[BalancedBooks]

I have had several seniors over the years ask me if they will get or what will be their Guaranteed Income Supplement payments in the following year.

I would think that this is a similar calculation to CTB or GST.

Could you fine Intuit people program a calculation sheet and paragraph in the cover letter that reports what those amounts will be?

You might as well cover the UCCB payments in the letter as well.

Dan

And yes, I do these simple returns in my one horse town.

[DGB]

I've found this link on the HRSDC website to be a useful tool when clients ask me about the GIS.

[RL Tax Joe]

David Boese, on Mar 12 2007, 05:39 AM, said:

I've found this link on the HRSDC website to be a useful tool when clients ask me about the GIS.

quite frankly, CTB, UCCB, and GIS are not income tax. They are social services based on figures in a tax return.

Just tell your client they are calculated by the Government and they will tell them. I don't waste my time trying to explain that kind of stuff.

[DGB]

I'm sorry to hear that answering a client's question is a waste of your time.

[BalancedBooks]

RL Tax Joe, on Mar 12 2007, 09:35 AM, said:

quite frankly, CTB, UCCB, and GIS are not income tax. They are social services based on figures in a tax return.

Just tell your client they are calculated by the Government and they will tell them. I don't waste my time trying to explain that kind of stuff.

It is clear from your above comments and our discussions in another thread that you and I have very different business operations. And that is OK. You have every right to practice the way you want and accept the clients that you want. However, you obviously don't want the fixed income seniors who find OAS / GIS / GST to be important components of their financial livelihood. Too bad you accept their money but don't truly understand their needs. Ethical? Moral?

I work in rural Canada where full service is the key. I often deal with various aspects of my clients' financial dealings including Pharmacare (provincial medical coverage for seniors) applications and OAS / GIS applications in addition to my regular bookkeeping and tax return preparation services. I consult on new business ventures and the tax repercutions of selling existing ones.

I don't deal with small business, I deal with micro business. We have alot of one or two person operations here and even the banks realize that requesting a Review Engagement costing a few thousand dollars is beyond the means of their clients as well as totally unnecessary.

Therefore, what might be a waste of time for you, I find to be an essential and required service in my neck of the woods. I have ten or twenty times more clients coming to me from using the regional CA office than I have leaving me and going to them. That tells me I must be doing something right.

Finally, the "waste of my time" attitude further supports my decision to leave the CA profession. I found enough of that attitude among my colleagues to be turned off. Yet CA's are generally nice people. Some of my best friends are CA's and fully understand where I am coming from even if you cannot.

All the best,

Dan

[RL Tax Joe]

Oh Dan...Get off your horse.

That stuff is not income tax. If you think it is...so be it.

I CHOOSE to deal with other aspects of INCOME TAX. If you think that makes me immoral..well thats your friggin problem.

And if you think it is unethical...well then again, that is your friggin problem.

I am neither immorral or unethical. I do alot for the seniors in my area. I, by my self, run 2 seperate FREE tax clinics for seniors over 2 different weekends. I even drive 70km to do the one.

It is not my problem that your client base is made up of the demographic it is. As for clients coming and going....if you are dealing with micro clients as you put it, then of course they wouldn't go to a bigger firm because PRICE is the biggest factor..not SERVICE.

It is obvious that we will never see eye to eye.

Later Dan.

[mikenice]

:blink: I just had to reply to this topic.

This year, I edited the standard T1 client letter that comes with Profile to include a paragraph re: BCMSP Premium Assistance, when certain variables were met. Although it was not all that difficult to program that paragraph (mostly boolean logic), I certainly felt it was important enough because out of around 1,600 tax returns, there are more than a handful of clients who qualified, but had no knowledge of the assistance available. Problem really is, is that I shouldn't have had to do it.

Although this type of item is not income tax, (neither is the elections question, or the GST app, or CCTB calcs, etc..), but it is essentially ignored on the Profile letter, with other items. The argument is not really about whether we should explain these calcs to clients, or even if advising on those things are part of our engagement to prepare a T1. Still, we can't be the naive ones, and understand that clients do rely on professionals to advise on those matters. I don't expect that most clients in general, (seniors or not), understand much more than the bottom line - payable or refund. Most likely don't understand the responsibility of the tax return truly lies with them, yet they 'sign here' all the time.

The REAL shame here is that Profile has not developed or improved the client letter after all these years. It could easily be modified to report all sorts of relevant information, (and of course this would vary from province to province), instead of the info going uncommunicated, or instead of literally thousands of accountants having to program the letter as I did, if they chose. The CCTB is in the letter - why not the GIS, OAS clawback, MSP assistance, need to complete T1-OVP, etc...Doesn't actually seem like there would be that much extra, but that little bit of extra would be a good reminder\info for clients as I find most look at the letter, and barely look at the T1 itself.

