Does your tax professional work as hard as you do?
Here’s something one of my clients asked me the other day: Why are you the only tax office that’s open in November? I thought for a moment and then said; “gosh, I don’t know, maybe I’m the only one who actually cares about their clients”
Ok, maybe that’s a bit harsh, but ask yourself, what would happen if i only worked at my job 3 months out of the year? What would happen if others only worked 3 months out of the year? Police officers, fire fighters, teachers, doctors, paramedics, the military, politicians (oops, maybe that’s a bad example) – I personally don’t want firefighters to be on their 9 month ‘vacation’ when my house catches fire – do you?
Well, if you get a letter from the IRS in July (which is when they send them out, by the way) are you going to be able to find your tax person? I went around the BLOCK with one of the national tax firms a few years ago (I won’t say which one) – and I even worked in what was called the ‘off season’ – that time between April 16 and January 15 when very few folks are thinking about taxes. Well, I can tell you that if you have them prepare your taxes and you have a wonderful tax preparer that you’ve gone to for years, they most likely won’t be working the ‘off season’ – why? Well, the folks working the ‘off season’ make $9 an hour – with nothing additional for the work they do. The really experienced preparers can make 2 or 3 times that amount during tax season – why would they bother working in the ‘off season’?
So, you get a letter from the IRS in July and go to your tax office only to find it closed – you go home and dial the number on the business card your tax pro gave you and someone answers the phone – you ask for your tax pro and they say he/she is on vacation, but you can come in and someone will take care of you tomorrow. You go to the office on the west side of Phoenix only to find out it is still closed – you call the number again and the same voice answers – you say you are at the office but nobody’s there – they chuckle and say “oops, forgot to mention, the district office is at 32nd STREET and Thunderbird” – which is clear across town. This particular national tax office has a total of 6 district offices for the entire Phoenix Metropolitan area – the odds that you are near one is pretty slim.
No problem, you say, I go to a tax office that makes taxes FUN! (right, like that’s possible) well, just for kicks I, too visited some of those offices between April and January and found signs in most of them saying that you can call for an appointment or come in on (pick one day of the week) – so I did both. My phone call was returned in 2 weeks, which was sooner than I was able to find them by going in on the day they said they were open.
The ‘other’ national firm? Gosh, I don’t know – before I could run the same tests on them I became pretty busy helping folks with their IRS letters!!!
Oh, we’re open 5 days a week – 9:30 – 5:00 between April and January – stop on in and say hi if your near the office – I’d love to see you.