We are a virtual, tax-specialized boutique CPA firm, and we accept everyone in this family, but in some cases, you might not think we’re the best fit for you.
Although we would love to take on anyone who visits our website, we give all of our clients a lot of individualized attention throughout the year and this allows us to do our best work at managing their taxes.
Here are several reasons we might not be the best fit for you:
1). You are only seeking preparation of a tax return
We do so much more than just prepare a tax return! In addition to preparing your tax return, we will work with you throughout the year to manage your taxes. We will provide at least one tax projection so you will have an idea of what you will owe or be refunded at tax time.
If there is a change in tax law that impacts you, you can bet that you will hear from us.
We seek to build a long-term relationship with our clients so that we can save you the most amount of taxes possible over the long haul!
We tend to take on clients who have been preparing their own tax returns or have their return prepared at a place that focuses on preparing a high volume of returns as quickly as possible, with little added support. Maybe your tax situation is getting more complex because now you have stock options or RSUs, or maybe you have one or more businesses or rental properties.
If you just need a basic tax return prepared, then you should consider preparing your return yourself using an online software or using a firm that offers basic tax return preparation services.
2). You are price shopping because you’re looking for the most cost-effective option
We are not the cheapest option out there, nor are we the most expensive. We spend a lot of time with our clients throughout the year and are extremely proactive, so this factors into the cost.
The relationships we build with our clients and timely responses is what they love about us.
To us, you aren’t just a client, but family, and we will do our best to take care of you!
3). You love paper and want to bring a shoe box full of receipts to our office
We are a completely virtual firm and don’t have a physical office location. We communicate with our clients via email and Zoom calls. Know that we are always just a Zoom call away. We require clients to Zoom with us (and strongly insist that they turn on their video) because building a relationship is easier when it’s face-to-face.
Any documents that you send to us should be uploaded to our secure portal. In this golden age of technology, you get most of your tax documents electronically, and if not, it isn’t difficult to scan them to a PDF with a desktop scanner or your mobile phone.
Once you become a client, we will set up a special dedicated online secure portal account for you.
Remember to never send us any confidential documents through email!
4). You need a dedicated bookkeeper or have payroll or sales tax
If you have payroll or your bookkeeping is other than very basic (to be evaluated by us), then we will refer you to one of our local accountants. They will also handle any filing of sales tax or gross receipts tax returns.
5). Your tax return is of a special type
We prepare many different types of tax returns for small businesses and their owners, but there are certain types of returns that we don’t prepare.
We do not prepare the following:
- Tax returns for non-profit entities (Forms 990/990-PF/990-T, etc.)
- Tax returns for estates and trusts (Forms 706/709/1041, etc.)
- Sales tax returns
- Gross receipts tax returns (for example, annual/quarterly/monthly B&O tax returns in Washington State)
6). You aren’t able to meet with us or send us the information we request in a timely manner
We promise to reach out to you throughout the year. In order for us to do our best work, we need timely responses and data from you, too.
If you are too busy to respond in a reasonable time frame for us and can’t send us documents we need in order to prepare returns in a timely matter, then we are probably not the right fit for you.
It’s important that we build an interactive relationship so that we can do our best job managing your taxes, because that’s what you’re paying us to do for you, right?
7). You haven’t filed your taxes in awhile
If you have not been filing your taxes on time, you probably are not the right fit for us. However, we may choose to take on clients who haven’t filed their tax returns on time on a case by case basis.
We don’t take on most non-filers, not because we don’t want you to succeed, but it takes a very specialized skillset to handle back tax issues with the IRS. If it is out of our wheelhouse, we will be happy to provide a referral to a specialist!
Even if we are not the right fit for you, we still want to help you
Just because we may not be a good fit for you doesn’t mean that we won’t talk to you. We’d love to hear your story and send you off in the right direction. If we are not the right fit for you, we will do our best to provide you with a referral or solution.