Considering all of that...how much would a better letter increase the price of Profile? $10 per licensee? I doubt even that much. Worth it.

feel free to e-mail me if you wish mikenice@niceandsylte.com

[Joe]

mikenice, on May 9 2007, 12:41 AM, said:

:blink: I just had to reply to this topic.
This year, I edited the standard T1 client letter that comes with Profile to include a paragraph re: BCMSP Premium Assistance, when certain variables were met. Although it was not all that difficult to program that paragraph (mostly boolean logic), I certainly felt it was important enough because out of around 1,600 tax returns, there are more than a handful of clients who qualified, but had no knowledge of the assistance available. Problem really is, is that I shouldn't have had to do it.

And with every copy of Excel you buy, you would like MS to provide all of the templates you would ever need for Finacnial and cash flow forcasting, cost/volume analysis, investment tracking....

And with every copy of MS Word you buy, you would like tempates for Audit Engagements, Wills and Estates, Client Representation letters, Take-over letters, Mergers and Acquistions Contracts, Separation Agreements....


Hey, important: this forum part is google-searchable, so your local SPAMBOT can easily harvest your SPAM-Friendly format email address that you posted -maybe change it or ask a mod to change it?...

Its great that you added the BCMSP paragraph - want to share it on the forum here?

.
.

[mikenice]

Well, taxtime is pretty much done, but I will definitely work on a much improved letter for 2007 (for British Columbia), and share that with the forum if Profile doesn't listen. It may be in Taxprep code though - har har.

Re: MS - There are an abundance of templates free online for both Excel and Word. There is a difference here though in your interpretation: Word doesn't load up with anything other than normal.dot, whereas the Profile program has the letter. To me, that is part of the package. I suppose the bottom line on all of that is simply the letter is not nearly as good as it could be, but still they provide it. I would understand that if the changes would be difficult to implement or labour-intensive, but i can't imagine so...bunch of endif statements. Maybe it's a liability issue for them in potentially reporting the wrong info OR in keeping up to date with provincial info. One thing is for sure - I haven't thought of a good reason why it is not better after all of these years.

[unknown]

You know, if you guys put all that energy that you are spending bitching on this forum into actually searching this forum for better client letters, I know you will find a comprehensive personal and corporate client letter.

Get off the pot already.

[BrentM]

Bert_Mulder_CGA, on May 10 2007, 02:02 PM, said:

You know, if you guys put all that energy that you are spending bitching on this forum into actually searching this forum for better client letters, I know you will find a comprehensive personal and corporate client letter.

Get off the pot already.

But Bert isnt that what this forum is all about ;) . Expressing ones opinion, whether to ***** and complain :angry: or to offer advise :o . I for one have on serveral occassions asked profile to implement a much more comprehensive tutorial or manual for making the adjustments/upgrades to the letters so individuals who are not fluent in ifstatementeas can manage it more easily. That in the past has fallen on deaf ears as has the improving of the original letter created (likely by Cameron) so many years ago. I make my own letters every year with my logo, bits from last year and for new things as well but it would be nice to have a manual for non-standard queries like date usage and other various non typical statements.

How about this Intuit! Can you at least post a response as to your thoughts if you might consider this or you going to just ignore this reasonable suggest again.

Edit: Apparently somebody was upgrading our site (at least havent noticed until now) by *ing out apparently inappropriate words like the 5 letter "B" word. Bitching is still OK though. :blink:

[unknown]

Ask not what Intuit can do for you, (and Intuit can do a lot for you, all hinging on how much money you transfer to their account). Ask rather how you can contribute yourself to the good of yourself and the profession.

(With apologies to JFK)

[James1]

Bert_Mulder_CGA, on May 10 2007, 02:02 PM, said:

You know, if you guys put all that energy that you are spending bitching on this forum into actually searching this forum for better client letters, I know you will find a comprehensive personal and corporate client letter.

Get off the pot already.

Bert_Mulder_CGA, on May 11 2007, 01:29 PM, said:

Ask not what Intuit can do for you, (and Intuit can do a lot for you, all hinging on how much money you transfer to their account). Ask rather how you can contribute yourself to the good of yourself and the profession.

(With apologies to JFK)

Bert,

Did they put you on the payroll during that meeting? :lol:

James

[Mr. Humility]

BalancedBooks, on Mar 20 2007, 01:18 PM, said:

It is clear from your above comments and our discussions in another thread that you and I have very different business operations. And that is OK. You have every right to practice the way you want and accept the clients that you want. However, you obviously don't want the fixed income seniors who find OAS / GIS / GST to be important components of their financial livelihood. Too bad you accept their money but don't truly understand their needs. Ethical? Moral?

