in search of CPA...duties

[Daria B.]

Didn't know where else to post this....

For those that have CPAs whether for the first time or habitual use, do you get an electronic organizer each  year to fill in all your 1099- info, w2 (if you have), SchE data, etc or do you just give your forms to your CPA and let them key in all the info. I'm curious if spending that much time to key in the same info that the CPA will be putting into the software, seems like double duty.

I know professional software save the information that is carried forward to the next year to make it easy to update or enter information. Such as address that will likely be the same so it's already there and for the rentals (SchE) that info is there but expenses will be updated.

[Brandon Hall]

@Daria B. when I ask new clients why they've switched CPAs, this almost always comes up. "I'm sent a 50 pg organizer which I fill out and then feel like I've done all the work."

This year we're sending a 1 to 2 page organizer depending on the type of client. 

In my opinion, organizers are necessary to make sure that the following information is captured:

• Address, birth date, dependents, and health insurance
• Information subject to change (i.e. address, rentals, business ownership)
• Entities that you own a stake in
• Entities that we need to be aware of for tax compliance purposes (i.e. are you needing your CPA to file a 1065 for your partnership? If yes, that's good info for us to have)

The organizer should generally ask certain questions that CPAs are required to ask, such as "do you have health care?"

But here's the funny part that many CPAs don't tell their clients. CPAs can print fillable organizers per client from their professional tax prep software. If you receive a 50 page organizer, that's exactly what is happening. The best part is that when the client fills out the organizer online or via computer, I can simply import the information into my tax prep software and BAM! I'm pretty much done with the return.

But that's lazy. And it's not very customizeable. Many CPAs swear by it, but then they eventually lose their clients because their client experience sucks. Clients don't want to thumb through a 50 page organizer. 

Ironically, with our 1-2 page organizer, our data collection process is much more intuitive and thorough than it ever was with the 50 page organizer. In fact, we now collect data all 12 months of the year rather than waiting for the client to provide everything in January and February. 

The end result is a seamless tax prep process and a WOW client experience.