when I was 30. Or even 40. I’ve added automations as “brain extenders” because I’m not willing to run the risks that come with cognitive decline when those risks affect your tax returns.

Maybe you don’t care. Maybe face-to-face completely unautomated service is so important to you that you go out and find a relatively young “old school” preparer. Maybe you won’t outlive them. Maybe they won’t also decide that their business model is unsustainable and decide to make changes. Maybe the demands of the job the way they are currently doing it won’t cause them to make errors. Or maybe, just maybe, it won’t be this year and it won’t be your return.

#fullambo out

The two most beautiful words I heard on #TaxTwitter this weekend were “seller’s market.” What does that mean? It means that good #taxpros are in demand. Good #taxpros. I’m seeing loads of newbies on FaceBook who have passed a test or taken a few classes and decided to open a tax practice asking for advice on everything from what to charge to who qualifies as a dependent to, wait for it, how to prepare a Schedule C.

I’ve mentioned before that “not caught is not the same as accurately filed.” By the time taxpayers get the notices on these returns these preparers have probably closed up shop for the season and are nowhere to be found. Not all of them. Some, who decided to charge really low prices to get clients in the door, will still be working filing what I hope are free amended returns to fix their mistakes. That sucking sound you hear is their profit margins going down the toilet because they charged too little to begin with and now they have the pleasure of doing the return twice. At least I hope they aren’t charging for the amended returns. I had to call a client yesterday morning and to tell her I recently became aware of some “fine print” that could result in tax savings for her and because it was something I missed on her returns I would, once I verified my mistake was really a mistake and she qualified for this benefit, be filing three years’ worth of amended returns for her, for free. Why? Because I’m a good #taxpro. And we are in demand.

You want to know how I know we are in demand? Because the first question potential clients are asking me isn’t “How much do you charge?” it’s “Are you taking new clients?” The answer is yes, but not all of them.

Last year was hard on tax professionals. Some of us aren’t convinced “last year” ever ended. People made themselves ill, people got hives from the stress, people died, some died at their desks and here we are starting what appears to be another chaotic filing season. Last year was absolutely brutal on me and I only have a small practice and not many small business clients. I was stressed, exhausted, and angry. I’ve been working continuously since last January and I’m still stressed, exhausted, and angry. I’m just handling it better. Part of the reason I got no break was that I decided that what made the 2020 extended filing season so unsustainable was the administrative work (e-mails, phone calls, etc.) associated with scheduling appointments for potential and existing clients, answering the same questions over and over, and chasing paperwork (specifically my engagement packet and annual client interview) while trying to keep up with tax law changes and preparing tax returns. Part of the reason I’m handling the stress better is that I spent most of October through December of 2020 adding software that automates the administrative parts of return processing and appointment scheduling so that Cat and I can focus on preparing complete and accurate tax returns for our clients instead of answering the same handful of questions dozens (or hundreds) of times by phone or e-mail.

So why the salt? In a word? Pushback.

I get it. Change is hard. If you think it’s hard to adjust to a new system imagine having to actually set up the new system and use it, not just once but hundreds of times. And yet, most of my clients are managing. Even the ones I thought of as “not super techy” are giving it a try and figuring it out. It’s an imperfect system and I’m learning as I go. It’s not always easy and at times everyone has been frustrated (clients, me, Cat). I am letting the frustrated clients know that I appreciate their patience and feel their pain. I also understand that it’s harder to adapt to a new system when you only use it once or twice a year. I’m cutting some slack, but I’m not cutting slack like I did in 2020 when I basically did whatever I could to help my clients even if it meant sacrificing my own well being.

After fielding a few calls from disgruntled clients, I decided yesterday that I’m simply not taking pushback on my new client management system. My office processes are reasonably flexible and always have been. I will take what I am learning this year and make refinements that make the system and my processes easier on both the client and the office side. I don’t want to frustrate my clients, but I also don’t want to be crushed under the weight of admin work that can be automated.

Consider this, when you find a doctor that is taking new patients do you tell that doctor how to run her practice? I don’t think so. Well, when you find a tax professional, especially an ethical, competent, experienced tax professional, who is taking new clients, it’s probably a good idea to work within their systems instead of telling them how you want to do things.