I work in rural Canada where full service is the key. I often deal with various aspects of my clients' financial dealings including Pharmacare (provincial medical coverage for seniors) applications and OAS / GIS applications in addition to my regular bookkeeping and tax return preparation services. I consult on new business ventures and the tax repercutions of selling existing ones.

I don't deal with small business, I deal with micro business. We have alot of one or two person operations here and even the banks realize that requesting a Review Engagement costing a few thousand dollars is beyond the means of their clients as well as totally unnecessary.

Therefore, what might be a waste of time for you, I find to be an essential and required service in my neck of the woods. I have ten or twenty times more clients coming to me from using the regional CA office than I have leaving me and going to them. That tells me I must be doing something right.

Finally, the "waste of my time" attitude further supports my decision to leave the CA profession. I found enough of that attitude among my colleagues to be turned off. Yet CA's are generally nice people. Some of my best friends are CA's and fully understand where I am coming from even if you cannot.

All the best,

Dan

Dan, that is precisely how I see my role in the tax prep community--my clients trust me to give them the correct answers in various areas connected to their income, e.g. GIS, Medicare subsidies, etc.. I plan on keeping their trust by supplying them with that data. Too bad some here have such a dog in the manger attitude.

[Joe]

Mr. Humility, on May 13 2007, 05:51 AM, said:

Dan, that is precisely how I see my role in the tax prep community--my clients trust me to give them the correct answers in various areas connected to their income, e.g. GIS, Medicare subsidies, etc.. I plan on keeping their trust by supplying them with that data. Too bad some here have such a dog in the manger attitude.

Well, then DO it.... but dont expect the rest of us to pay for your calculations - do them yourself...
.
.

[unknown]

James1, on May 12 2007, 06:20 AM, said:

Bert,

Did they put you on the payroll during that meeting? :lol:

James

No James, they did not put me on the payroll.

My philosophy is, and always has been, that we should not, in the first place, look for others to do our work for us. We should, in the first place, always do our own work, our own research.

However, seems like a lot of people on this forum have a tendency towards laziness.

Each fall we seem to have a thread or two here about how much Intuit is gonna charge for the next season's Profile release. Invariably, many people believe Intuit is charging way to much.

Invariably, also, many of these same people that believe Profile is to expensive are the same people that look to Profile to do everything for them, including making their morning cup of coffee.

Now I happen to like it if a piece of software can do certain things for me. I have also, in the past and the present, driven Intuit to include certain features. Case in point my checklists. However, I am willing to do something to get that accomplished. Also, I am not in the forefront of those bitching about how much Profile costs.

So I have a few solutions:

If you don't like the feature set of Profile, find a piece of software that does, or go to Profile with concrete proposals, including a willingness to pay for those features.

If you want a better client letter, either compose one yourself (it can be done, including GIS, as you can find the calculation tables on the web). GIC, and related elements are not important in my practice, otherwise I would have a template for you. If you are so deficient in formatting client letters, you can find a couple perfectly good ones on this forum.

And once again, no, I am not in Intuit's employ.

Get of the pot, and do your own work. Get off your communist mentality. This is not, in the first place, directed at James, but at everyone on this forum that believes everything in life should be handed them on a silver platter.

[Easter1]

Bert,

Wow, it sounds like you are advocating for the tool position!

Where and why have we diverged away from being professional using various tools to be I don't know what and depending on everyone else.

Thanks Bert for taking the charge on this one!

Easter

[Doris]

Hi Dan,

I would echo your sentiments. When you work with people, the more you can provide for them, the better job you are doing. I have this year started mentioning that they qualify for premium assistance for Medical Services in BC. No it is not part of the income tax return, but it makes a difference in their pocket. Who do you think they are go to next year if they believe you are putting their interests first?

Hope 2008 is a great tax season for you.

Sincerely,
Doris

[RL Tax Joe]

Doris, on Nov 26 2007, 12:33 PM, said:

Hi Dan,

I would echo your sentiments. When you work with people, the more you can provide for them, the better job you are doing. I have this year started mentioning that they qualify for premium assistance for Medical Services in BC. No it is not part of the income tax return, but it makes a difference in their pocket. Who do you think they are go to next year if they believe you are putting their interests first?

Hope 2008 is a great tax season for you.

Sincerely,
Doris

Nice to drudge up an 8 month old session, but the large majority will go to the cheapest option. Offering "value added" services like what your OAS supplement will be is not useful to my client base. Therefore, I will not do it few the small few that would go to the cheapest option. I prefer to dazzle people with my knowledge of income tax. Show them there is a difference between tax prep and tax practice and they will always come back. There are several people using profile that can barely get around a 2124 let alone section 2 of the ITA.


Although I applaud your looking out for your clients, remember, the more stuff you provide, the more they can hang you on. As well, you will never be paid for it...ever. And if you reply that its more than just money, then you should probably save yourself the time and aggrevation and sign up for the CRA tax assistance program.

Over and out.