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Rick's Tax Service Reviews (1)

This letter is in response to complaint [redacted]. I am responding because there were several factual inaccuracies contained in the description of what transpired and to give my side of what occurred.In the complaint there were several inaccurate statements made.  First, Mr. [redacted] did not...

call me, it was his wife who called and discussed with me about the estimate. Secondly, Idid not say that I was raising the fee to $600 but between $350 to $400. Third, I did not call his wife a liar, I merely statedwhat we discussed (preparation of a tax return involving wages, itemized deductions and a rental property. I asked her if that was all and she stated yes,so I gave her an estimate of $200 to $250. Fourth, Idid not tell him that Iwould withhold his tax papers; I merely told him that I wanted to be paid for my work to date if he did not want me to complete the return since Ispent about 6 hours working on his return and tax questions, which he refused. I advised him the return was about 90% completed andit would be best to complete it and Iasked him how much he would pay me to complete the return and he offered $300.  Although this was low, since Iwanted to be paid for my work, Iaccepted. This was done on the same day (March 26) which we had the disagreement, not March 25 as he mentioned in his complaint.  Later in the day he provided me with the additional info and I completed his return on March 27 and emailed him a pdf copy.  On the night of March 27, he acknowledged he received thecopy and that he would review the return and get back to be but not to efile the return. The next day, March 28, his wife came to pay me and Igave her back the records. Hence, I did not withhold their tax records unnecessarily, but jus t to complete the return as we agreed on March 26.In his complaint he stated that I was unprofessional and disrespectful to him but that was not true.  He was the one who was screaming on the phone and called me a scam artist and other things.  Iwas trying to calm him down so we could discuss the issue in a professional and  friendly manner.Factual History and analysis: On or about a week before March 15, 2016 I received a telephone call from his wife asking about the cost for tax return preparation. I advised her that it depends on thecomplexity or the return and the amount of work required to manipulate the data into the tax returns format.  She stated that they had wages (w-2), rental property and itemized deductions. I asked her is that all and she said yes. Based on this information I provided her with an estimate of $200 to $250.She thanked me for the estimate and did not make any commitments. (Note: I presumed that she was shopping around to get the lowest price to prepare their return). Then on March 15, 2016, she called me back and wanted to schedule an appointment to prepare their tax return. Since Iwas not home, she left a message (attachment 1). I returned her call and an appointment was made for Tuesday, March 22 at 9:00 am. A couple of days later she called to reschedule the appointment to Thursday, March 24 at 9:00 am.We met on March 14 and went through their tax documents for 2015. The file documents was about an inch or so thick and we went through them one by one. I mentioned to her that those documents included items that she had not disclosed to me during the original call for an estimate. Additional items included, moving expenses, investment income and sales of her husband, investment income and sales and social security income of their daughter (to determine if she needed to file a return) and that they were a military family who moved to Hawaii in 2015. Again, I did mention to his wife that what needs to be done based on the documents were much more than what we discussed earlier in the phone call for an estimate, but she did not comment.  Because they were in the military, there were some questions about their filing of state income tax returns. She stated that her husband is from Tennessee and I asked her if he had filed a Tennessee state income tax return in 2014 and she stated she does not know. I advised her that a determination would have to be made if he was liable to file a state return, either Tennessee and/ or Hawaii income tax returns, since he had other income (investment income), other than wages. She also asked if the daughter needed to file a return since she had investment and social security income. A separate form [redacted] was issued to her by the broker. As you can see based on our discussion there was much more work to be done other than just preparing their tax return base on our original conversation on March 15. The whole discussion took abut and hour to complete. After that I went through the documents page by page to completely understand them so I could prepare the return, which took about 30 minutes.I researched the questions about filing state tax returns and the need for filing a return by their daughter. This research took about 1.50 hours. I finally concluded that state tax returns for them were not required but a question remained regarding their daughter and to short cut the work, I decided to prepare a preliminary return using the software to determine if a return needed to be filed. The preliminary return showed that she was not required to file a return. This took about 30 minutes.I then proceeded to prepare the return and needed additional information regarding the rental and sent them an email on March 26.  