So the run to the finish line was a major sprint yesterday.  But along with that sprint, we had a client that tried their best to make us fall.  Client is habitually late.  And when I say late, I mean late.  For the first few years they pushed the October 15th deadline.  The last couple of years they have filed in January -------- just barely missing that 10/15 deadline.  Wife has a schedule C business and she uses Quickbooks.  I use that term "uses" loosely since sales are typically 3 - 5 times what she actually had.  Cash usually comes in around the $1 million mark --------------- just a few decimal points off.  So they were "talking to people" and decided they were really getting beat up from late penalties so they needed to file timely this year.  To add to the circus, husband has retired and started his own schedule C business during the year.  Of course getting a straight answer from him on things like mileage is next to impossible.  So anyway, we get the return done yesterday afternoon and e-mail them a copy.  Keep in mind that they now have two schedule Cs, very minimal withholding on his part year W-2 and they are once again shocked at the balance due.  They don't have the money because they just paid off the 2021 return.  Of course we always have money for vacations and casinos.  So in the middle of the process IronWoman is talking to the wife and husband is chirping like a canary in the background and as part of the chirping he says that "we aren't doing it right because everybody else they know is getting refunds".  I'm guessing those everybodys actually have tax paid in during the year, but what do I know so we haven't been doing it right.  I had to keep guns, knives, forks, and the really sharp scissors away from IronWoman yesterday.  So obviously these clients are going into the former client category, but that just doesn't seem equitable for the stress that was added to an already stressful day.  So my question is, where do the rest of you bury the bodies of ex-clients like these?