CPA Tax Accountant Overcharged Tax Return

vegemite2008 on 22/11/2022 - 18:33

Hi,

My accountant did not bother checking the payroll summaries that I gave him for my business tax return.

Due to this, he did not complete the tax return properly.

I discovered something was wrong when I was sent the tax return (needed my signature before lodging it).

Emails were sent back and forward until I discovered the error.

If the accountant would have checked the payroll summaries then all would have been good.

Hi now wants to charge me for the time he spent on the email correspondence.

Can I lodge a complaint?

He is not willing to reduce the fee.

I have been a client with the firm for almost 15 years…

Financial Tax Return

Comments

  • garetz on 22/11/2022 - 18:44
    +14

    He obviously does not value you as a customer, time to find a new accountant.

    Tell him if he had done the job correctly in the first place then the email correspondence would not be necessary to begin with and you will not pay for something that directly resulted from his incompetence.

    • JimmyF on 22/11/2022 - 19:04
      -3

      Tell him if he had done the job correctly in the first place

      You mean like the OP was meant to do when gathering all the information in the first place? The issue seems to be the OP gave wrong figures to the account that they used to create the return, OP later picked up they gave the wrong figures and then asked the account to redo the return with correct figures.

      and you will not pay for something that directly resulted from his incompetence.

      GIGO….. Not the accountants fault.

      • garetz on 22/11/2022 - 19:28
        +11

        I do not think you and i read the same thing.

        • JimmyF on 22/11/2022 - 22:11
          -3

          I do not think you and i read the same thing.

          LOL, ok lets look at what the OP wrote then

          My accountant did not bother checking the payroll summaries that I gave him for my business tax return.

          So OP gave the wrong info to the accountant.

          Due to this, he did not complete the tax return properly.

          The accountant did return using wrong info as asked.

          I discovered something was wrong when I was sent the tax return

          OP was asked to verify the return before it was submitted, but discovered their 'mistake' when the tax return didn't add up as they expected.

          So OP asked the accountant to redo the return, this time with the 'right' info.

          Seems pretty straight forward to me.

          • dcep on 22/11/2022 - 23:26
            +4

            @JimmyF: Wow! Your interpretation skill is of next level from alternate universe on different signwave language !

            Would be awesome you got all that right !

            But even if it's not , you will still do very well as a story teller.

            • JimmyF on 23/11/2022 - 09:36
              -2

              @dcep:

              Your interpretation skill is of next level

              It seems a classic case of GI-GO by the OP.

      • Summoner on 22/11/2022 - 19:42

        I have been a client with the firm for almost 15 years…

        I was puzzled about the accountant's behaviour after having OP as a client for 15 years.

        But your comment explains it, if true. So it might be OP who gave the accountant with the payroll summaries with error and complaining that the accountant had not reviewed entire payroll summaries for any error. Is this what happend OP?

        • JimmyF on 22/11/2022 - 22:12

          I was puzzled about the accountant's behaviour after having OP as a client for 15 years.

          I'm guessing a long run of these types of 'errors'….

      • dcep on 22/11/2022 - 19:47
        +2

        My accountant did not bother checking the payroll summaries that I gave him for my business tax return.
        Due to this, he did not complete the tax return properly.
        If the accountant would have checked the payroll summaries then all would have been good.

        Pretty straightforward ?

        Maybe read again ?

        • JimmyF on 22/11/2022 - 22:14
          -2

          Pretty straightforward ?

          Ever used an accountant? They generally work on the figures you give them. In this case, the OP gave them the WRONG figures for the payroll summary, and acted surprised the accountant did a return using them and now wants to be paid again to 'correct' the mistake.

      • Ghost47 on 22/11/2022 - 20:29
        +3

        Found the accountant.

      • vegemite2008 on 22/11/2022 - 23:17
        +1

        I printed out the bank summary for the payroll together with the super trust (one of the biggest super co in Aus) issued summaries.

        Cannot be more simple than that - I thought…

        • jolee3 on 23/11/2022 - 11:16

          When you say he "did not bother checking" it, what exactly were you expecting him to check? If it's a print out of your data, what is he meant to be further checking for?

  • bemybubble on 22/11/2022 - 18:44
    +4

    Without hearing his side and playing devils advocate here. Perhaps he is charging you for the time that should have been if it was picked up in the first place?

    • plmko on 22/11/2022 - 21:41

      Yeah this type of story happens too often.

  • cookie2 on 22/11/2022 - 18:45
    +1

    If it was an error they made and wasn't due to anything you did but due to their own oversight/incompetence etc, then I wouldn't be paying.

  • greencomet on 22/11/2022 - 18:46
    +1

    If he's a sole trader (i.e. not a bigger firm), there's not much you can do against him other than walk and get him to take you to court for unpaid fees. You might want to check what small claims limit is and pay a portion of the fee you think reasonable leaving a smaller unpaid balance.

    You haven't had a loss or incorrect filing so there's limited legal options there.

