In the last part of last year, I had a financial hiccup which triggered a course of events that has taken months to play out. Actually, it wasn't really a financial hiccup, it was an accountant hiccup that affected me financially.
You can scroll back and find the post if you're keen but, essentially, my accountant was unprofessional, disrespectful and proved himself to be ca nutbag when it came to cryptocurrency taxation. Admittedly, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) don't make it easy for anyone however considering the amount of money I was paying the accountant I expected a lot more from him. After almost two decades with the firm it was time to move in a new direction.
I did some research. Then did some research and after that did some research, and researched a little more and finally came up with some options which is when the interviews started. I'm trying to stress the importance of research when it comes to finance professionals...not everyone is an expert.
Putting cryptocurrency aside, my taxation situation is a little complex but it's nothing crazy-difficult and a decent accountant should be able to bring it all together, provide the services I require and keep me well clear of ATO audits. Add the cryptocurrency element back in and things get a little more complicated, but considering I've not taken any of my cryptocurrency into fiat other than $100AUD to see if my Wirex VISA card worked online, in-store and at ATM's, it's reasonably straightforward. (It all worked by the way, the Wirex card.)
So, there's nothing really complex about the situation for me although my previous accountant manage to fuck it all up like a nutbag.
Anyway after the research, I did the interviews and shortlisted one of them and followed up by asking that they summarise my needs and provide a schedule so I could understand what a twelve month period looks like from a service and cost perspective. It looked good.
I authorised them to send my accountant an ethical letter stating they would be taking over but I emailed him first to let him know I was moving on and to expect contact from my new accountant. I wanted to end the relationship by being professional despite him not doing so which helped me decide to move in the first place.
Since then, the ethical letter has been sent and...my old accountant/firm has been nothing but trouble the whole way. He and his staff have basically thwarted attempts by my new firm to obtain information and data which hasn't helped the situation and process, or my mood, but we're at the point now where it's all squared away.
I've always been inclined to surround myself with professionals when it comes to financial matters, advisors who know more than I do in their fields and can keep me apprised of changes, threats and opportunities. It's worked well.
That doesn't mean I haven't educated myself, sought information and understanding to give me the ability to keep the advisers heading in the direction I want and to keep them honest and on-point. It's that exact scenario that exposed my prior accountant as a...as a...fucken nutbag. Sorry, I was trying to be professional and that just slipped out. Admittedly, he was good at what he did until cryptocurrency came along and then he went full-nutbag.
I'm keen to see how this new accounting firm go, they seem to be switched on, have a lot of cryptocurrency clients and demonstrated an excellent understanding of the ever-changing landscape that is Australian Tax Law. I'm happy I've made the move and that I've taken the time to educate myself in some of these things rather than just deferring to the knowledge of others, it means I'm more actively involved and in control.
I wonder, what experiences have you had with tax accountants or tax laws in your neck of the woods? I don't necessarily mean cryptocurrency here as I know a lot of you are ignoring the fact that the tax man will catch up with you eventually, but in general, what experiences have you had?
Have you used accountants for your tax preparation and financial matters or do you do it yourself? Have you run into issues with the tax man or been audited? If you're keen tell me about it below, or just have a rant about having to pay tax in the first place.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default; tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind - galenkp
I photographed the image in the post.
You don't know Jack...
Jack is my accountant. Since 1997
He don't know Jack shit about crypto either...
Should be a wild ride. He told us he would "look into it" last year. We will see..?
Good luck with Jack and his jack-shit knowledge of crypto. It might get interesting, and by interesting I don't mean interesting like mini skirts and push up bras.
LoL
I remember your previous post and we've already talked about it... it seems a coincidence but just in the past few days I received a tax return, I had to pay 1300 euros in back taxes, all simply due to the negligence of my accountant at the time.
obviously that bothered me, but it's still about the past; right from the days of that accountant I began to develop the idea that in the accounting field it is necessary to do all kinds of research and then rely on the most competent people; maybe you will spend a little more but, as my latest experience shows, in the long run it leads to savings and above all to not having problems that are a source of stress and distraction.
There should be some sort of recourse on the accountant for errors, it's crazy that they get away with it and the individual has to suffer.
Several years ago the accountant I just replaced sent a letter with my return as a summary wanting my signature to lodge it all with the ATO. It was a $23,000 bill to the ATO in unpaid tax. I wasn't pleased and questioned it.
It turns out they made an error and after redoing it I received a $7,000 refund instead of having to pay more tax.
It never made sense why that happened, he mumbled some explanation that told me nothing and that was that. It was then I started to pay more attention and get more educated on the entire process.
