Seeking legal advice regarding a no pay?

One of my clients who is a lawyer did not pay me for preparing his tax returns. He gave me his original W2 forms. I prepared a draft form of his 1040, and there was a mistake, he pointed it out. At this point at work I was very busy so did not call him back and got annoyed that he was bothering me so much, I revised it and pointed out that it was a draft, and would have noticed that I did not combine the incomes. I even told him at this point I did not want to deal with him anymore. He apologized and asked me to mail back his forms, so I mailed back his forms. He then went to Canada, and said he never got the W2 forms. I mailed it back regular mail, and now I am asking him to pay me the $75. He has not, and when I told him I wanted to take him to small claims court, he said to go ahead, that I had a draft that was ';incorrect'; and the W2 forms were not received.


I always ask my clients to make copies and he did not. Does he owe this money to me? Will I win in small claims court?Seeking legal advice regarding a no pay?
I think you're going to have to eat the loss. sorrySeeking legal advice regarding a no pay?
The time when you told him you don't want to deal with him anymore, was exactly the time when you lost your pay. You did not finish the job and you nullified the contract at your own will. He is not obligated to pay.





By the way, ';forgetting'; to combine the two incomes is the hell of a mistake on tax return. A professional would offer a charge free service to safe some of the embarrassment and wouldn't make the mistake like that in the first place. If you had some brain in your head, you would shut up about the $75 before he sues your a*ss off in a full-blown lawsuit for malpractice/
$75 buys you a salad and an ice tea here in L.A. Sounds as if you have minimal credentials ---not a CPA, for example. In any event, he is paying or would be paying $75 and you are seeking free ';legal advice'; on your bill collection. You and your client both operate on the cheap, apparently. Anyway, with the errors and with you telling him that you did not want to deal with him, collection of your full bill amount sounds questionable. The W-2 mailing is the least of it.