During the tax season I am constantly receiving questions from
readers who want free specific tax advice for their specific tax situation –
via email, comments to posts, and now via my MainStreet.com column and
articles.
Read my lips - I do not
provide free specific tax advice to non-clients anytime during the year. And I
am not looking for any new 1040 clients.
I certainly do not have the time to waste on these questions during the
tax season – I barely have time to relieve myself!
I do not have time for a “quick answer” or to answer an “easy
question”. To be honest, when it comes
to income taxes there ain’t any such things.
I do respond to appropriate comments on my posts, columns, and articles that
pose general tax questions related to, or comment on, the post, column, or
article – but not during the tax season.
I like the statement that fellow tax pro blogger Jason Dinesen
has in the right margin of his blog –
“NOTE: Before contacting
me with questions about how a blog post relates to your situation, please be
aware that I cannot and do not give free tax advice to non-clients by e-mail or
by phone.”
I expect that this note applies to all tax professionals who
blog.
So PLEASE do not waste
your time, and more importantly mine, by asking me to give you free advice for
your specific tax situation. It ain’t
going to happen!
TTFN
2 comments:
Robert - I totally hear you. It's not only time consuming to answer these "simple questions," but also very difficult to do out of context.
In the future, I'd be flattered if you'd send folks like this our direction. We created GoodApril, an online tax planning service, partially to help fill this need. We're not wizards - many of our customers would benefit from getting professional advice - but for those looking for reasonable guidance from an online solution, we're a good fit.
Keep up the great blog,
- Mitch Fox
Co-Founder of GoodApril
That's a misconception. The millionaires you speak of pay the capital gains rate only on their investment income. Their regular income is tax at 35%, the highest possible rate. Everyone has an opportunity to take advantage of the capital gains rate of 15%, but you have to invest your money to do it.
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