Q: It is right for an accountant to send a large bill when you were only emailing and was never informed of a fee.
I contacted this accountant to have my sales tax set up for when I started making sales. He quoted me a price of $50.00 which I agreed to. We were emailing back and forth and I was asking him questions which he did not fully answer. A few days later I received a bill for $490 dollars. I was in shock as he never discussed any prices with me except the $50.00 for sales tax submission. Is it legal for him to charge me for emails and when he did not inform me he was charging me for those emails or even what his hourly rate is? He also had a bunch of things on the bill he in no way helped me with. Like he said he helped me set up my Shopify account. I actually did that myself it had been set up for weeks before I contacted him. I just simply asked him if my sales tax ID was the account number on my vendors license or my FEIN number. I am new to retail so I was trying to figure things out. He did not help me set up anything except my sales tax.
A: Do you have an engagement agreement with the accountant? If so, then the services and rates should be in it. If not, then it will be harder for the accountant to collect, although I would attempt to work it out with the accountant first, explaining everything you have written here, and an offer to pay the $50.00 as agreed upon in satisfaction of all work performed.
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