Hello friends,
Can someone give me some insight on this?
I have gone to the same tax account (CPA) for 19 years. He does a meticulous job with filling out all my tax forms. When I had cancer he actually took the trouble to send me a get well card---which I did not expect, but appreciated. I've always been courteous to him and have paid him fully and immediately upon receipt of the completed work. One year he made an error and he corrected it and paid the IRS penalty. (It was a small error and a small penalty.) When I go in to sign the forms he goes over them meticulously. I've noticed over the years that if I ask a question he usually seems irritated, but I have never had any "incidents" with him. I am always courteous to him, why wouldn't I be?
This year I had two questions for him--and I sent him a letter with all my tax materials ahead of time telling him what the questions would be.
(1) Could he please look at all my sources of income and help me estimate a withholding that will result in a smaller refund.
(2) Could he please look at all my sources of income and tell me whether I am allowed to buy a Roth IRA this year?
When I went in to pick up my forms and sign them, I asked him the second question first. He gave me a sort of formula answer that I didn't quite understand so I tried to ask a clarifying question.
He exploded! He slammed his finger down on a tax table and said in a furious tone of voice: "WHAT did I just TELL you?!"
I was dumbfounded. I said "Are you angry with me?"
He just glared at me. I suddenly actually felt AFRAID.
Finally he said, "THIS is NOT the time!"
I said very well, paid him, and got the heck out of there. He has a small office and his secretary had left for the day. When I was right at the door I turned around and said "Mr. ______, I've been doing business with you for a long time. I've always trusted you and counted on you. I told you in my letter that I would have some questions and you could have alerted me ahead of time that you would not be able to discuss these questions at this meeting. I don't deserve to be scolded in this mean way." I took care to look at the floor rather than directly at him while I was saying this---angry people can get feel very threatened if someone looks them in the eye and I was already probably taking a risk just saying what I said. Anyway, after I said that I scrammed.
I realize that my questions about taxes are probably stupid and I also realize that tax season is a very high stress time for tax people. I would really appreciate any insight on this that you guys might provide--esp. anyone who is a himself or herself a tax accountant, although I realize those folks probably don't have time to be online any time between now and April 14th.
The whole episode was so strange. I feel bad about it.