When things go wrong…
The tale of an overextended Accountant and 2024 tax deadlines
It’s Oct 16, 2024, the day after Oct 15, 2024. The importance here? It’s the day after the “official” 2024 extended individual tax deadline and these words are being written to you by your friendly (more often than not) neighborhood tax accountant. Hello world, my name is ShaQuita “Simone” Smith, CPA and I survived the usually hellish storm of the annual Oct 15 deadline; or at least I think I survived. My heart rate is currently accelerated and it’s 6:36am EST. I just woke up to a notification from Medium on my phone and although I’m beyond exhausted, my eyes are barely open due to swelling, and my nervous system feels like I was dancing with the devil while asleep, I’ve decided to write. I’ve been saying to myself for well over a year now, “you love to write, you should start a blog for your business”, “it would be great ‘free’ marketing”, “you have a wealth of knowledge to share”, blah blah etc. But of course, I’ve thwarted that idea for quite some time now because, who the hell wants to read a blog about taxes?!?! Well today is the day this blog is born.
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Last night as I prepared a text at 10:30pm EST for a client on the West Coast that said, “I’m so sorry to have to do this, but I have significantly overextended myself this past week and I’ll have to file this return tomorrow. You are likely in a refund position which means if you do get hit with a penalty, it’ll likely be minimal, and I’ll work with the state to request penalty relief.” In almost 4-years of running my business full time, and 27yrs. as tax preparer, I’ve never said to a client on deadline day, “I just can’t do it”. And why did this occur you ask, simply because at that point if I didn’t shut my body down, it was going to shut itself down (and also because the IRS has extended Federal deadlines to May 1, 2025 as disaster relief to the entire states of AL, FL, GA, NC, SC, and various parts of TN and VA).
A similar scenario with exhaustion played out on Sep 15, 2024 as I was working to get extended S-Corp and Partnership returns filed by the deadline. That was the first day since starting my business that I had to lie down in a dark room multiple times throughout the day because my heart felt like it was in constant sprint. I said to myself then, NO MORE. It saddens me to think this feels like the beginning of the end to this service in my business. Or no, maybe I should say this is the beginning of a new style of operations for me; no more work for extenders, I’ll file the extension, but if I haven’t gotten what I need to have the return filed a week before deadline, I’m saying no, issuing any necessary refund, and living with the peace of my decision. I know this means I could lose clients and my income could take a hit, but I’d rather be an alive CPA, able bodied and above ground to service those clients who are ready to file Jan 1 each year cause they’re just so damn meticulous and well organized — yes the accountant in me envies these clients as I have an insatiable desire for never ending organization and proactivity with only a 1% margin for error, but the ability to execute either of these went out the window with motherhood, go figure — as opposed to an unalive CPA whose life was claimed by an unforeseen stroke or heart attack at age 45 because she allowed herself to constantly be pushed beyond her limits. I think my team and my family will thank me for this decision.
As I walked away from my desk last night after sending that text, I decided to make a mad dash to the local grocery before they closed for a well-deserved bottle of Hard Chard, only to find out my car wouldn’t start. Ughh!! Just a week before I discovered there was no oil in the car after driving an hour into the city (don’t ask, don’t hurt your head). I decided “oh well I’ll call AAA and deal with it in the morning”. I then proceeded to start the other car sitting in my garage only to discover…dead battery there as well. I love how God never fails to give me signs followed by confirmation to SLOW DOWN and put your mask on first. Thus, it is confirmed.
NO MORE EXTENDED RETURNS. No more will I allow myself or my staff to be thrust into last-minute work, PERIOD. I’ll now be referring “hurry up and wait” clients elsewhere.
If you’d like more information on the disaster relief issued by the IRS for those impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, see the IRS notice here: IR-2024–266, Oct 11, 2024.
