What to Expect

Educate ~ Communicate ~ Benefit ~ Protect

Preparing taxes is not simply crunching numbers and applying tax law at arm’s length from the public. It is highly personal, and an earned privilege to be a client’s necessary confidant, accompanying’ them through life’s routines and changes.

Both the tax preparation and consulting process begin with a thorough client interview. Based on that interview, you are given a written price estimate. (See the Client Consent & Agreement Letter for consulting.)

For clients who wish to work remotely, I use a secure file-sharing site, also through which most tax returns can be signed. Documents containing sensitive information should never be sent via email or text.

Each year I provide you with a customized checklist to help you gather source documents and information. We then go over this list together, doubling as the annual interview. I speak with each and every client personally and am available most all the year, save vacation times, though even then I’m reachable on a limited basis.

My turn-around time for completing returns depends on a) their complexity, b) how complete, organized and coherent your documents and information are, and c) how soon in the tax season you are ready to begin. The line of communication between us is open throughout the whole process. Count on more time being needed in our first year of working together.

Additionally, all regular tax preparation clients receive one free hour of consultation each year, not including tax analysis. (Turn-around time is slower between Thanksgiving and New Year.)

You, the client, have your part to play as well, by being accessible, communicative and accountable, with a desire to understand your own tax situation. Your responsibility to thoroughly review your returns before filing is addressed in the Client Consent & Agreement Letter for Tax Preparation. For my part, while every tax preparer strives to never commit an error, no one has set that record yet. A true professional is one who takes responsibility for his/her errors and resolves them. See the Client Consent & Agreement for Tax Preparation to read more on this.

Lastly, while I may be informal in manner, I am expectedly formal in substance and processes, and serious about educating my clients. Your working relationship with your tax professional is one of the more consequential, and hopefully long-term and steady, ones you will have. Education and working together is the best recipe for optimal results while at the same time protecting you, and myself, from unwanted scrutiny by the tax authorities. If accessibility, communication and transparency are qualities you want more of, your path forward is here.

Interested in working together?

How to Choose a Tax Return Preparer

Guidance from the Taxpayer Advocate Service on choosing a tax preparer.