Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
There are so many mistakes, I'm going to have to have to have the taxes redone by someone else.
My taxes were a bit more complex this year compared to last, but not too much different than last year, yet the accountant sent me a bill for 8 times what I paid last year, and I can't even use the returns because of all the mistakes.
I gave him some leeway at first because I like to read a lot of tax books and take advantage of obscure loopholes, so I end up having questions even the IRS phone help people often have to research and call me back on.
But I think things like wrong company names, missing phone numbers and typos in social security numbers is just plain carelessness.
I went over the taxes a couple of times with him and he corrected some of the errors, but I think based on the hours he charged he must have billed me for the time it took him to go over the forms and correct his errors. And the final copy still has quite a few errors -- and these are obvious errors even someone like me who isn't an accountant could find easily. I suspect when I have the taxes redone even more errors will show up.
So if you were me would you pay him and chalk it up to lessons learned, refuse to pay him at all, pay him a partial amount, or?
[edited by: Jane_Doe at 5:14 pm (utc) on Sep. 20, 2006]
Wrong company names and missing phone numebrs (assuming they are clients of yours, not your own companies) are probably no biggie, but incorrect social security numbers is a huge flag that will get your returns rejected and/or cause major problems for you (and possibly for the people whose social security numebrs were used instead).
Having worked in the tax business for several years, I can say that there are any number of reasons for the mistakes, all of which should be red flags to go elsewhere. Especially if he is charging by the hour to make mistakes! If his work has been good up to this point for many years, and if he is older, then maybe it's time for him to get out of the businesses. Or maybe there were errors for prior years that you never caught before. Or maybe he had an assistant to the work and he just signed off on the returns without double-checking them. Again, any of these reasons are definite reasons to go elsewhere.
Wrong company names and missing phone numebrs (assuming they are clients of yours, not your own companies)
He has my phone number missing on about 1/3 of the forms and my own company names wrong in several places but correct in most places. Like on one page he would have "Widget World" for my copany name, which is the correct name, and on another page he would put "Widget World Owned by Jane Doe", when the name is just "Widget World". So I asked him why he put the "Owned by Jane Doe" as the name on some of the forms and he said he didn't matter the IRS only looked at the first 8 - 10 characters anyway. But I never got an answer out of him why he would even put the "Owned by Jane Doe" on there at all. It seemed just plain weird to add stuff like that for no reason.
"Widget World Owned by Jane Doe"
When you have hundreds of clients, you can't remember every little detail about each client. And especially during filing season, you can't afford to go looking up every little detail on every return. So little "incorrect" names like that may actually be shortcuts for saving a lot of time while still maintaining accuracy.
A serious mistake would be more along the lines of using "Jane Doe World" or "Microsoft" instead of "Widget World."
Also, as far as your taxes not being that much more complex than the previous year, that's all relative. It may be that your situation was dramatically different because of "minor" differences.
If its trash, id getyour lawyer to send him a letter saying why you wont pay them a penny, but maybe be prepared to settle for a very small payment.
At the same timereport him to his accountancy body.
I once had an accountant who lived in a caravan and bounced cheques as a hobby, a fact I didnt know about when I hired him.
Last I heard he had a nice warm room shared with 4 other blokes and paid for by her Maj.
You're in business, how would you like it if someone was upset with your work and just left and refused to pay?
Go talk with him, be nice but blunt and tell him you are dissappointed with his work and with the huge increase in your bill. Ask him what he intends to do to make it right. You might be surprised, that like you he is willing to do quite a bit to keep a customer.
Based on his response you will have a much better perspective if there is a reason for his sloppiness or if it is time to let your feet do the walking.
Just remember that people say they are sorry with their mouth, businesses say they are sorry with their checkbook. I'd expect an apology from both.
So for sure I won't pay for filling out forms I didn't need filled out. As far as the rest of the bill, I'll wait until I see what the second accountant comes up with, and whether or not I see any errors on their version of the returns, before I make a final decision on how much to pay the first accountant.
[edited by: Jane_Doe at 11:22 pm (utc) on Sep. 26, 2006]
