Q:

Subject: Client Accessibility

 

Mr. Kerstetter

 

I recently read about your blog in the Wall Street Journal and was reading through it last night. I enjoyed reading it.

 

You hit upon an issue that I have been dealing with for the past few years and increasingly so during tax season. We are a small 5 person firm. Clients, whether they be monthly compilation accounts, annual tax clients, or audit clients assume that I am available at a moments notice for telephone calls, draft a letter on their behalf, or as you say, drop in unannounced expecting to see me and get a question answered.

 

Being a small firm, we strive to provide very personal service and handle matters as efficiently and rapidly as possible. However, in today’s age, clients think of something, call and expect to get their answer instantly. How do you politely inform the client that even though they know you are there (can see your car) or know your schedule, that you are not available? The front desk woman does her best to try and find out what they need and help if possible, but sometimes they just “need” to see me for a minute or call back multiple times requiring an answer that day.

 

In cases where it happens frequently, we have increased fees (usually in the work in process), though in extreme cases we have itemized it to make sure the message was clear. Though I can see a number of clients being upset at that and in their mind, this is one of the benefits to being with a small firm; the accessibility. Along similar lines, the tax client who requires a tax appointment to “present” you with his W-2, 1099, and 1098 and no matter how hard we attempt to get them to drop off or mail the information, they have to see you because the meeting is basically unnecessary and a waste of 30 minutes to an hour.

 

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated if you have a moment

 

Sincerely, 

A:

That is a problem we all have.  A long time ago, when we were still back in the PRC, we had to get tough and set out guidelines, most of which we still use today.  The current version is on our website. 

We give print-outs of this to all clients as well so there is no misunderstanding.

In the near future, I will probably be posting an email exchange we recently had with a potential client who got upset at our refusal to meet with her in person.  I laid out the reasons for her.

Good luck.  I hope this helps. 

Kerry Kerstetter

 

Q:

Subject: How to reclaim dependent when someone else has claimed her?

Hello Mr. Guru,

     I have placed a copy/paste of your archive dated May 2, 2003 below my letter.

     I agree with the dratted limitations in e-filing.  And, my ex-spouse did, in defiance of the court’s decree about who has custody of our child for more than half of the year, claim my 6yo daughter as her dependent.  And, sure enough, my e-filing was bounced back at me.  Now the question is:  To WHOM in IRS do I send the court decree re: child custody?  What office? at what address?  I ask because my CPA says, “What you’re faced with if you simply paper-file and send a copy of the court decree is an $8/hr clerk opening your envelope and disregarding all papers except those which are the forms s/he data-enters into the IRS computer at his/her work station.  I’ve even heard of checks being thrown away because someone did not want to ‘deal with it’.”

So, how do I bring my situation to the attention of someone high up enough in IRS to amend the ex-spouse’s tax filing and allow mine to be processed when we are both claiming my daughter as a dependent?  To whom do I address this?  What office? at what address?

Help me, Guru, you are my only hope!

Best to you,

A:

I would start by contacting the IRS’s Taxpayer Advocate’s office and explaining your situation.  They are pretty good about helping you cut through the normal red tape.

Their phone number is: 877-777-4778

Good luck.

Kerry Kerstetter

Follow-Up:

Bless your heart!  And, I mean it.  I didn’t expect you’d even answer.  My CPA also suggested Taxpayer Advocate, but she didn’t have the phone number.  If I find out something helpful, I’ll email it back to you.

Best to you,

My Reply:

Obviously, you won’t be able to e-file your tax returns with a mess like this; but it’s more important to be able to file an accurate one.

Good luck.

Kerry Kerstetter

 

Q-1:

Subject: Link Exchange request from Bookkeeping Services company

Hi Kerry,

 

We provide CFO Services and Bookkeeping Services to small and medium-sized businesses.  Exchanging links between our websites will help both our sites show up better in search engines, and thereby acquire more business over the web.  Therefore, I am hoping you will be interested in placing a link to my website from your site.  If you are, it should read as follows:

In exchange, I would be happy to create a link to your site.  Please let me know what you would like it to say.

 Best regards,

A-1:

We are very selective about the links we include on our websites, limiting to ones for companies with which we are familiar.

I’m not familiar enough with your company’s service to be able to endorse it yet.  That could change later down the road.

