I live in the NYC area. I have a great tax accountant who seems to do a great job, but I have no idea how difficult these are to do. I am a freelancer who only made around $40k last year, she got me back $2500. As a freelancer I received half a dozen W2s and half a dozen 1099s. One of my clients was late in getting me a W2 and my accountant had to make an amended return. I already paid a fee of $250, should I ask if I should pay an additional amount? I don't want to be rude asking her this. I'm not sure how it works with tax time accountants...
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Pay accountant extra for amended returns?
- Thread starter rawdawg
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maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
If they gave the w2 well after the 01/31 deadline, I would delicately raise the issue that this will now cost you money to correct.
You need to balance getting that paid for and risk losing or impacting your business relationship. If you generally make more $$ then 250 from this client and the risk of upsetting the apple cart is high, then I'd not say it. Only you can judge if its worth it or not.
You need to balance getting that paid for and risk losing or impacting your business relationship. If you generally make more $$ then 250 from this client and the risk of upsetting the apple cart is high, then I'd not say it. Only you can judge if its worth it or not.
Sun Baked
macrumors G5
All depends on how it played out, likely yes to paying them for the extra work to amend the return.
You'd need to pay them if they are correcting the item on this years or last years if you found or received something of significance anyhow.
Still needs redoing on some of the work to make sure the corrected return is right. And you know how much new taxes, interest and penalties to send in.
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However if you knew the W-2 was late and had overestimated on the substitute w-2 by a couple/few dollars -- likely it won't be as big an issue as if you left that income off, or underestimated it. Yes the IRS has a form for you to fill out if you don't get the w-2.
Lowering a W-2 income number by $50-100 on the 1099-X might get you an extra dollar back, and cost you $75, so some might simply skip it and do it during an audit -- though, do it if it drops you to the next tax bracket.
If you are increasing the income by a significant amount, ouchie. 😱
You'd need to pay them if they are correcting the item on this years or last years if you found or received something of significance anyhow.
Still needs redoing on some of the work to make sure the corrected return is right. And you know how much new taxes, interest and penalties to send in.
---
However if you knew the W-2 was late and had overestimated on the substitute w-2 by a couple/few dollars -- likely it won't be as big an issue as if you left that income off, or underestimated it. Yes the IRS has a form for you to fill out if you don't get the w-2.
Lowering a W-2 income number by $50-100 on the 1099-X might get you an extra dollar back, and cost you $75, so some might simply skip it and do it during an audit -- though, do it if it drops you to the next tax bracket.
If you are increasing the income by a significant amount, ouchie. 😱
Rodimus Prime
macrumors G4
It comes down to how much it is worth. Like the above post said if it is not much I would just set it aside in case you get audited and even then in a audited you should not get in much trouble since I believe you are allowed a certain amount of error and not get charged an extra fee other then you turning over the money you owe.
I know 2 years ago I did my taxes and did not know about a W-2 that was worth about 50-100 bucks. It would of changed my tax return from a refund of $11 to me owing about $10-15. it was my last paycheck while I was in school and it got put on 2008 tax year instead of 2007. Now the government is not really going to care over such a minor amount and a clear accidental error which considering a pad several 1000 in taxes that year.
This year I could not find my 1099 form from my bank but then again it would of effected my return by 1 or 2 bucks so not a big deal.
I know 2 years ago I did my taxes and did not know about a W-2 that was worth about 50-100 bucks. It would of changed my tax return from a refund of $11 to me owing about $10-15. it was my last paycheck while I was in school and it got put on 2008 tax year instead of 2007. Now the government is not really going to care over such a minor amount and a clear accidental error which considering a pad several 1000 in taxes that year.
This year I could not find my 1099 form from my bank but then again it would of effected my return by 1 or 2 bucks so not a big deal.
thanks for the feedback.
The additional W2 was only for ~$700 of income. The amend changed my federal return to receive an additional $70 refund and I owed $20 in state.
My accountant is awesome, but I only receive her services for tax services. I'm not sure if the fee accountants charge typically includes the possibility for an amend or if I should offer an additional fee. I don't know if amends take 10 minutes for her or a few hours. Does anyone know?
The additional W2 was only for ~$700 of income. The amend changed my federal return to receive an additional $70 refund and I owed $20 in state.
My accountant is awesome, but I only receive her services for tax services. I'm not sure if the fee accountants charge typically includes the possibility for an amend or if I should offer an additional fee. I don't know if amends take 10 minutes for her or a few hours. Does anyone know?
Man, that's on the client. They really should be getting you those documents on time -- I believe there are penalties for not doing so.
If the accountant charges a fee for the amended filing, she should be sending you an invoice for it, in which case I'd recommend invoicing the client for it, in turn.
BTW, do you like your accountant? I'm also in the NYC area, and a freelancer with a similar income level. Mine charges me twice that much, and I'm considering looking for someone else...
If the accountant charges a fee for the amended filing, she should be sending you an invoice for it, in which case I'd recommend invoicing the client for it, in turn.
BTW, do you like your accountant? I'm also in the NYC area, and a freelancer with a similar income level. Mine charges me twice that much, and I'm considering looking for someone else...
ucfgrad93
macrumors Core
Agreed. I wouldn't offer to pay anything extra, however, if you accountant bills you for it you should pay it. Whether or not you should forward it on to the firm that was late in getting you the proper forms is a matter for debate.
Dead on, don't offer to pay anything extra. I would, however, ask the accountant what she would charge for the amendment. Seeing as how your amendment is relatively easy, I don't think she would charge you a ton of money.
I actually thought it was quite a decent rate, especially if its a CPA. For a more complicated and higher income return like yours, I would have expected closer to $400-$500 based on what I know a few CPAs out here charge.
Its not like either his or your return were that difficult anyways; not when you have $4,000 per year tax software at least. 😀