If you’re reading this and thinking “Well, that’s nasty, I will just take my business elsewhere” I understand. But remember…seller’s market. I’m not trying to price gouge you. I’m not trying to make your life hard. I’m trying to earn a living in a demanding job with extremely high consequences of failure without killing myself in the process. So if my office policies and procedures don’t meet your idea of the way you think things should be done, shop around and find someone with a practice that does. It may be a seller’s market, but there will always be practitioners out there at all price points, experience, and service levels.

Clients who value me will find me and clients who don’t will find a practitioner that better meets their needs. Because truthfully, when it comes to preparing your tax returns, if you can’t tell the difference between me and the person at your church who is using Turbo Tax and charging $100 per return, we are both probably better off if you choose that person, me for the long-term health of my business and you, well, until you aren’t.

#fullambo out

That’s me in super sneaky spy mode.

At the end of the day yesterday I was mailing some paperwork to a couple of clients (yes, we still do that here, especially for clients with limited internet access). I had to create mailing labels for the envelopes. We have a dedicated label printer to help with that job. When I upgraded the office computers this December, I also very carefully went through and updated firmware, drivers, and software for all of our peripheral devices including the label printer. Well, wouldn’t you know the label printer has new software. Software that wants to connect to MS Outlook 365. I hit the connect button and then it asked for my login information to MS Office 365. And then I stopped. Why? Because I had to give that a think:

  • When I connect my Office 365 account to the vendor software for the label maker, just how much access are they getting?
  • Do I trust that they are only going to use information within Outlook itself or by entering my MS Office 365 credentials do they have tentacles into my other Office applications as well?
  • Even if I trusted that the “connect” software was only looking at the Outlook contact information, do I have any idea what the vendor is doing with that data or their requirements to keep it private?

I had no answers to these questions. Still don’t. So, while it’s an order of magnitude less convenient for me, until I can find answers or a workaround where I can control who’s doing what with the data, we’re typing each label for printing. Here’s why…

Every paid tax preparer has to have a written information security plan (or WISP). It describes our security protocols and our processes in the event of a data breach, unauthorized disclosure, or disaster. #Taxpros reading this, yes, your WISP needs to include disaster recovery provisions in addition to data breach and disclosure. Data breach (hacking, etc.) and unauthorized disclosure are two different dogs. Paid tax return preparers are required to obtain specific consent for certain disclosures of their clients’ information. Many, possibly most, #taxpros think of this as needing consent to talk to the parents of an independent adult child about that child’s taxes (when they are paying for return prep) or for talking with a client’s financial advisor to optimize their retirement account withdrawals or for providing a copy of a tax return to a mortgage broker. But there’s more to it than that.

Any time a paid preparer discloses private (not necessarily sensitive, not necessarily confidential) client information to another party they are supposed to have specific consent. Of course there are exceptions, return preparation software being the most obvious. I did not include my label machine’s vendor in my client consents for this year. I did ask for specific consent for my scheduling application, my mass e-mailing software, my client management software, my billing software, the application I used to send texts to clients, etc. Why? Because that’s what I’m required to do. And, yes, I think to an extent it is overkill. I think the IRS is way behind the times with respect to understanding just how automated and how connected tax office operations have become. I did my best to ensure that I was complying with the spirit of the IRS requirements without getting my office and my clients so bogged down in authorization paperwork that no time was left over to actually prepare tax returns. I took a hard look at the software subscriptions I was using to automate my practice and was careful to only include in each of them that client information that was absolutely necessary (for example, the mass e-mailing software only has e-mail addresses, no physical addresses or phone numbers, the texting software only has phone numbers and birthdates for sending birthday texts). I didn’t just create a spreadsheet from my tax software or Outlook and import that into each application.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because my social media is filled with tax professionals (new and experienced) who are using automation tools (and their cell phones) in their practices. And it is becoming clear to me just how many are only looking at convenience and not security. The vibe I’m getting is something along the lines of “well everyone else is doing it so it must be OK/safe.” It really isn’t. Security and convenience are always a balancing act. Some things at Tax Therapy are more difficult (or more manual) than they have to be because I have thought through the security consequences and decided to err on the side of a bit more manual processing. If your #taxpro has given it some thought and decided that they can accept or mitigate the potential risks of a given technology, that’s fine. Every practice is different and has different resources to devote to IT, software evaluation, etc. It’s all of those #taxpros who aren’t even giving the security side a second thought that I’m concerned about. And if you’re a taxpayer using a paid preparer, you should be too.

