Tax Woes

I am really annoyed. I had an appointment scheduled with a CPA for late this afternoon to help me with my tax preparation since my financial picture for 2006 is pretty complicated (between moving from NY to NH, relocation benefits, selling property in NYC, buying property in NH, higher salary, bonus, rolling over IRAs, etc.) Anyway, I was looking for CPAs in my town and had found her name somehow and sent her an email inquiry to possibly set up an appointment. In the email I briefly sketched my situation and she wrote back, “I don’t do NY tax returns”. Okaaaaay. So I wrote back and said, well I was really only living in NYC for 2 weeks in 2006, but could she perhaps recommend someone else? She writes back, “Well, I guess I can help you”. Gee thanks, don’t knock yourself out or anything (it’s not like I was insisting that she help me or anything, I just asked for a local recommendation). All of this tax stuff is stressful enough, do I really want to deal with someone who is so lukewarm about working with me? Anyway, not knowing who else to contact, I made the appointment.

So, since I have the appointment for late this afternoon, I go to the trouble to make sure that I get to work early so that I can work a full day before having to leave to make it to her office on time (which is conveniently located around the corner from work). But what happens? I get an email from her around 8 AM stating that she has to cancel because she’s not feeling well. WTF??? So, obviously she doesn’t really want my business. Frustrated, I vent about this to a co-worker and he suggests that I contact my realty office and see if they can recommend someone. So I do. It ends up being a good idea because they recommend a CPA firm (raving about them in the process) who I call and who goes out of their way to accommodate me (scheduling me in on a Saturday) and who also, when I mention the NY aspect of my situation, says, “No problem! We can deal with any state”.

I sent an email to the first CPA chick that says, “I’ll just make other arrangements then. Thanks for your help.” I haven’t heard back from her. I’ve got to wonder how someone like that is able to run a successful business. So unprofessional. She could have just said, “I’m sorry, I’m not very comfortable with the NYS stuff, but perhaps I can recommend someone else for you”. How hard would that have been? SHEESH.