Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
Tax Services
Do you have CPAs on staff? What's the difference between a CPA and an EA? Currently, we do not have a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) on staff. However, we have several members of our staff who hold the EA designation (Enrolled Agent).
The EA designation is the highest credential that the IRS assigns directly upon the completion of 3 competency exams for individual taxation, business taxation, and tax law. As Enrolled Agents, our team has full authority to practice in all tax matters including tax preparation, resolution, and representation in every State. The main difference between an EA and a Certified Public Accountant is that the EA designation grants us full authority with the IRS, but no authority with the SEC (while CPAs have both). This means that unless you own a publicly-traded company, either can likely serve all your accounting needs.
What are your rates and pricing?
Our time is billed in 6-minute increments for any client-specific time spent by any of our Associates at the following rates:
Hourly Service Rates
Junior Associate: $85/hr
Associate: $125/hr
Senior Associate: $175/hr
Kaleigh Canavan, EA: $375/hr
Rush Services are billed at 1.5x standard rate.
There is no minimum imposed for Business or General Consulting services. Because every Tax Return is worked on for at least one hour but our team, Tax Return Preparation begins with the payment of a one-hour deposit of $250 before being billed in 6-minute increments for all work after the first hour. Further available flat-rate services are:
Notary Services: $5/Document
Document Digitization (Tax Documents Only): $75 per Tax Year
Printed Returns: $30 per Tax Return Copy
Payroll Implementation: $250
Payroll Software: $85/month + $5/employee/month
Though we can schedule a discovery call to get to know one another, we do not offer any complimentary tax or accounting consultations and you should expect to be billed for all meetings and work that you have requested from us related to your taxes and accounting.
Can your team help with my retirement and investment accounts? While we can generally help you to understand the tax consequences of transactions related to retirement and investment accounts, we are not licensed to advise on any retirement or investment vehicles. We do, however, have very qualified partners to refer our clients to when it comes to these types of matters.
Who works on my tax return? Each return is touched by multiple people in our office, which helps us to ensure a high quality of service for all of our clients. Our Enrolled Agents are responsible for the initial client interviews and final review of all documents. Then, an Associate is assigned to prepare the return and may ask additional questions of you during that process. Once they believe that the return is complete and accurate, it is then returned to an Enrolled Agent or CPA for final review. The completed return is then presented to you by our Admin team.
How long will it take to complete my return? Returns are completed on a "First In, First Out basis" and we aim for a 2-week turnaround once we have all of the necessary information to complete our work. Tax returns are not considered "In" until we have 100% of the information needed to complete the entire return.
What are acceptable ways for me to send you my documents? We love paperless transmission whenever possible, so we encourage you to use our client portal to upload documents to our team. It's secure, and our entire team is notified whenever you upload items so you don't need to worry that it might get missed. You can also fax information to 720-214-1738 or make arrangements with our team to drop off files at our office in Downtown Littleton. Please note that drop-offs are by appointment only, as we do work from home at times due to the ongoing pandemic.
We do not, however, accept documents via email or text message. This is not secure and we recommend you avoid sending any documents that have private information like SSNs or EINs, even when in password-protected documents.
What are your company deadlines?
2022 Spring Tax Season Schedule:
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January 14th, 2022: Last day to request service for issuing W2s or 1099s at Standard Hourly Rate.
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January 21st, 2022: Last day to request service for issuing W2s and 1099s at Expedited Hourly Rate for timely filing.
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January 31st, 2022: IRS deadline for issuing W2s and 1099s.
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February 7th, 2022: First day of Tax Appointments. (Please book ASAP by calling 303-284-1096, our calendars fill quickly).
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February 28th, 2022: Last day to provide information for Partnership or Corporate Tax Filings (information provided after this date will be accepted if the tax return can be extended and filed after the March 15th deadline -or- will be subject to our Expedited Hourly Rate for timely filing).
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March 4th, 2022: Last day to notify us of Partnership or Corporate extension needs and complete our extension request forms.
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March 15th, 2022: IRS deadline for Corporate or Partnership Tax Filing. Returns or Extensions must be filed by this date.
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March 26th, 2022: Last day to provide information for Individual Tax Filings (information provided after this date will be accepted if the tax return can be extended and filed after the April 18th deadline -or- will be subject to our Expedited Hourly Rate).
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April 8th, 2022: Last day to notify us of Individual extension needs and complete our extension request forms.
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April 18th, 2022: IRS deadline for Individual Tax Filing. Returns or Extensions must be filed by this date, and all payments are due.
Why can't you answer my questions about my DIY return? I want to do my taxes myself but just need a little help. The short answer is: Insurance. Here's the longer answer: We have extensive insurance in place to protect our clients on all the work that we complete. We're protected for general liability, cyber liability, professional liability, errors and omissions, etc. However, there is not coverage for "advice" given to someone who isn't a client. Unless it's our firm's name and signature going on the prepared return, we don't have any protection and therefore can't offer "advice only" or a "second opinion" as a service.
Do I have to provide all of my original tax documents? Yes, we need to be able to visually verify any supporting documents related to our tax return preparation. This helps us to eliminate errors and is also for liability reasons. We cannot accept information verbally or in copies that are not legible. Once our work is completed, we scan all supporting documents and return the originals to you. Original documents not picked up by you 30 days after our work has been completed will be mailed to the address we have on file.
You guys work 24/7 during Tax Season, right? No, actually. While we are passionate about our work and we love our clients, we still value time with our families and therefore we do not work nights or weekends. Even during Tax Season. If you call or email over the weekend we will get back to you as soon as we are able during normal business hours.
What are your typical response times? I am looking for an Accountant who is responsive. We do our very best to respond to phone calls and texts within one business day, and emails within two business days.
I get too many emails from you! How do I make it stop?! If you're experiencing a steady, annoying drip of emails from us, it is likely because you have an outstanding information request in our Client Portal. We affectionately call our Client Portal "Nagware" because when we send you a request, automatic reminders are activated within the system. The reminders will bother you persistently until the request is completed. Please open the latest reminder email and follow the prompts to complete the Right Signature forms or upload the requested information ASAP and change the task status to Needs Review so that we can stop being so dang annoying.