I had a client (Lawyer) bring to attention that item (b) within the engagement letter is not phrased the best in the event that the client has not yet provided their tax info. Anybody have thoughts on this?
-Sean
Personally, I have always disagreed with that wording. It’s not logical that the client signs off on the engagement when they haven’t submitted anything to me yet. As such, my practice is to have the engagement form signed as the very last step we do before e-filing their return. For those few clients that sign it before we start the work, I change the wording on the engagement to state that they agree to provide me all the documentation required to complete the engagement.
I am not a CPA. For 20 yrs while processing T1 Returns using Profile, I didn’t even bother with the Engagement Letter not feeling it was important for a small home-based business like mine. It was only once I switched to TaxCycle for the 2020 tax year and started reading comments about the importance of Engagement letters that I started implementing them in my business.
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i don’t bother with the engagement letter. When i worked for a company from 2017 to 2022 we never used engagement letters either
Wow. I am usually more observant, but I never noticed that. Thanks @seankelman for pointing it out! I am changing my template now…to something like what @kozakworld mentioned.
I hope @Cameron and the TaxCycle team take a look at it, and at least explain why that paragraph is in past tense.
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I have my own engagement letter that states that the client agrees to provide me with the information required. Plus, my PA requires that we have an LoE for each client, regardless of type of engagement. So, I do have a few different letters – personal tax, bookkeeping, T2, business plans, etc.
I follow the same practice of unique engagement letters and client has the responsibility to provide full information.
Greg.
Gregory Marko PEng, MBA, CPA CMA
P:416.527.4431 | F:416.850.4600
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Not sure if it makes a difference, but I added legal representatives since many returns for my elderly clients are managed by their children or friends.