Paid tax return preparers are not allowed to sell your data. But what happens when they provide your data without your specific consent to a vendor who then sells it or uses it to sell you more products? I’m looking at you, Intuit! I’ve been reading that clients of preparers who use Intuit’s suite of professional products are being solicited to use one of Intuit’s DIY products when they sign in to, for example, retrieve their W2s and 1099s or complete their tax professional’s annual client organizer. Not cool. Not cool at all.

I can’t run my office profitably without a certain degree of automation. There’s only so many days in tax season, only so many hours in a day, and only so much brain time in a given set of hours. But Tax Therapy clients can rest assured that I have devoted a huge portion of my (not inconsequential) brain power to ensuring that I’m only disclosing as much of their data as I absolutely have to to a given vendor and that I am getting their consent to do so each year. Tax professionals, what about your office? Taxpayers, what about your #taxpro?

 

This post is not about the different types of credentials for paid tax practitioners. You can read about that here. This post is about the difference between box fillers and true tax professionals. Even someone with letters can be a box filler instead of a true tax professional.

If you are a taxpayer reading this I hope it gives you some insight into why some of us charge what we do, why some of us ask way more questions than your prior preparer did, and why some of us get really salty and give you a version of “don’t let the door hit you in the butt” when you tell us in March that someone at your church will do your taxes more cheaply and without all the questions.

If you are a tax practitioner (enrolled or unenrolled, full time or part time, self employed or employee) reading this I hope it makes you think about your professional obligations and what type of tax professional you currently are and what type you want to be. Again, not the letters, letters show a degree of dedication and seriousness, but aren’t a guarantee of passion for the profession or, sadly, competence.

I’ve been noticing certain entrepreneurial types selling practitioner education, especially for the EA credential (which requires a test but not a college degree or an apprenticeship period), by saying that once someone completes the training and/or passes the EA exam that they are ready to prepare tax returns and represent taxpayers before the IRS. They are not ready. They are especially not ready to open their own businesses (many have no idea about information security requirements, insurance, etc.). Now, I love the Enrolled Agent credential because it doesn’t present as many barriers to entry to the profession as, for example, the CPA credential. Too often these barriers to entry have been arbitrarily used to keep our profession old, white, and male. But the lack of barriers to entry is both a blessing and a curse.

Lately I’ve been tweeting about some of what I see in FaceBook groups for paid tax practitioners. Some (not all) of these practitioners are new EAs and they are now opening their own tax practices without any actual experience preparing tax returns. It’s awful. Truly awful. Not as bad as some of the advice being given by finance and business “influencers” on the various social media platforms (save me from Tik Tok Tax!), but still pretty bad. Here are a few examples:

  • An investment adviser who does “a small amount of tax prep” asking other professionals how to set up accounting software.
  • A brand new CPA with zero tax experience preparing returns for “friends & family” with zero awareness of the most basic knowledge needed to prepare a Schedule C (Profit/Loss from Business)
  • Paid preparers telling other paid preparers who does and doesn’t qualify as a dependent without explaining the tests for “qualifying child” v “qualifying relative” or citing form instructions or any substantial authority

So what is the difference between a true tax professional and a box filler?

