Hello All,
I would like to hear your opinion about this situation that happened with me and Geoff from GTM Investments Ltd
Last year I decided to create my company as an LLC in US, so I was looking for an accountant to make my financial accounts at the end of the year. I found Geoff so we started to exchange some emails. Since, I was really interested in his services, in one of the emails, and since the company was not created at that time, I asked him in which state was the best to create my LLC.
At this time I was decided to create in Delware but I wanted to hear her opinion since I was going to ask him to make my financial report. He reply to me, he wanted me to send him some information about my company revenue so he could answer this question, and I did that, I have sent him an email with the requested information, and after a few days I received an email with an attached file and an invoice of almost $400.
I was looking for an Accountant in US, not for financial consulting services, I mean, I expected from him to say which was in his opinion the best state to create a hosting company has LLC, and shouldn't I expect a reply with the state that he advice? Is this a normal situation? you ask for an opinion and you get an invoice without any warning?
Isn't supposed an US accountant answer to this question without having to go investigate the market? At the beginning I thought that the fact that Geoff was not an US resident was not an issue, but I believe that this might be an issue. I can compare this with my hosting company, if a customer asks me for a quote for creating a cluster, I can immediately provide him a complete solution without having to investigate further, because I know very well how can I build the solution.
Since I have received the invoice, I was so offended that I never reply back to his emails.
I have not yet take any decision, but I would like to hear some comments
All the best,

Unless you know you're leaving out a lot of details just trash it.

Unless you know you're leaving out a lot of details just trash it.
Hello,
what do you mean with leaving out a lot of details?

Hello,
what do you mean with leaving out a lot of details?
Maybe you asked for something more than what state to buy a LLC. Something that could provoke him to send an invoice.
Anyways, I actually have a corporation in Kansas. (4% sales tax)

Maybe you asked for something more than what state to buy a LLC. Something that could provoke him to send an invoice.
Anyways, I actually have a corporation in Kansas. (4% sales tax)
he have deliver me a report that shows the difference between creating an LLC in different states, in some of her emails he also speaks about how much he charge for hour. The issue is, I assume that the charge was for the acctualy deliver of the IRS, not to make consulting services.
But anyway, shouldn't I get a warning saying that I am going to be bill, before the report is sent to me?

I agree that he/she should have told you that it would cost and not be free. That's a little bit sneaky.
Anyways, is it a he or she? You say both so I am somewhat lost.

Time is money.
I agree that he should of been more upfront about the consultation fee, but professional services incur a cost. It's nothing abnormal. Chalk it up to personal experience, see if you can negotiate with him on the invoice, and move on with life.

Just to clarify, here is the agreement we entered into (the exact text of the e-mail):
----- Start Original Message -----
Sent: Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:35:01 -0700
From: "Geoffrey Masson" << email address removed >>
To: "Miguel Machado" << email address removed >>
Subject: Re: Accountant
>
> Hi Miguel, Yes, a one time payment for the initial tax planning and structurning. If you require my services again in the future, that would be additional to this. I will give you state specific advice. You can deduct your expenses against your revenue in the United States. You only pay taxes on net income, so what you pay in servers is actually a tax deduction against your revenues.
You will be able to create legal invoices for them. You will report going forward from when you register the business. All of your earnings so far should be reported under your Portugese taxes.
Regards, Geoff
On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 8:57 AM, Miguel Machado << email address removed >>
wrote:
Hello Geoff,
that will be around $400, and will this be a one time payment? does this work includes everything I need to legal report ?
can you advice me to create the LLC company in a specific state?
I will send you soon all the information you ask me.
The servers are all rented, and my provider does already pay tax, so will I be require to pay again tax for the same server?
Yes, a major part of my customers are in US.
Yes, legalzoom as an option that will provide an US address for me.
will I be able to legal create invoices to my customers? and what about all invoices that I already have sent to my customers will I require to report that?
thank you
Miguel
Unfortunately msm agreed exactly to these terms, I billed LESS than what we agreed even though I delivered exactly that. Miguel even indicated that he understood the AMOUNT of what was being charged and why it was being charge.
Unfortunatley, I may be encouraged to stop dealing with the web hosting industry as people that participate in this industry are often inexperienced in business and what the costs of professional services are. I encourage msm to ask individuals on this forum what it would cost for a CPA in the United States to prepare a professional 10 page analysis of the tax impact of his jurisdiction customized to give him the exactly tax payable on his current revenue/profit. I prepared this, gave him the exact tax payable depending on how he organized his company.

Time is money.
I agree that he should of been more upfront about the consultation fee, but professional services incur a cost. It's nothing abnormal. Chalk it up to personal experience, see if you can negotiate with him on the invoice, and move on with life.
Thank you Adam for providing this insightful response. I offered msm the ability to negoiate the fee if he thought it unreasonable, but instead, he took the post here. We had agreed on the cost up front and I delivered beyond the requirements of the agreement, below the quoted cost.