This year’s tax season is on the books! We’ve still got a few extensions out there, but the worst is over, and we’re thankful for another great season with our clients. We recently came across a funny article categorizing the 8 worst clients — which we’re happy none of you fit! Just for fun, we thought we share the nightmares:
- The Late Client With No Patience — Of course the client who waits until the very last minute to make an appointment is the one who expects his or her tax return to be completed the next day. We like that old saying, “A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part!” Although tax season sometimes feels like one long emergency. . . .
- The Cheater — Someone wants to take a deduction he or she doesn’t qualify for, underreport income, or claim a non-existent dependent. If a tax professional goes along with shady tax practices, he or she is liable to lose licensure.
- The Overly Frugal Client — Everybody likes to save money. But people who hire a tax pro to prepare a return and then don’t pay the agreed-on payment just aren’t cool. Trying to negotiate for a lower price isn’t cool either.
- The Know It All — Some clients believe they know the tax law better than their tax professionals. If your accountant is a good one, this shouldn’t be the case. If it is the case, you need a new tax professional!
- The Paranoid Client — Some folks are just scared of e-filing, or the potential for an audit, or any variety of other tax-related issues. And they call their tax professionals every few days to voice another concern. But calling isn’t going to help, since the tax professionals don’t control the IRS.
- The Client That’s Shocked Every Year — If an individual’s tax situation doesn’t change much from year to year, his or her tax bill is probably going to be similar from year to year. Makes sense. . . to most people.
- The Dribbler — It’s tough to get all your information together at once, and sometimes people just forget something. But clients who continually drop off new information that will change the return aren’t doing anybody any favors. “Dribbling” wastes the time of the tax preparer and means a bigger expense for the client.
- The Halfway Do-It-Yourselfer — I love DIY as much as anybody, but some people just don’t need to try to do their own returns, especially if the return is complicated. It usually takes longer to “quickly review” a DIY return than it does to do a return from scratch.
Believe it or not, these people do exist, and we’ve seen a few of them in years past!