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Subject Author Date
Organizers For New Clients dmkaufmann 04-23-2006
Posted by dmkaufmann on April 23, 2006, 1:43 am
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 When a new individual client contacts me for tax
preparation, I send or email a blank tax organizer. The
organizer is about 35 pages.

This organizer is quite generic. It includes pages for
rental properties, Schedule C, non-cash contributions, etc.

I would say that 25%-35% of these prospects become clients.
Some might be scared away by my fees. I have no problem with
that. I am wondering if some are scared away by the
organizer.

In some cases, I tried to find out enough about the clients
so that I could customize the blank organizer by tossing
pages that wouldn't apply. Busy season time constraints
worked against this.

One option is to give prospective clients a list of
documents to bring in, but not send the organizer. I might
still have to send specific organizer pages, e.g. for
Schedule C, if they apply.

How are others dealing with organizers for prospective
clients?

Thanks.

Moderator:
What's a tax organizer? Is it a custom shopping bag?

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<< and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. >>
<< >>
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<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
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Posted by James Lewis on April 23, 2006, 3:13 am
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> When a new individual client contacts me for tax
> preparation, I send or email a blank tax organizer. The
> organizer is about 35 pages.
>
> This organizer is quite generic. It includes pages for
> rental properties, Schedule C, non-cash contributions, etc.
>
> I would say that 25%-35% of these prospects become clients.
> Some might be scared away by my fees. I have no problem with
> that. I am wondering if some are scared away by the
> organizer.
>
> In some cases, I tried to find out enough about the clients
> so that I could customize the blank organizer by tossing
> pages that wouldn't apply. Busy season time constraints
> worked against this.
>
> One option is to give prospective clients a list of
> documents to bring in, but not send the organizer. I might
> still have to send specific organizer pages, e.g. for
> Schedule C, if they apply.
>
> How are others dealing with organizers for prospective
> clients?
>
> Moderator:
> What's a tax organizer? Is it a custom shopping bag?

I'm in an 8 man firm. Out of all the returns we prepare,
there's only about 3 or 4 that are interested in any kind of
organizer. One of them actually demands to receive the
entire 3x pages and she goes through every page. Everyone
else brings their "tax stuff" in every conceivable manner.
The main thing we make sure of is that we have a current
phone number because we know we'll need more info. Point
is, every client should be handled individually. Find out
how they prefer to send the info. If they pay the fee, no
problem. If not, fire them, assuming you get the chance.

Mike Lewis, CPA

<< ======================================================= >>
<< The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only >>
<< and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting >>
<< messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ======================================================= >>

Posted by Mark X. Rigotti, CPA on April 24, 2006, 11:33 am
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>> When a new individual client contacts me for tax
>> preparation, I send or email a blank tax organizer. The
>> organizer is about 35 pages.

I get a copy of their prior year return and redo it myself
based on the information presented there. This gives you
the basic that they had the prior year. You can then
transfer to the next year and produce a "custom organizer".
As a side benefit you also have a more comitted prospect.

Rgs,

Mark

<< ======================================================= >>
<< The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only >>
<< and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting >>
<< messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ======================================================= >>

Posted by DORFMONT@aol.com (Linda Dorfmo on April 24, 2006, 10:55 am
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I send organizers to people who indicate they want me to do
their tax returns for that year. I sent one to a little ole
lady referred by one of my other LOLs. I make house calls.
When I didn't hear from her, I called. It turns out she was
so overwhelmed by all the paperwork I sent that she took her
stuff to someplace and they filled out their organizer and
did her returns. I find that most of my clients do not
completely fill out the organizer and those that do only
fill out part of it or do it incorrectly (put 1099-MISC
income in wages, pensions in wages, etc.) I use the
organizer to take notes and input to my software. I then use
the income documents to double check my work. I found one
distinct disadvantage to not having the organizer to work
with. One of my clients lost the package I sent her and I
had to work blind. When I got home I found a variety of
business expenses that they had deducted in the prior year
that I didn't ask about because I didn't have the organizer
with the prior year figures on it. More work than necessary.

Linda Dorfmont E.A., CFP, CSA

<< ======================================================= >>
<< The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only >>
<< and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting >>
<< messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ======================================================= >>

Posted by Paul Thomas, CPA on April 24, 2006, 11:33 am
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> When a new individual client contacts me for tax
> preparation, I send or email a blank tax organizer. The
> organizer is about 35 pages.
>
> This organizer is quite generic. It includes pages for
> rental properties, Schedule C, non-cash contributions, etc.
>
> I would say that 25%-35% of these prospects become clients.
> Some might be scared away by my fees. I have no problem with
> that. I am wondering if some are scared away by the
> organizer.
>
> In some cases, I tried to find out enough about the clients
> so that I could customize the blank organizer by tossing
> pages that wouldn't apply. Busy season time constraints
> worked against this.
>
> One option is to give prospective clients a list of
> documents to bring in, but not send the organizer. I might
> still have to send specific organizer pages, e.g. for
> Schedule C, if they apply.
>
> How are others dealing with organizers for prospective
> clients?

I send out tax organizers by request. Of course, existing
clients I should already know what the likelyhood is that
they want one (we've already marked their folders for
organizers with a red-dot sticker folded over the name tab)
and send it out with the appointment letter.

And yes, a new client gets a blank or generic organizer with
a request to bring in all W-2, 1099 and broker statements.
I have used generic organizers from Tax-Aid @
taxaid-inc.com, but my current software spits out generic
pages that do just as well. I have had a few new clients
that bring in their former preparers organizer to me. Even
with the pre-printed custom orgainzers, some keep insisting
on writing "see box for details" for the Schedule C business
activities.

> Moderator:
> What's a tax organizer? Is it a custom shopping bag?

You know you've moved up in clientele status when they stop
using the Kroger bags and Keds shoe boxes and begin bringing
their stuff in Neiman-Marcus bags and Guuci shoe boxes

--
Paul Thomas, CPA
paulthomascpapc@bellsouth.net

Moderator: ROTFLMAO

<< ======================================================= >>
<< The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only >>
<< and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting >>
<< messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ======================================================= >>

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