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October 1, 2009 - Phil Hodgen

New FBAR client cutoff — October 2, 2009

Yesterday (30 Sep 09) was a day where we were more behind by the end of the day than we were at the start of the day. We have had a lot of those days lately. My inbox count increased by over 100 yesterday. David Allen would be appalled. 🙂

I don’t like that feeling, because it means commitments aren’t being honored. It’s a time debt — this is a concept that GenuineChris and I talk about on the phone or on IM or Twitter. At this moment:

• I owe B. in Indonesia a document and he has been kind but he called me again just now and, well, he needs it.
• New voice mail sits in my office phone and my mobile phone.
• K wants a return call ASAP.
• We are doing a few amended tax returns for people as well. We need to get those completed and filed before the 15th. (Yes we have Mad Skillz in tax return preparation; we only do tax returns, however, with international stuff in them.)
• I will be teaching a full-day course in Foreign Trusts for the California Society of CPAs, and another full-day course in Foreign Investment in U.S. real Estate for them as well. Course materials are due shortly.
• Etc. No whining. Just giving you a peek behind the curtain here on a random Thursday.

All of us in the office are operating under this load. And you know what? It’s actually fun. I used up more minutes last month on my mobile than I ever have in my entire life. And I love it.

Commitments and Cut-off

But it comes back to commitments to others. I was taught a long time ago that you honor — to the best of your ability — the commitments you make.

This is why the cutoff date for us is October 2, 2009. No new FBAR business after that date. You’re on the boat with us or you’re not.

For our existing clients

We appreciate and honor the people who have hired us to help them. Thanks. We’ll be with you all the way to the end of the voluntary disclosure program. Call us when you’re confused, apprehensive, annoyed, whatever. That’s why we’re here.

Prediction: for those of you in the amnesty program, it is going to be the tax equivalent of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s stages of grief. You’ll go from sheer terror (“They’re going to throw me in jail!”) to irritation (“Jeez, the paper they want! The IRS must really hate trees!”) to acceptance (“Well, whatever. Let’s just get this done and move on.”)

Program my mobile number (+1-626-437-2500) into your phone. Call or SMS me anytime. Follow me on Twitter at @philiphodgen and bombard me mercilessly there (warning – sometimes I use a potty-mouth word on Twitter). Find me on Facebook and add me as a friend. I’m out there. In more ways than one. 🙂