  • True tax professionals know to consult the form instructions and/or a quick reference tool (which they are willing to purchase each year) before asking questions of other practitioners on social media. It always amazes me how many people who get paid to prepare tax returns clearly do not consult the form instructions when they have a question about an entry on a return.
  • True tax professionals understand the concept of “substantial authority” when taking a position (even something as seemingly obvious as filing status or who qualifies as a dependent) on a tax return. IRS publications and what other people said on social media and googled articles may all be correct, but they are not authority. Tax practitioners need to be aware that there is actual “substantial authority” underlying the correct answers and know where to find it just in case the return is ever examined (audited).
  • True tax professionals have a grasp of tax concepts beyond simply which amounts from which forms go on which lines of a tax return. They understand how the lines and forms are related to each other and the tax concepts (capital gains, passive income, business income & expense, etc.) underlying the mechanics of the return. Box fillers know mechanics (what goes where). True tax professionals can look at a tax return and spot items that look “wonky” and can (and will) go back into their software to investigate.
  • True tax professionals do not rely on software to find errors or to prepare a return. They use it for automation and arithmetic. They know enough to be able to spot when the arithmetic might be wrong or when the return is not correct (i.e., something is being reported on the wrong line, form, or schedule).
  • True tax professionals, even if they rarely consult the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), understand fundamental concepts in tax law such as gross income, business versus hobby, capital gains, etc. They may not be able to quote IRC “chapter and verse” (yet), but they have learned enough to have internalized the fundamentals.
  • True tax professionals know what they don’t know and know when to refer a client or potential client to a specialist. For example, I know the basics of cryptocurrency taxation and if one of my clients decides to dabble, I’m pretty confident that I could prepare an accurate return. If, however, a serious crypto trader wanted to be my client, I would consult with the crypto specialists I know to determine what additional skills and software I should have before accepting this engagement. I might need to spend money to get the education and resources I need to take this client but that could also open the opportunity for more of the same type of client. If I’m not willing or able to spend the necessary money and time (maybe I just don’t want to do that kind of work) then I am ready to refer this client to someone who specializes.

All that said, many taxpayers only need a box filler. Single people with a few W2s and no children who could DIY but don’t want to do not necessarily need a true tax professional. The problem with choosing a box filler is that if life changes complicate the tax situation your box filler may not know how to prepare the return. And worse, the box filler may not know what they don’t know. Taxpayers should exercise caution when choosing someone to prepare their tax returns and anyone accepting payment for preparing a tax return needs to consider the harm they are doing to taxpayers and the professional preparer community when they work outside their competence level.

#fullambo out

 

 

The CARES Act and the more recent legislation (it doesn’t have a catchy name so I’ll call it CARES2) have created an above-the-line adjustment for certain charitable contributions. Pro-tip: If it’s “above the (AGI) line” it’s an adjustment to income; if it’s below the (AGI) line it is a deduction. If you are a #taxpro reading this it’s important to use the correct language. If you’re a taxpayer reading this the tax outcomes are largely the same but I like to use the right language.

For Tax Year 2020 taxpayers who take the standard deduction can make an above-the-line adjustment for cash contributions of up to $300 on their 1040s. There’s a marriage penalty here. The $300 for 2020 is on a per return, not a per taxpayer basis. So single filers can make a $300 adjustment and married taxpayers filing a joint return can make a $300 adjustment. The IRS has recently issued guidance (that contradicts the actual law) that says married taxpayers filing separately can only take a $150 adjustment. It’s incorrect but the tax savings are not worth the expense if the IRS decides to assess a penalty (more on that later).

In the more recently passed legislation the marriage penalty was removed. Each taxpayer may contribute up to $300 in cash to qualified charitable organizations. So for Tax Year 2021 it is possible to take an up to $600 above the line adjustment on a jointly filed return. Singles and Heads of Household still can take up to $300. Again, this is for taxpayers who do not itemize their deductions. Taxpayers who use Schedule A to itemize their deductions continue to deduct all of their qualified contributions on that schedule.

Now for the fine print. The IRS will be watching. The Service has stated that there will be a 50% penalty if you claim this adjustment without proper substantiation. What does that mean? It means receipts. Here’s a link to some information on proper recordkeeping for charitable contributions. In general, clients should always be maintaining the records necessary to substantiate their charitable contributions. But for this adjustment in particular it is even more important for the #taxpro to keep the receipts that substantiate this adjustment in the client’s tax file for the applicable years in case the IRS comes looking for them. Don’t be the client who tells your #taxpro “just take the max.” And if you are a #taxpro who “just takes the max” without proper substantiation then you aren’t really a #taxpro in my opinion. True tax professionals do not open their clients up to these types of penalties. They are too easily avoided. If you don’t have the proper documentation it’s going to cost you more in penalties than you saved in taxes by taking an unsubstantiated adjustment. Just don’t do it.

Remember, this adjustment has the following conditions:

  • The taxpayer must not be itemizing their deductions on the return.
  • The taxpayer must be able to substantiate the deduction.
  • The contribution must be made in cash or a cash equivalent (cash, check, credit card, etc.). In other words it can’t be taken for donated “stuff”.
  • The contribution must be made to a qualified charitable organization. Shorthand for that is that it must be made to a recognized 501(c)(3) organization.