I receive a reply the same day.  However, for the rental property I needed additional info to determine the depreciable basis.  So I called him up and explained what I needed.While talking to him, I explained that the scope of work increased substantially from the original estimate so I would need to increase my fee between $350 and $400. He disputed the increase and accused me of low-balling the original estimate and then increased my price when the return is prepared.  I told him that was not the case and explained why the costs had increased due to added work needed to be done (as explained in paras 3 and 4 in this letter). He stated that he did not want to pay me for the work to date. I then told him that the return was about 90% completed and asked him how much he was willing to pay me to complete the return. He stated $300 and which I agreed to. I asked him to provide the additional data to complete the rental depreciation. Later in the day, he did email the data to me (attachment 2). On Sunday, March 27, I completed preparing their return and emailed a pdf copy to them for review and to let me know if it is okay so Ican efile the return. On Monday, March 28 he emailed me (attachment3) stating that he would get back to me but asked me to not efile the return.On Tuesday, unexpectedly, his wife came to me and paid me the $300 cash and asked me to return their records.  Iadvised her that Ishould retain the records until their review is completed so any questions can be easily resolved.  But she insisted, so since the return was completed and payment made, Igave her the records.  This action of her part showed that the contract was fully executed by both parties.Since I did not hear back from them since March 27, on Monday April 4, Iemailed him again to inquire about the review and whether I should efile the return. I received an email later in the day telling me that I will not file his tax and that he wanted his money back (attachment 3). I replied that Ihad kept my part of the bargain by completing the return as we agreed on March 26 gave him a copy and he paid the$300, the agreed upon fee. The fact that he did not want me to efile the return is not a problem since he could have filed paper copy of the completed return. There is no law requiring that taxpayers only efile returns, they can opt to file the old way via mailing.Sometime on April 4, he called me and stated that he had gone to [redacted] to redo his tax return and who reduced his tax liability by about $1,000. I advised him that I stand on my work and it was correct following the tax laws. He did not want to show me the return prepared by [redacted], hence there is no way of proving who is right or wrong. He also did not disclose how much he paid for the return. If he had paid less he surely would have mentioned it to further support his claim that my fees were exorbitant.Several emails were exchanged on April 4 (see attachments of email exchange on April 4). One was particularly disturbing in which he threatened to extort me to return his $300 and if I did not, he would report me to IRS and use social media to excoriate me to ruin by reputation and business.  I replied that if he did carry out his threats, I WOULD REPORT THIS TO HIS COMMANDING OFFICER AND THE PROPER CIVILIAN AUTHORITllES. EXTORTION IS A CRIME. Then he sent me another email stating that I was threatening him and would report me to you (Revdex.com).  He asked me to not contact him anymore and I have not. Why he asked me not to contact anymore is puzzling since as far as I was concerned that our contract was completed -gave him a completed tax return and I received payment.   I suspect that he made this statement because he did not want prove to me that [redacted] had reduced his liability by$1000 and the basis for it as it he wanted to carry it further, I would have asked for proof. He accused me of shoddy work but did not want to prove it, making his accusations highly questionable.  I know that how I prepared his return was correct following tax law and stand on it.After reading the emails of April 4, clearly he was the one who made uncalled for threats to me. Iwas only going to do what is right, to report someone who is trying to commit a crime. If he follows through on his threat to report me to the IRS and post libelous info on social media, Iwill not hesitate to call his commanding officer and report his extortion attempt to the proper authorities.In regards to may pricing for preparing tax returns, Icharge by the number of forms required and any additional work I must do to satisfy any tax questions that the client has or must be resolved for a correct determination of their filing requirements.  