    If you're really annoyed you could look at filing a complaint to the Tax Practitioner's Board for breach of the Tax Agent Services Act, or in filing a complaint to the CPA.

  • AndyC1 on 22/11/2022 - 18:47

    Did you lookup CPA and see if they have a complaints department?

  • bobbified on 22/11/2022 - 19:02
    +3

    If the accountant would have checked the payroll summaries then all would have been good.

    If it's the case that he used prefill (or other figures he was given) and that was different to the payroll summaries, then I think he's right and should charge for his time to correct it. If the error was caused by himself (such as him inputting the wrong data himself), then he should wear the time it took him to redo it.

    So which was it?

    • bemybubble on 22/11/2022 - 19:28

      I discovered something was wrong when I was sent the tax return (needed my signature before lodging it)

      Which I imagine would be the review process. The reason why it’s sent to the client is to make sure things are ok.

      Emails were sent back and forward until I discovered the error.

      Again. Reviewing. Nothing abnormal here.

      If the accountant would have checked the payroll summaries then all would have been good.

      Accountants are humans. Not infallible.

      Hi now wants to charge me for the time he spent on the email correspondence.

      because more time was involved in light of picking up what was missed.

      The above is possibly what happened. But again only getting one side of the story here…

      • dcep on 22/11/2022 - 20:18

        Nothing abnormal here.
        Accountants are humans. Not infallible.
        because more time was involved in light of picking up what was missed.

        Great, I'll try my best to miss every tasks and charge my boss for extra time.

        • bemybubble on 22/11/2022 - 20:19
          +1

          You’re missing my point.

          If it was picked up in the first instance there would have been extra time charged at that point.

          • randomusername2017 on 22/11/2022 - 20:26

            @bemybubble: Alternately.. if it was picked up in the first instance and charged accordingly we wouldn't have this post… same nett result but bonus topic.

          • dcep on 22/11/2022 - 20:59

            @bemybubble: Yeah right !

            More likely the tax return service advertised as $499 + very small asterisk * extra charges on hourly rates for subsequent amendments.

            • bemybubble on 22/11/2022 - 21:00

              @dcep: That’s rare to see for business returns. I can tell you now most are hourly rate

            • vegemite2008 on 22/11/2022 - 23:20

              @dcep: I wish it was only $499. Pty Ltd return.

  • randomusername2017 on 22/11/2022 - 19:51

    OPs' Accountant?

  • freefall101 on 22/11/2022 - 20:29
    +2

    Just to summarise, this is a business return? What was wrong with your business numbers that they didn't match the payroll summaries? Surely your accounting software/spreadsheet/banking info should match that, so where did the wrong numbers come from?

    Why were emails sent back and forth until the error was found and it wasn't just "I got the tax return, there's an error, it's this"? That's a 2 minute fix and shouldn't take multiple emails.

    Something doesn't really add up for a business return. It's rare to rely on payroll summaries when there's accounting data or bank statements supplied.

  • vegemite2008 on 22/11/2022 - 23:23
    +1

    It is not a huge amount of money but it is the principal.

    I posted just in case someone else has been in my situation and hopefully they could have shared what they did.

    Anyway, thanks guys for your response. Always appreciated.

    • stringbean402 on 23/11/2022 - 08:33
      +3

      I think you need to clarify who made the error.

      Did you supply the accountant incorrect information which they then processed and that now needs to be fixed ?

      Or did your accountant just make an error ?

      • bemybubble on 23/11/2022 - 10:01

        Or was it an oversight that has been since been included.

        • stringbean402 on 23/11/2022 - 11:00
          +1

          So if OP sent incorrect or incomplete data then that is their problem.

          They can pay for the accountants time to fix the error caused by them not supplying the correct information.

      • vegemite2008 on 23/11/2022 - 14:05

        I gave the accountant my tax file (online) but they did not check the payroll official bank super docs that I supplied.

        I had not closed one entry. Common sense would be for the accountant to send me an email and ask, hey, you did not close this entry?
        If he would have charged for sending the email, that's fine.

        • larndis on 23/11/2022 - 22:51
          +1

          Your error = you pay

  • BeamMeUp on 23/11/2022 - 08:05

    Don’t pay it if it’s unreasonable and they are being unreasonable. I had a similar situation with an accountant firm, a dispute over charges for email communications queries over their work. I didn’t pay, finally their debt person contacted me and we negotiated a compromise. Didn’t use them again.

  • adig on 23/11/2022 - 21:08
    +2

    I am a CPA, and tbh, I can't see how it isn't your fault.
    If you are already paying him to verify data you provide then for sure he shouldn't charge you for the time.
    If not, then he should.
    I think you pay him to file your returns based on the data you provided.

    Personally, I wouldn't charge my client if it happened for the first time in light of a 15 year long association, but I would certainly mention that 'xx hours' of additional time were spent and that I am waiving off the fee I would've charged in light of our long business association.

  • vegemite2008 on 24/11/2022 - 00:59

    Thanks everyone for your input.

    Time to move on. Cheers.

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