any accountants or people who use one-- question

beachgirl1977

we are closing dh's business (s corp) and I think the whole process is taking too long. We paid her our retainer of $700 on July 27. We gave her our statements/records on August 6.  Basically she is closing the books, doing the taxes early and dissolving the business. At the end of August she said it would be done in a week or 2 She also said the due date was Sept 15. When I called on the 14, I was told everything was delayed until oct 31 because of hurricane Irene. we live in NJ in a section not hit hard (lost power a few days). She left me the nastiest message after I mentioned that I was getting concerned because we dropped off our paperwork 1-2 months ago and we are moving out of state in 6 weeks. She told me the have other clients and do not drop everything as soon as something comes up. dh got an email at the end of last week saying they should be done in a week or 2. that would be almost 2 full months to complete this. dh business isn't complicated. he is the only employee and only billed clients/paid himself for the first 5-6 months of the year. Am I being unreasonable? we need the documents stating the business is closed for the mortgage on the new house. not mention there is still money left over in the business we'd like to get. when dh's emails her it takes about a week to get an answer and she flat out said she doesn't always respond to every email once she gets it. 

    I didn't think I was being unreasonable calling the day before she told me everything was due and being questioning (in a very nice way) why a hurricane that happened weeks after our stuff was sent in delayed everything so much 

Mom2A&E

I find this a little unexceptable but I only know your side of things. We take returns and work on them in the order they come in for the most part. We do make exceptions and if you were moving that would be a reasonable one. Our office files alot of extensions and we work on these all summer long. But we are not as busy as during tax season. 2 months was plenty of time to complete this task. It could be that she is under staffed and has more work than she can get done. I would be honest and tell you this if that was the case. This is not your fault. I would have no problem if you called after 2 month and wanted to know where your return stood. I also respond to everyone in as timely of a manner as possible generally the same day. I treat clients the way I want to be treated if I was a client. Is this your first time using this accountant or have you used her in the past? I don't know of any accounting firms that charge retainers but I am in the south maybe we are more trusting.

beachgirl1977

I am most upset by the way she spoke to me on the message she left. I was very polite to the woman in her office I spoke to so I'm not sure what was relayed to her but to basically be told she has other clients and she'll get to it when she gets to it is rude and unprofessional. I was not calling to complain only because she said the were due the very next day and I was in the hospital for 4 days due to an emergency and was concerned how I'd get the taxes.  I only questioned why they weren't done because I didn't understand the whole hurricane excuse. I emailed her a question Friday and have yet to have a reply. We didn't renew our business insurance because she said everything would be done by the renewal date and now I'm worried the state will fine us

Mom2A&E

I find it hard to believe she has so many clients she cannot return an email in the same day or even the following day. There is no need to be rude. I am in another state but I know some NJ tax laws and they are very strict. I wouldn't want to live there. I am not sure what to advise you at this point because even if you go get your stuff back you will have to find another place to file the return. Then you could end up right back where you started. It sounds like you have alot going on with moving and I am sure you are stressed out. Maybe your phone call and email will motivate her to get it done so you will leave her alone.