Iused form 1040 ($100), Sch A ($25)(personal itemized deduction), Sch E ($100) (rental income and expenses), form 3903 ($25) (moving expenses), Sch B ($25)(to reports dividend income) and Sch D ($75) to report the sales transaction of his investments.  The total of the per form price is $350.  In addition Ihad to research the issue of his filing of state income tax returns and the filing of a return by his daughter.   These determinations did not become part of the return prepared but it did resolve the filing requirements issue that they ask me to do (2 hours @ $50).  Hence, $300 is a very reasonable price, as the per form prices and the filing determinations totaled    $450.According to contract law the oral contract we agreed on March 26 was valid, legal,binding and fully executed. There are four elements to a contract: ( 1) Offer -there was a valid offer -to pay me $300 to complete the tax return.  (2) Consideration - he offered $300 for me to complete the return. (4) Acceptance - I agreed to complete the return for $300 provided he provide the additional info to compute the depreciation for his rental,which he did. (4) Mutuality - there was  meeting of the minds- we agreed that he pay me $300,he provide me with the additional info and that I would complete the tax return, which Idid without delay.Both parties complied with the agreement in doing what was needed to complete the return. He provided the addition info to compute the rental depreciation. Icompleted the preparing the return and, provided him with a copy.  The next day, his wife came and paid me the $300 and Igave her back the records.  Gave him time (8 days) to review it and discuss any changes or questions but he did not have any questions, he only instructed me to not efile the return. The fact that Idid not efile the return is not a bar to a completed contract, as he had requested it. Efiling of a return is an option, not mandatory, as the taxpayer can file it manually by sending it to IRS via mail. Hence, the March 26 oral contract is valid and was fully executed as agreed to and is legal and binding.Looking back on what transpired, he was conniving to get back at me. He wanted to deceive me into completing his return but did not really want to pay me for my work. Igave him 8 days (March 27 to April 4) to review the return and let me know of any corrections etc. He never did so it can be reasonably assumed that he accepted the return as completed by me, without the need for any changes. He did not tell me that he planned to go to [redacted] to redo the tax return. If he found that it was not done correctly he should have come back to me for correction, he never did. As previously stated Igave him 8 days to review the return for questions and he never came back. Thus, his going to [redacted] was voluntary on his part as he gave no indication what I did was incorrect . He stated the [redacted] return reduced their liability by about $1000 is not conclusive that what Idid was wrong since he did not show me the return [redacted] prepared. He stated in his claim "Not sure what they did and what he (me) didn't...." This is a lie because I am sure that he wanted to know what the difference was and if I did anything wrong he would have used it to negate the contract but he did not do this. It is unfair to make those kinds of statements but not allow me to defend what I did by examining the [redacted] return.Further, he never complained that the price he paid me was exorbitant compared to what he paid [redacted], so it can be concluded that my price was fair and reasonable. I used to work for [redacted] and found that some tax preparers were taking aggressive positions just to obtain refunds or lessen the taxes owned. I don't do that as my first goal is to protect the taxpayer from an audit by following the law. An audit is more devastating to a taxpayer than claiming a deduction that may not be allowable. In the long run,it will be more expensive due to penalties and interest and possibly the need to hire professional help to deal with IRS.I believe that his claim to refund the $300 is meritless and should be no further consequence.   The amount he paid me was for preparing and completing his return, not for filing it.   He made exaggerated claims and made some inaccurate statements as mentioned earlier and had no basis to file a complaint as everything was done reasonably and legally as previously stated.  There was no scam or deception on my part.   Further, why would I resort to scamming clients, I depend of them for my business.  Mr. [redacted] received tax services valued at $450 for $300,which is quite a bargain.Finally, I take umbrage to the way he drafted his claim and description of what transpired. It was filled with false accusations and use of highly offensive and inflammatory words and statements as I pointed out in this letter.  Disagreements do occur but any claim should be professional and factual;not filled with untrue and uncalled for accusations. I am very appalled that you allowed such a claim to be published. This is very unprofessional on your part. If Revdex.com wants to medicate any conflicts then it should assure that claims and responses are professionally done.

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