See that last bit? It’s important to understand that not every tax exempt organization is a recognized 501(c)(3) organization.

I saw this sign as I was driving home a while ago and thought “Yikes!” Your neighborhood association dues, homeowners association dues, and many other payments or contributions to tax exempt organizations are not tax deductible. Raffle tickets and purchases of auction items are also not deductible, no matter how worthy the cause.* Neither are contributions made to individuals (via gofundme or other types of crowdfunding) or contributions made to charitable organizations outside the U.S. (again, to be deductible the organization must be a 501(c)(3)).

If you have questions about whether or not your contribution is deductible it’s always better to ask your #taxpro or to look to reliable sources for more information. Reliable sources include the tax team at Forbes.com, the IRS website, and (sometimes) the knowledge base provided by your DIY software vendor. Reliable sources do not include TikTok, Twitter, or YouTube unless the person providing the advice is recognized as an expert in the field (again, the IRS, Forbes, etc.).  And occasionally even trustworthy sources provide incorrect information. Right now information is changing so quickly what you are reading could already be obsolete. Be careful out there. Read the fine print and remember, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is.

#fullambo out

*If you paid substantially more than fair market value for an auction item you may be able to deduct the amount in excess of fair market value but be prepared to answer some questions and provide some proof to your tax professional.

Control my life? I can’t even control my hair! This one is for my #taxpro friends and #TaxTwitter. I can’t find the tweet or the article linked in the tweet but former Taxpayer Advocate, Nina Olsen, expects this filing season to be “a disaster.” And she said this after, well, last filing season. So I’m going to offer some of my best pearls of wisdom (do as I say, not as I do) for managing the chaos (to paraphrase Alan Greenspan, both the known chaos and the unknown chaos).

Control the Bits & Pieces

Clip (electronically) your research and save it to the client’s tax file with a file name long enough to help you when you go looking for it. For example, “Tony Nitti Article on Partnership Basis and Deductible Losses.” Or “IRC Section 1212 on net capital losses for individuals and entities.” Don’t ever count on being able to remember why you saved something or what a file is when it just says “IRC 1212”. Help yourself in advance. You’ll thank me later.

Same thing for e-mail responses to client questions. Mine are usually long and detailed. Save the whole thread with a file name that describes what is in the thread. For example, “E-mail on why K1 losses are not deductible – basis tracking issues.” That way you never have to remember what was in the e-mail. Yes, you can simply keep every e-mail you ever send and receive and use the search feature, but I find being able to simply go to a client’s tax file for a given year and find what we discussed and the decisions we made (and why) saved in PDF files incredibly convenient.

Control the Engagement

Use an engagement letter (long or short, that’s a subject for another day) that defines the scope of the engagement. Mine has said for years that the engagement specifically ends with e-filing (or with delivering prepared returns to the client for signature and mailing). This year I made a handy dandy “menu” that describes what is included with “full service” return preparation and what are “add on” services. Spoiler Alert: Chasing EIPs and refunds are not included with return preparation. You can include them if you want, just adjust your prices accordingly. In any case, define the terms of the engagement and stick to them. Don’t allow scope creep (or if you must, bill for it).

Automate Automate Automate

It doesn’t take fancy software. My goal this year was to get a self-scheduler online since we are now requiring an appointment to drop off documents where in non-COVID times we had an open door policy. Done. But I added some client management software as well. But you don’t need that (well, you probably do need the scheduling app). How much time do you spend answering the same e-mail inquiries over and over and over? I got a pro tip from The Number Queen herself early last year (or maybe late in 2019). Use custom e-mail signatures to automate responses! I’ve set up a wiki of common questions and canned responses. Each response is its own e-mail signature in Outlook. Get a question? Hit reply and then choose the appropriate pre-written signature response. Done. The bonus is the responses in the wiki are also used as mini-scripts for answering the most commonly phoned in questions as well. I’m also using the heck out of the wiki feature in Microsoft Teams to create volumes of information for the office on how we use specific pieces of software, handle specific inquiries, etc. I get tired of trying to remember what I decided and really tired of repeating my decisions (or worse, deciding something different than before for a different reason). So now I’m putting it all into our office wikis. Teams is pretty common. If you aren’t using the wiki app you are missing out.

