Discussion:Client wants to switch to a paper return
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Discussion Forum Index --> Tax Questions --> Client wants to switch to a paper return
| 23 April 2009 | |
| This happens once or twice a year to me. I have a client with a large tax balance due. They call me back after we have delivered the tax return to them and say they would like to switch their return to paper instead of e-filing this year. The next year they do not come back.
I am almost certain in every case they took my return, recreated it in Turbo Tax, but changed their numbers to something more suitable. What do you think? Does this happen to others? | |
| April 23, 2009 | |
| Yep, I generally fire folks like this, or more often, they fire themselves. We know what they're doing. And I won't be a party to it. One of the side benefits to efiling that I never got from the beginning is the assurance that what I did is what was filed. I like that. | |
| 23 April 2009 | |
| This is one of the many reasons I still adamantly oppose efiling. If there's a balance due, there's no reason to efile. Who knows what the clients do after they take the return from my office? It's not my business. They pay me to prepare their return, what they do with it after the fact is their business. | |
| April 23, 2009 | |
| Not when your name is stuck to the bottom as the preparer! Might want to think about that. | |
| 23 April 2009 | |
| Bjeter,
There is also no reason to paper file a return with a balance due. Payment is still due by April 15th either way. The reason I like to e-file client returns is what JR hit on. Plus, you do not have worry about clients not filing a return or lost attachments. Also, your tax software should track the process and you will get a confirmation that it has been accepted by the IRS e-file system or rejected. And those returns that get rejected can be fixed and resent in. Also, I save on postage, paper and time since I am not sending or creating the a gov't copy. | |
Brock And Associates (talk|edits) said: | 23 April 2009 |
| It has been my limited experience that when this happens, the client either doesn't file at all or doesn't pay the IRS and/or State.
Michael | |
Death&Taxes (talk|edits) said: | 23 April 2009 |
| Michael has it right; they don't want to change the return but rather simply don't want to file, and think that somehow that nasty balance due will go away while the return is buried in a drawer in their house.
I don't efile every return; I have perhaps 6-8 that do not qualify for efiling and I refuse to take the time to explain efiling to some elders who've been 'doing it this way' for years, and have been clients since the mid-80s. For God sake, what is the harm? Should I fire them? That is assinine. And I've discovered something else with Pennsylvania: if you don't file a PA extension, PA assesses late filing on efiled returns despite the Federal extension, so that you must later send them a copy of the confirmed Federal extension. Simpler to paper file the PA return and clip the extension copy to the front. | |
| 23 April 2009 | |
| Hi everyone, my first actual post. Just saw D&T's post and wanted to mention something with PA:
For E-Filed PA returns where only a Federal extension was filed, PA is requesting that you submit a statement with an expanation and confirmation number for the Federal Extension. In Prosystem fx Tax, you can mark the PA return as extended in the PA1 interview sheet, then fill out a field called "Electronic Filing Statement" with your explanation and the DCN# from your Federal E-File, something like: "Federal Form 4868 Filed and Accepted. DCN #12345..." This meets PA's requirements and should avoid any late filing notices. If you filed a REV-276 PA Extension (normally because tax was due for PA) then no action is required when you E-File the PA return. See page 38-39 of the PA-40 instructions [1] for details. -Doug | |
Death&Taxes (talk|edits) said: | 23 April 2009 |
| Thanks Doug: Proseries only gives a 'yes' or 'no' answer and the date to which it was extended and then a link to the REV-276. If you check 'yes' and have filed the 4868, it fills in the October 15th date but I have no idea if it provides PA with information of the Federal confirmation number. In certain cases where the client is sending money with the 4868 and paper filing it, there is no certification. Oft-times I email pdfs of 4868s so the client can add checks. A Pennsylvania extension in itself is time consuming as an explanation must be provided, and signature is also required. Only when liability is significant do I prepare them.
Somtimes I think Pennsylvania purposefully makes efiling more difficult than it should be: If there is a credit for taxes paid other states, you must fax a signed copy of that state return to Harrisburg, using a number that at least once this tax season seemed to be down for over two days. Then there is the UE form, which requires an employer telephone number, even if the only deduction might be union dues, and perhaps once or twice a season, they insist that if there are 5-6 employers, the expenses be split between them and 5-6 UE forms be filed. | |
