Consider the following scenario. You are a tax professional meeting with a new client to help

them make strategic tax planning decisions. You know that clients can choose from a variety of

tax positions that vary in aggressiveness. A very conservative tax position will result in paying

higher taxes but reduce the likelihood of an IRS audit and fine. In contrast, an aggressive tax

position will result in lower taxes but increase the likelihood of an IRS audit and fine. As this is a

new client, you want to assess their appetite for taking aggressive versus conservative tax

positions. An intern prepared a list of questions to ask the client. Review the list of questions

below.

Required

For each question, decide whether it is a SMART question or not. If not a SMART question, then

rewrite the question and explain why you changed the question. Consider each question

independent of the others, meaning redundancy between questions is okay, as you would not

likely ask all of these questions. This exercise helps you practice developing SMART questions.

1.$1.$ You want to take an aggressive tax position, right?

2.$2.$ Why do you pay taxes?

3.$3.$ What do you think Congress should do to reform personal income taxes in this country?

4.$4.$ How much money do you want to save on taxes?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

The SMART criterion stands for Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant and Timebound Lets evaluate e... View the full answer