No Harm in Asking ...

This week, I want to look at some numbers I saw in a recent article, even if they come from a study that says a little over half of tax clients are not positive that their tax preparer fully minimizes their tax payment.

I would like to hope that we do better than that here. And I assume if you are reading this, you are either a client who does like what we do or someone looking for advice from elsewhere. So hopefully that means you are either on the positive side of this question or looking to join us and get there (and if that’s the case, please contact us!)

To dig into the article a little more, I find it interesting that it also points out that 46% of people were disappointed with the size of their tax refund. It may not feel like it on first read, but that question does not necessarily reflect upon the tax preparer at all. We could do a great job for someone on their tax return, the best job even, and they still can end up disappointed with the final number.

Without fail, every tax season comes with passing along bad news to some clients. Some were expecting a large refund and get a smaller one, some were expecting a refund and end up paying, some were expecting to pay a little and end up paying more. Even with that disappointment, though, I think those are the people who should leave our office with the most confidence in the work we have done. Even if they are unhappy with the outcome, they should know we gave them the best outcome they can (legally) obtain.

These tend to be the clients with whom we have the most conversation during a return. They are surprised and they want to know what happened. Those whose final number on their return is around what they expected, though, don’t always end up delving into what we did. I suspect that in here lie most of the respondents from the article who are not sure they had their tax situations maximized. Instead, things were not surprising and that makes it ‘good enough.’

So this is a plea for communication. If you think you might qualify for something that we are unaware of, tell us. If you think you might be able to get a deduction that we are unaware of, tell us. I mean, nothing will get worse by asking. If the answer is no, you are not going to have to then pay more. And in turn, we hope to communicate well enough that you are confident you are submitting a tax return with the best possible result. We are in this together, after all.

Warmly,

Josh Bousquet
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