I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help.

Kerry Kerstetter

Follow-Up:

Thanks for getting back to me, Kerry.  Let me know if you change your mind.

Best regards,

Q-2 (From different person):

Subject: bookkeeping website

 

Hello,

 

Your website states to send you information on bookkeepers who are available for hire, however, it was last updated in 2001. Are you currently accepting information from independent bookkeepers?

 

Thank you,

 A-2:

Send me a link to you website and I’ll check it out and possibly include a link to it.

Kerry Kerstetter

Follow-Up:

 ….

 

From Ohio CPA Dana Stahl:

Mr Guru – I found this article from 3 years ago by Dr Jack Wheeler on the tax code.  Quite observant!

DS

The U.S. tax code is purposefully not designed to maximize economic prosperity. Its express purpose is to maximize politicians’ power – power to extort contributions as protection money, and power to make people dependent on government subsidies, thus gaining the vote of those so dependent.

 

From a reader:

Subject: You are so right.

On April 1 you wrote this in response to a question:

“Our tax system is such a convoluted fiasco that anyone grounded in serious logical thought processes (doctors, rocket scientists, et al) will have their brains fry trying to make sense of it.”

I just wanted to say how true that is. When I was newly married, my wife and I tried to do our taxes. We didn’t have much and though it should be simple enough, after all, we both have Masters degrees so we’re fairly intelligent people.

After we each made several efforts and each time came up with different numbers, we decided it was worth paying a tax preparer to save our marriage.

My reply:

That was a smart move, to use a professional tax preparer.

Remember what Albert Einstein said many decades ago, when it was a piece of cake compared to the insane mess it has morphed into since his time.

“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.”

“This [preparing my tax return] is too difficult for a mathematician. It takes a philosopher.”

Thanks for writing.

Kerry Kerstetter

(Click on image for full size)

Courtesy of StrangeCosmos.com

(Click on image for full size)

Q:

Subject: Post-Katrina Rental

 

Kerry,

I’m trying to figure out how to account for rental income I received for renting my house in New Orleans after the storm. My wife and I own our home in Gretna, Louisiana, just across the Mississippi from New Orleans. The West Bank. We evacuated to my parents’ house in College Station, Texas, about two hours north of Houston. I’m a medical student at Tulane, and after the levees broke the school decided to set up in Houston for the year, so we have stayed in College Station in my parents’ house. I drive to Houston every Monday and stay until the last class on Friday afternoon, sleeping on a pull-out coach in the living room of two very charitable roommates who are grad students at Houston area schools.

Our home survived the storm well, we only lost one shingle and a water spot in the kitchen ceiling; the house is otherwise fine. Since we already knew we couldn’t move back until the summer of 2006 we made our house available to a couple who lost everything and told them to name their own price. They decided to rent from us at a rate of $800 per month, plus utilities. They rented for October, November, and December of 2005. We literally signed the checks over to my parents who have really bent over backwards to help us. My mom even postponed her PhD program at Texas A&M to watch our kids while my wife works. All this means is that our bottomline finances aren’t substantially different than they would have been if we’d stayed in New Orleans and Katrina had never happened.

How do I account for those three months of rental in my taxes? Is this rental property? It’s certainly my primary residence, but we had just moved to New Orleans in July after I got out of the Navy and before starting medical school. Did I rent 100% of the property for 60% of the time, which was really 25% of the year?

I have a degree in Physics, interned at NASA, and did rocket science. Taxes aren’t rocket science. They’re worse. Please help!

Very respectfully,

A:

You will need include Schedule E with your 1040 to report the rental income, as well as the expenses for your home during the time it was rented out, including depreciation.  Because of all of the allowable deductions against the income, it is very likely that you will end up with a net loss on your Sch. E that will shelter some of your other kinds of income.

It isn’t difficult for any experienced tax pro to do this; but not something anyone else should try on their own.  You should definitely not try to prepare your own tax return.  Our tax system is such a convoluted fiasco that anyone grounded in serious logical thought processes (doctors, rocket scientists, et al) will have their brains fry trying to make sense of it. A good tax pro should be able to help you reduce your taxes by much more than his/her fee; so it’s a no-brainer.

Good luck.

Kerry Kerstetter

Follow-Up:

thanks!