Phone-in Tax Panels

Phone-in Tax Panels

By Daniel Tirone, Buffalo Chapter President

Chapters across the state have held phone-in tax panels in conjunction with their local newspaper for many years. The purpose of the panel is twofold: to provide a public service and create a positive awareness of the profession.

Cara Patterson, public relations associate for the NYSSCPA, was instrumental in getting a room full of bleary-eyed accountants together on the evening of March 18 to answer phone-in tax questions from the public.

I received Patterson’s first request to arrange this event on Feb. 20 and asked if she could use my name on a mass e-mail looking for volunteers for a mid-March date. She also asked if I would be able to secure sufficient volunteers to answer the phones. Confidently, I told her that the Buffalo Chapter would rise to the occasion and that she could use my name on her request.

Buried in my own various year-end corporate tax matters, I promptly forgot the e-mail until March 4 when Patterson’s next e-mail arrived asking if I had any responses. She further explained that various news outlets intended to do two stories before the event and wanted to interview the volunteers. How many volunteers had I arranged? Did we want to have two shifts to cover the three-hour call-in period?

I asked myself, “What fool authorized this? Did I really say that I could secure volunteers to answer phones for three hours the evening after the corporate tax deadline?” Well, this would certainly be the biggest failure of my one-year tenure as president of the Buffalo Chapter.

Quickly, I sent out a panic e-mail requesting volunteers. Within seconds, I heard from Ann Cohen, Joe Falbo, Ed Arcara, Rosemarie Steeb, Tim Hoelscher, Jennifer Hatcher, Judith Mittiga and Jessica Brown. While I certainly had good reason to doubt my capabilities, there was no reason to doubt the capabilities of the CPAs of the Buffalo Chapter. Once again, the professionals of the Buffalo Chapter pulled me from the flames of disgrace and made every CPA in Buffalo proud.

I’m sure that you’ve guessed it, but this was the most fun I’ve had in years. I am actually sincere about how much I enjoyed myself. Having scaled down my practice significantly over the past few years, I had forgotten the sheer joy that comes from those stray phone calls for advice from people you’ve never met, asking tax questions that cover the complete spectrum. An elderly woman asked Falbo if he could add up her return from amounts she would provide. I received a call regarding a rebate of the arbitrage on tax-exempt mortgage-revenue bonds from a State of New York Mortgage Agency mortgagor.

In addition to the great questions and the never-ending stream of calls, the news outlets provided pizza and soda—sorry, no beer. Everyone laughed and enjoyed themselves and we all left with the knowledge that we helped western New Yorkers complete a difficult task and that we were now experts in the nuances of the “economic stimulus payment.”

Thanks to everyone who helped and I hope this becomes an annual chapter event.

Daniel Tirone can be reached at dtironecpa@delphia.net.