There should be yes! In Italy, unfortunately, accountants always make many mistakes and always get away with it.
It is very sad that so much money has to be spent for the incompetence of others and the incompetent then go unpunished.
Precisely for this reason I believe it is necessary to rely on serious and established professionals after having done the necessary research.
Yeah, US tax is the same. As well as Japan. (I have to pay both, being an American in Japan). I don't think they necessarily make it harder on purpose, but they do nothing to simplify the process.
But anyway, sounds like you are in a lousy situation. I hope the new accounting firm handles things much better.
I haven't run into too many problems beyond just trying to organize and file everything. I don't have an accountant per se, but I pay Turbotax extra to handle everything for me on the US side and on the Japan side I slowly work my way through it myself.
Paying tax to two countries isn't my idea if fun.
I'll have to wait until the end of the tax year process from July and see how things go but it looks promising. The last firm is now out of the way, and the new one has all the access required to the ATO on my behalf so it should be smooth sailing. We'll see though.
Good luck with your Japanese tax return.
Yeah, it's not fun.... but oh well. No use complaining, eh? So I just try to get it done.
Thanks for the good luck wishes!
I have never had enough money/assets to need a personal accountant.
Like someone else said, for wherever they are, most folks here don't have personal accounts unless they are wealthy or nearly wealthy.
It surprises me that people do their own tax. It happens here too, but I think many that do it would be better served to have an account. It's a lot easier when audited and usually means some more dollars come back. I guess it comes down to the complexity of the tax return and overall situation.
Ok.... maybe it's just a matter of names/titles? A lot of folks have a tax place/company actually do their taxes, but when you say "have an accountant" that brings up the notion that someone has an accountant all the time that helps them with their financial things all along the way.
Certainly many people here save their receipts and documents through the year and then take it along with info on their income and let someone else fill out their tax returns to file. If you call that having an accountant, then yes many folks do that.
I did all my own up till about 2 years ago because my finances were very simple. I pay federal and state tax and the state kept changing things and although the info was the same, they complicated how it had to be entered and I said to hell with that and now I let the folks that file my federal taxes for free, electronically online, also file my state for a very small fee. So much easier and I no longer deal with it.
Well. I am annoyed that your accountant was so shite but it sounds like you found the right company to take over your portfolio.
Sometimes you hit it lucky with these people. I don't know what I would do if my accountant went overseas or stopped practicing, he's amazing and super efficient AND the best part is that he's got a crypto portfolio so he knows exactly how the whole system works.
There is NO way I'd do my own tax, I'd fuck it up and end up having to pay them
moreALL of my money.Hope that your new company gets you sorted and that there aren't any more hiccups.
Yeah, it's exposed me to risk I would otherwise have avoided. I'm not sure if that's the worst part though, or that the last time I was in his office it smelled like onions! (You'll have to read the post I wrote on it if that doesn't make sense.)
Let's see how this new mob go.
I read that post, sounded awful and unprofessional to me.
There's a time for onions, that time is not in my accountants office.
The good thing was that you spotted the former accountant's errors and did what was best by moving on because anything that has to do with finance must not be taken lightly to avoid running into a financial crisis.
Tax here is not as serious as it is in other parts of the world, and it's clear why some countries are developing rapidly while some aren't.
The world has moved from just fiat to digital currency and it is a big mistake for the old firm not to get experts in that field, they might eventually lose more customers like you who are into cryptocurrency as well.
It's interesting to compare the standard of living, infrastructure and services in countries in which people don't pay tax against those who do. Many people don't like paying tax, myself included, but Australia is generally a very comfortable and affluent place because of it.
There may be other ways to do it, rather than collecting tax, but in my lifetime I can't see anything replacing tax. I work to turning to my advantage as much as I can though, hence the accounting firm change.
It's interesting that you need a personal accountant in the part of the world where you live. It's something here, but you need to have a lot of money to need one, so, it's not so common to find people making do of them here. Accountants are simply expected to find banking jobs over here.
However, you've stressed the importance of financial intelligence and at least having residual knowledge (or even deeper) in all things. If you hadn't understood what was involved and built performance expectations/yardstick around it, it would have been hard to figure out when a change was needed.
It's good you're trying someone new, however, crypto seems too hard for most people, and trying to get someone who understands the in-and-outs of crypto-related accounting would be a blessing.
Oh really? I didn't know that it wasn't common practice there.
For me there's some complication, Trusts, a Company, my own personal income and various other elements and getting something wrong will go badly for me; it's safer to have a professional to act as a buffer between me and the ATO.