Control the Dialogue

You are monitoring this stuff (the ever changing tax law stuff and what happens in your office). You know what clients are going to be asking. Use mass text or e-mailing software to schedule pre-emptive strikes. My clients are amazing. Generally they don’t call or e-mail about anything they are hearing in the media or from their friends because they know that if it’s important I will be sending out a mass e-mail—with actual facts in it. So they just wait to hear what I have to say. And if they are the 40% who don’t open the e-mail? Well, we paste the e-mail campaign into one of those phone/e-mail scripts I mentioned previously and just use that to respond.

I use this blog to control the dialog as well. I answer many common questions for clients and potential clients here. When we get an inquiry that’s something I’ve already written about, we have a pre-programmed response that says, “Hey, Amber has actually answered that [here]” and provide them with a link.

Stay in the Driver’s Seat

Finally, don’t let the clients drive your business. The customer is not always right. Start as you mean to go on! You will reap what you sow. What the hell does this clichefest mean? That it’s your business. It’s on you to set the rules of the game and to maintain your boundaries. If you allow clients to circumvent your well-thought out processes and policies you are going to end up doing more exception handling than actual work. That’s what happened to me last filing season. I cut lots of people lots of slack. The only person who didn’t get any slack was me. And that could have ended really badly. This year I am going into tax season with my systems, policies, and procedures as the armor that will protect me from whatever slings and arrows the IRS and Congress throw at me. I’m not expecting perfection (even Achilles had his heel) but if I can mitigate 80% of the chaos from the 20% of the clients and potential clients who cause it that is a big win!

Stay frosty out there.

#fullambo out

We’re not quite to the new year yet, but I’m sprinting toward the goal line!

I’m also expecting that many taxpayers will be required to complete a new Form W4 soon. Form W4 is what your employer uses to determine how much federal and state income tax to withhold from your paycheck each pay period. It contains basic information such as your name, address and taxpayer ID number (usually your SSN). The old form used to ask you to calculate how many “allowances” or “exemptions” from withholding you wanted to claim. And there was a worksheet. The higher the number of allowances the lower the withholding. So, to have the maximum amount withheld you simply claimed “Single 0.” The new form doesn’t work that way. On the surface it looks more complex than the old form but my colleague, Sherrell Martin, has done this amazing video that shows that the new form is actually pretty easy to complete and she walks you through how to complete it!

If you are going to use the video to complete your new W4 it will be helpful to first gather the following information:

  • The annual salary/salaries for you and your spouse for each of your jobs
  • The number of pay periods per job
  • The number of children and other dependents that will be claimed on your tax return*
  • The amount of your itemized deductions (if you are not taking the standard deduction)*

*This information can be easily found on the comparison worksheet included with your tax return. My clients can find their “comp sheet” toward the top of the left hand pocket of their tax folder (or near the top of their PDF return copy). Even if you don’t use a paid tax preparer, most DIY software provides a comp sheet.

So, gather your information and let Sherrell walk you through the process of completing your new W4. Remember this new W4 and the associated withholding tables are designed to have you withholding the most accurate amount of tax, not the amount that will get you a big refund. You could even end up with a balance due when you file your tax return.

At Tax Therapy we include a mid-year withholding check up with our full-service return preparation. We will do a basic estimate of your annual income, credits, deductions, and withholding to determine if you need to make any adjustments for the rest of the year. And, while helping clients complete a new W4 is not included with tax return preparation, we can help you do that for an additional fee. If you are interested please log into your TaxDome account using the link in the Client Resources tab and send us a message.

This one is mainly for all my new friends in Facebook’s Tax 101 group (especially the people who are new to flying solo). Still, it is good advice for most business owners and just regular people too although not all of it may apply to your particular situation.

