Important Information!
DUE DATES
Individual returns are due 4/15/2018 and we extend them until 10/15/2018
Please get us your info by March 15th at the latest!
We will make every effort to complete your return on time if you meet the submission guidelines above. Here's how you can help us:
1. Please submit all your information together. We need at least 90% to get started.
2. If you know you are missing something, please include a note above to let us know.
3. Please respond to questions promptly. When we are stuck because we need information, we move on to someone else's return. We don't go back to your return until we have ALL of our questions answered.
Very important - For returns that are not submitted one month in advance of the deadline, we will not be able to provide any guidance on what you should pay with the extensions. (We won’t have everything in the software.) Likewise, we will provide 1st quarter estimated tax payment coupons based on your 2016 tax return.
EXTENSIONS
We automatically file Federal and state extensions for all returns. This allows us extra time to prepare your return so we can take the time to get things right, and it allows you additional time to make employer (or self-employed) retirement contributions.
But filing an extension does NOT give you extra time to pay.
TAX RETURN PREPARATION
We will carefully prepare your tax return from the information you submitted. For our monthly bookkeeping clients we will verify every number we can, but for clients who do their own bookkeeping, we are relying on your work. The quality of the input is directly related to the quality of the finished product. We will take the time to ask about anything that’s not clear. And we encourage you to ask questions too!
We do not make any attempt to discover fraud or other irregularities for anyone.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
Here’s how our tax process works:
1. You submit this tax questionnaire and other information.
2. The admin team makes sure the information is complete and logs it into our system. They will confirm the Federal extensions has been e-filed and accepted.
3. One of the tax preparers carefully reviews your questionnaire and works through our extensive checklist to validate the information you submitted. Usually additional information is needed, so your return gets put on hold until ALL missing information has been received. Once the preparer has completed all the data entry, he/she passes the file on to the reviewer.
4. The reviewer continues with the checklist and and gets in touch with you to resolve any outstanding issues and discuss things like retirement contributions, estimates for next year and anything else that might be pending. The reviewer will answer questions and let you know what you owe or what your refund will be before finalizing the return.
5. Then the admin team will send you a bill for our fee from QuickBooks. There will be a link on the bill so you can pay with a credit card or directly from your bank account. Once payment has been received, the admin person will send you your return electronically so can carefully review it before signing the efile signature pages. Please make sure to ask questions if have them! We're happy to answer your questions!
6. You sign efile authorization forms and return them to us. (We do not need original signatures.) We strongly recommend returning them to us through Liscio (which is how they will be delivered to you). Liscio, unlike fax or email is a secure platform.)
8. We transmit the returns to the IRS and state(s).
9. We verify that the returns were accepted.
TAX RETURN PRICING
Our pricing is based on the forms needed and complexity of the return. For both new and returning clients, we’d be happy to give you a quote prior to starting your work. Please let us know if you’d like a quote.
For clients who do their own bookkeeping, tax preparation does not include cleaning up your QuickBooks, making adjusting entries to your QuickBooks for the prior year, reconciling bank or credit card statements, and correcting payroll journal entries (just to name a few). These are all services we can help you with, but they incur additional charges and delay the tax return because we need to give you a quote, as well as schedule and complete the work before we can start the taxes.
If you want us to take over the bookkeeping we would be happy to keep your QuickBooks cleaned up and proactively advise you throughout the year. We can answer your questions and make suggestions about tax saving opportunities as well as best practices. We bundle the tax prep for the business and owners, advising, tax estimates, QB clean-up, meetings, etc. into a fixed monthly fee. Please let us know if you’d like a quote.