I am really worried. What if I make too many mistakes?? I don’t know how this company handles people who mess up.
If you have no tax prep experience and only modest training, you should not be placed in a situation in which you are preparing returns yourself. Hopefully, there will be someone there to review your work.
I did Liberty Tax while in college. Long time ago. You’ll probably have downtime; really focus hard on the practice returns when you have time. Every preparer makes mistakes, even the most experienced. Don’t kill yourself over that. If you run into something you haven’t seen and don’t know, ask.
If you have to call someone with bad news, do it as soon as humanly possible. If you don’t, you’ll have a weight around your neck until you do.
Afton said:
If you have to call someone with bad news, do it as soon as humanly possible. If you don’t, you’ll have a weight around your neck until you do.
So true. And not a fun thing to do. But they have more time to adjust the earlier you call.
What will you be doing?
Zya said:
What will you be doing?
Tax prep.
Zya said:
What will you be doing?
Tax prep.
I’d be shocked if there wasn’t someone close by, but I’m also curious what they’re expecting you to be able to do with no experience.
@Zya
A lot of these big box kiosks are ridiculous. They have people out there preparing returns with very, very little training. There just doesn’t seem to be much interest in making sure tax preparers are doing so competently.
My JH franchise did not put new tax preparers alone in a kiosk until they knew you could handle it. Plus, we had excellent chat support from an EA when we needed help.
I agree with others that it’s pretty aggressive to put a new tax preparer by themselves anywhere.
Do you know anything about the type of customers, like what the average income is? If you know what kind of returns you’re going to see, you can prepare. Jackson Hewitt, I believe, might be in lower-income areas with lots of blended families and most income on W2s. The most complicated area might be who gets the kids for what. If that’s the case, focus on dependency and filing status rules, and credits relating to qualifying children.
Going from book learning to sitting down with clients can be hard, but everybody has to do it. You need to have done something two or three times to learn it, so go ahead and make your mistakes. Just don’t let it be from not paying attention. You’ll see kids being traded like stocks on the open market. You’ll have to make a lot of judgment calls to give advice. If you’re looking for good information on filing status and dependency issues, check out VITA at irs.gov.
If you mess up—and you will—it won’t be your fault. Just do your best. A lot of the mistakes I made early were situations where I felt pressure to answer on the spot instead of waiting and researching. Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”
I’m surprised they put you at a kiosk alone, right out of the gate. Keep in mind, you probably know more than the person seeking help at the kiosk. That should boost your confidence.
Dexter said:
I’m surprised they put you at a kiosk alone, right out of the gate. Keep in mind, you probably know more than the person seeking help at the kiosk. That should boost your confidence.
I actually worked there for 4 days, and then we had Christmas break, during which I took the online training courses. There’s SO much training, so I am worried I will forget some of it tomorrow. Tomorrow is when my Christmas break ends, and I’ll be alone at the kiosk with what little training I have.
You’re so sweet to encourage me!
It will be okay. Trust your gut if you feel like you’re not doing something right and ask for help. You will learn quickly and pick up things you don’t know. Eventually, you will learn enough about how to research something you don’t know that you will feel comfortable being on your own. Nobody is perfect, and mistakes will happen. What’s important is how you learn from them and do your best not to repeat the same mistake twice.
I had a person at JH tell me my refund was $36k when my income was $29k. (Long ago, military.)
If you see what is wrong with that, you are going to be okay.
Take it one day at a time. I don’t know what JH’s training is like or what resources they offer, so I will act like it’s my office.
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If you do not have everything to complete a return—which is COMMON at first—tell the client what you need and put the return on hold. “Oh, I will amend it when that form comes in” is not okay. Point out the statement above their signature and that you have to sign it too. You cannot sign “Under penalty of perjury” that the return is complete and accurate.
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Knowing where to look things up is your best friend.
- Online tax classes you can revisit if needed.
- Tax books like the Quick Finder (JH probably has a reference book like that available).
- IRS Pubs.
- IRS instructions for forms.
- A research database, if JH has one.
- A message board for asking questions, if available.
- A help desk for chatting with someone.
It is more important to know how and when to look things up than to know everything (which is a) impossible and b) changes every year in the tax world).
Exactly why I tell friends and family they’re out of their minds for taking their taxes to JH, H&R, Liberty, etc. You’ve got a better chance of an accurate return by doing it yourself. I don’t recommend any online software, but at least the ‘machine’ is asking questions that might otherwise not be asked.
I wouldn’t want to be a new preparer in that situation unless there was someone available by phone to answer questions. Mess up on due diligence and it’s a $600 penalty to you per instance, and JH isn’t going to help pay that.
@Yani
I’m so worried. They have a company group chat, but I am wondering how anyone survived this with just the group chat to help them. I feel so much shame already over mistakes I haven’t even made yet.