A longtime client emailed me the following: “To keep peace with my brother who retired from a well-known accounting firm, he wants me to go elsewhere to have my taxes done. He knows about my owing the IRS and doesn’t want me to do that again, and since he helps me out financially at times, I’d better do what he says. So I made an appointment with your competition.”
A couple of days later I received the following: “Well, now I’m pissed!! Not at you!! I will be notifying my brother that it cost me $269.00 to have my taxes done today. I will be telling him I am not going back there, I will be returning to you. I questioned the tax preparer about something she did or didn’t do and she said to me ‘I don’t have time to look into it, it’s busy here’”
This is a great example of two of the many reasons I am self-employed. The first is that I have reasonable rates. The ad I run in the local papers during tax season advertises my rates to be half of what you paid your preparer last year. The second reason is that I take time with my clients and answer ALL their questions. If I don’t know the answer, I will research the answer and get back to you.
Your return is not ‘just a return.’ You are an important part of my business and I value our relationship.
— Betty Schmidt