  1. Change your passwords annually. Change the login passwords on your work machine and those for your critical cloud services (tax software, accounting software, client management software, etc.) and use long passphrases (at least 16 characters) where possible. Don’t want to keep track? Consider a password manager such as Last Pass (not an endorsement, just a suggestion). Here are a couple you might not think about—change the password on your router and your WiFi login (or ask your IT person to do it). Your router/modem are the gateway to your computers. My router has the password on a sticker on the side—of course I changed that. And then I change it annually as part of my office security protocols.
  2. And speaking of your WiFi...use the strongest password encryption your modem allows and stop broadcasting your SSID. Your SSID is your network identifier. It lets people “see” the available networks in the area. You’re a tax shop. Don’t broadcast your network to any rando who’s driving around the neighborhood.
  3. Add multi-factor authentication to anything that allows it. That way even if your passwords are compromised whichever baddie ends up with them will also have to have your phone or your e-mail account credentials or something else to get into your cloud accounts.
  4. Purge old files. Paper and electronic files. I’ve heard #taxpros bragging that they have a copy of every return they’ve ever done. Either on a drive somewhere or in a file cabinet (the horror!). You know what that does? It increases your exposure in the event of a data breach by an order of magnitude. Data breaches aren’t all electronic. What happens if your files are on paper and angry burglars bust up your file cabinets and send those papers flying down the street (happened with my Aunt’s personal paperwork—not fun). Do you really want to have to pay for ID theft protection for a client from five years ago if they aren’t still a client? Do you really want to have to notify clients who are long gone in the event of a breach. Make a purge plan part of your written information security plan (WISP)—you do have a WISP, right? You are required to have one if you get paid to prepare tax returns.
  5. Update your virus software and run a deep scan of your computer hardware. I recommend doing this at least quarterly, but you definitely want to do it before the clients come knocking this filing season.
  6. Encrypt your hard drives and flash drives, especially any drives that can be lost or stolen easily (so flash drives, removable storage, laptop HDDs).
  7. Turn off your machines! Now, this is more practical for some people than others, but basically if a machine is on and visible (see Tip #1) people can try to break into it. You can’t break into a machine that is off. Sure, you can set “time out” times for devices on your router (and you should). Turning the machines off if you really don’t require them to be on 24/7 just adds an extra layer of protection. I even unplug my router if I’m going to be away from the office more than a couple of days.
  8. Implement a “clean desk” policy. For those of you who are fully paperless, the Windows + L key is your friend (it locks your screen immediately). If you aren’t paperless, be sure that if you step away from your desk or leave for the evening that client information is not easily accessible to anyone who might have to come into the office. I mean, my landlord is allowed to enter my office during a building emergency. I don’t want them seeing my stuff!
  9. Consider (or reconsider) how you are collecting and storing your clients’ personally identifying information. Many amazing applications allow you to conveniently collect all sorts of client data with only a click or two. But you need to know if what you are using is secure. Does it encrypt the data? Is that data passed through or stored somewhere in the cloud? What happens if the company who owns/runs the application has a breach? Are you liable? To what extent? Who knows?! Certain information I simply will not collect using a web-based form because I don’t know enough to answer those questions. You need to decide for yourself and your firm where the line is between automation/convenience and security. And, like all things tax, “it depends”. It’s going to depend on the size/volume of clients your firm handles. It’s going to depend on your risk tolerance. Technology is wonderful and can help us all become more profitable, but it’s important to use it mindfully.
  10. Remember there are three basic types of security: cyber security, physical security, and operations security. Most of these tips are cyber and physical. Operations security is looking at your office processes and procedures and your staff and ensuring that your processes/procedures keep your office secure and that your staff is trained and not actively or inadvertently compromising your well thought out procedures by their actions.

Good #taxpros don’t rely on luck to keep information safe. Security is an active process! Stay active in the new year!

Remember when they were doing direct deposit or mailing a paper check? Well someone convinced someone that prepaid debit cards were a better idea. I won’t wax philosophical on the fact that you can’t usually pay rent with a debit card. Instead, I will link to this article from The Tax Girl letting you know that debit card is legit…so don’t throw it away!

Remember when I talked about college students who are dependents (or basically any child over 16) not being eligible for the dependent EIP or their own EIP? Well, that applies to adult dependents too. So if you’re claiming your parent as a dependent and they are wondering where their stimulus money is—it isn’t coming. Because they are a dependent over the age of 16. Yeah—this is a drag.

What’s not a drag is that I have been moving through the returns and Cat may be coming back part time starting next week. Can I get a hallelujah?!

And we are open by appointment for document drop off, return review and signature, and for new client intake appointments.

That’s about it for today!