Though I gave my accountant all my tax papers last May, he filed my return mere days before the January 31 deadline. For months I was unable to speak to him, his assistant telling me that he was “downstairs”, or “seeing a client”. He’d actually had several strokes. I’d feel mean removing my business now, yet I resent paying for an accountant who tells lies to his clients. What should I do?
Hello? Hello? Yoo-hoo! Anyone out there still reading this? I know that most of you will have stopped reading and be in a state of shock after the bit where it says, “though I gave my accountant all my tax papers last May”; much the way in which Charles Darwin might have been stopped in his tracks, while visiting the Galápagos, by the sight of a hitherto unknown species.
Who hands over tax papers to their accountant in May, for Pete’s sake? Accountants don’t know what to do with tax paperwork in May. They are like journalists. They work best as a deadline approaches — although obviously, unlike journalists, accountants don’t feel tempted to invent a few handily supportive quotes as that deadline looms (“Dear Tax Inspector, while there may be no actual invoices or receipts to corroborate the outgoings listed on page four of my client’s return, several well-placed sources, who requested anonymity, have vouched for their authenticity”). Unless they worked for Enron, maybe.
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Compassion might steer you towards maintaining your relationship with your accountant. You might reasonably ask that, in return for your loyalty, he should be honest with you, were his health to disrupt his work again. As for your resenting paying for an accountant who lies to his clients, you’re right. We pay accountants to lie to the taxman.
FACING A DILEMMA
Have you got a dilemma of your own?
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