editor’s note: one day at the offices of frank j. pavlica cpa in inverness, ill., it dawned on the folks that tax returns, like clients, have their own personalities. so far, they’ve identified at least 24.
by elisabeth whitlock, jane hamer, susan holberg, marilyn aman and frank pavlica, who adds, “jane is the office manager, elisabeth, susan and frank are cpas and marilyn is the best tax person around.”
having prepared tax returns for a number of years, we have come to the conclusion that individual income tax returns have their own personalities as do the taxpayers that they represent.
take for example, the tax return that has w-2 income that just won’t quit but does not have any investment income. we call this one the (1) “spender” because i always wonder “where the money went.” but when you ask the question, the answer is usually “i don’t know where the money went, but if you find it, let them know.” (i never found it.)
we have the opposite—the (2) “savers.” they are the ones that have huge amounts of interest and/or dividend income compared to their w-2 income. they have many bank accounts and own many individual stocks. so, they want each piece of income listed separately on the tax return instead of showing it any other way. too bad the banks don’t give away free gifts anymore—these people would be able to fill warehouses.
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one-third of all cpa firms don’t.