If You Have to fire a Client

[Steve Rozenberg]

What is the Best Way to Fire a Client?

[Linda Weygant]

I'm a CPA and had a potential client contact me looking for somebody who "isn't afraid of the IRS".  During our initial conversation, he asked me all kinds of questions about clients I've had in the past who had IRS problems and what I did to resolve them.  He seemed to like my answers and agreed to hire me.

On our next phone call, he proceeded to outline his business and tax "plan".  So much of it was way far off the reservation and way outside of the tax code that I started to get itchy just talking to him.  I told him how and why his plan was against code.  He essentially told me "I don't care what the code is.  I'm looking for a CPA to find ways for me to write off the things I'm talking about here."  He then wanted to talk about his odds of being audited and what numbers he needed to report to fly under the radar.

I interrupted him part way through a rant against taxation, government, etc and said "I don't think I'm the right CPA for you."  He proceeded to tell me that "all his very, very wealthy friends" utilized these deductions and write offs.  I advised him to get the names of the CPAs his friend worked with to which he replied "they charge way too much".

I simply repeated that I didn't think I was the right CPA for him, wished him luck, politely ended the call and thanked my lucky stars for dodging a bullet.