I think it was my best option to get a new accounting firm and moving forward it should pay dividends. I'm not one to gamble with my financial position, I've been poor and don't want to be again, so I work hard and have professionals around me and make better decisions because of it.
That's a nice one. You're doing good for yourself and I heartily commend your efforts.
Well Accountants will most likely soon be unemployed if the whole AI thing goes forward as it has the past couple of months. I don´t have any good experience to share as well. In germany its "Steuerberater" but we call them "SteuerVERBRATER" cause everything they do is burn even more money. Thats why we have made some huge changes in 2023 and now have our business in Florida where we pay ZERO taxes.
In one year I had zero income cause everything was in the name of my partner but my accountant charged my 500 Euro for it, so I literally made a loss of 500 Euro that year :)
EDIT: Few days ago I asked chat gpt some accountant questions about crypto in germany and I was very surprised by the answers. Very detailed answers that will help me file my last report from 2022
I'm not convinced with the AI thing, I'm not at all a fan of it, but it's the way a lot of things will go. Another step closer to the ruination of humanity. I wonder how long it'll be before we evolve to being born with smaller brains and iPhone 13's instead of hands. If we're not thinking for ourselves why have brains at all? Also our mouths will be in the shape of a Big Mac...it's all we'll be able to eat. It's called progress. 🤣
Anyway, accountants and a whole lot of other people will be unemployed moving forward. Billions of them. Oh what a lovely society we will have when the crime rate rises so high we can't leave our homes, like what is happening in Alice Springs currently with the indigenous problem there. #notwinning
It sounds like the tax office there are the same as everywhere else. Tax has been around for a long time, you'd think it's be sorted out and straight forward by now...but nope. At least you got some good assistance finally. Well done.
I know it doesn´t look good. Believe me, I 100% think the same way but at the same time I got the feeling I need to adapt or else I will miss the train and be even more fucked in the future. I would rather deal with tax in the future than losing all the jobs...but I guess its programmed already and we can´t do anything. The future looks bright...cough...
The tax avoidance we´re doing now is only a temporary thing for us as we travel anyway. It won´t work anymore as soon as we settle somewhere. No clue when and where this will happen
Gonna have to read about alice springs, no idea what is going on there.
Tax will be a constant issue I think, we can mitigate it's effect in small ways, and that's about it.
Nothing good going on in Alice Springs.
Holy shit, just watched a few videos and read about it. Doesn´t look good at all.
Nah, it's bonkers. I thought to let you know as it's a place you should probably avoid.
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Dropping this link on my post without a single word and just to advertise your own work on my post has earned you a prize. A downvote.
Yeah because thats is all you can do, although it was a link to a comment which you ignored as you just want to downvote without reason.
Additionally I don't need any advertisement from you, you think yourself as something huge which you arent't you're just someone who knows to target someone unnecessarily as I've always tried to understnad the reason you downvoted and tried to improve too but all you want is simply to not talk and downvote.
I like that you exercise your freedom of speech and freedom generally on the blockchain. It's your right to express yourself freely here and I applaud it.
Of course, others have that exact same freedom and will also exercise it as they wish, sometimes with post content, comments, upvotes or downvotes; just as you have freedom, so does everyone else. It seems you want freedom but don't want others to have their own.
I read an intended insult in your comment, as you are free to do of course, however, I'm not insulted in the least bit. It's actually awesome that you express your freedom in this way as it vindicates others expressing their freedom in the manner in which they see fit.
I did not mean to insult you in any way though you've been doing so if we can say that, as I'm repeatedly trying to know why you're downvoting so that I can improve that and basically not get that in the future. Please kindly let me know the reason as yeah the freedom thing is understandable but still there must be a reason you're downvoting someone right ? So If I make that right it wouldn't be a problem anymore, so that is all I wanted to know. And that link was what I thought was of the comment under that post of mine, I'm not so techie and maybe gave the link of my post under your content.
I suggest you cease using dtube for the autovote you get there, and begin using https://peakd.com/c/hive-181335/created for your video content.
Also I have justed started off over here, maybe even less than a month, your actions are kind of signalling to me like I do not belong here or I'm some sort of a spammer or something. As well as English is not my first language so please don't take my words seriosly too but try to understand that I'm trying to just share my content which might not at your level but it is not something that is stolen. I'm preparing original content daily and also started commenting since the last time you downvoted too
It is my belief that you know exactly what you were writing when you made the something huge comment. Please don't take me for a fool or hide behind your purported language issue.