To echo my posting in November, if you have a business that owes 941s and you want to keep operating: your emphasis should be on STAYING CURRENT over paying the BACK TAXES.
On one recent case, a Revenue Officer placed our business client in "BUSINESS NON-COLLECTIBLE." As long as our client stayed current on 941 deposits and filing, she would NOT collect the back taxes. This seems to be a shift for the IRS in response to the RECESSION. A welcome change in policy for sure.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Washington Tax -- Is our Retainer Fee Refundable?
I try to keep good statistics on my customer service.
In the last 12 months, I have taken on 280 clients thru Washington Tax Services. At this time - mid December - more than half of those cases (149) have been resolved. The rest of the cases are still in process. However, I did CLOSE 21 cases due to the lack of response - i.e. clients who did not get us information and did NOT respond to our followup!
What is your recourse if you decide NOT to follow thru with us? Is your retainer fee refundable?
In order to protect ourselves from people who mistake us for being a BANK, we specify very clearly that our retainer fee is NOT refundable after 15 days after being hired. And if someone requests a refund within those 15 days, we will only grant 50% of a refund.
The other way we protect ourselves is SIMPLE: we do our job! I file the Power of Attorney and research our client's Record of Account as soon as we are hired.
The only time we function differently outside those guidelines is if there was 1. a huge misunderstanding 2. some hardship - or serious health problem that ensued.
What is common with the very few complaints I have received in the last 11 years, IS that people do NOT FOLLOW THRU with us. They expected a full refund of their fee after the 15 days had passed. We explained to them the language of the "engagement letter" and they felt that didn't apply to them.
Among my few complaints is ONE customer out there from 3 years ago who considers us a SCAM due to our refusal to refund his money to him after 3 years. We offered to continue working his case, but he refused our help and insisted that we refund him all of his fee. Not unusually, we continue to get letters from the IRS on his case (as our Power of Attorney is still on file), but the client won't return our call to finish his case. In fact, we counteroffered to refund his tax preparation fees, but he refused that, insisting on a full refund. How would you resolve this matter? Are we in the wrong?
In the last 12 months, I have taken on 280 clients thru Washington Tax Services. At this time - mid December - more than half of those cases (149) have been resolved. The rest of the cases are still in process. However, I did CLOSE 21 cases due to the lack of response - i.e. clients who did not get us information and did NOT respond to our followup!
What is your recourse if you decide NOT to follow thru with us? Is your retainer fee refundable?
In order to protect ourselves from people who mistake us for being a BANK, we specify very clearly that our retainer fee is NOT refundable after 15 days after being hired. And if someone requests a refund within those 15 days, we will only grant 50% of a refund.
The other way we protect ourselves is SIMPLE: we do our job! I file the Power of Attorney and research our client's Record of Account as soon as we are hired.
The only time we function differently outside those guidelines is if there was 1. a huge misunderstanding 2. some hardship - or serious health problem that ensued.
What is common with the very few complaints I have received in the last 11 years, IS that people do NOT FOLLOW THRU with us. They expected a full refund of their fee after the 15 days had passed. We explained to them the language of the "engagement letter" and they felt that didn't apply to them.
Among my few complaints is ONE customer out there from 3 years ago who considers us a SCAM due to our refusal to refund his money to him after 3 years. We offered to continue working his case, but he refused our help and insisted that we refund him all of his fee. Not unusually, we continue to get letters from the IRS on his case (as our Power of Attorney is still on file), but the client won't return our call to finish his case. In fact, we counteroffered to refund his tax preparation fees, but he refused that, insisting on a full refund. How would you resolve this matter? Are we in the wrong?
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