Our Process

Though we are available all year to assist with your tax preparation and advisory services, please don’t wait to engage the firm for the upcoming year. The closer it gets to tax season, the more likely it is the the firm is reaching its client limit. Here at Lefferts Tax we send out engagement letters for tax preparation beginning in July of the current year. This allows current clients ample time to re-engage the firm. Clients who engage us early receive tax planning tips prior to the end of the year.

We recommend all potential clients contact the firm as soon as possible during the year to engage for the coming busy season. Due to the nature of busy season, reserving a spot for income tax preparation is essential. We pride ourselves on giving each client ample quality time, which means we can only take on a certain amount of clients every year! In other words, reserve your spot now.

Hiring the firm to assist with your tax preparation is easy and straightforward! The best part is that it is all done from the comfort of your own home. Obviously, the first step is to contact us by filling out a contact form, calling us, or e-mailing us directly. After our intiial contact and identifying the services you require, we will e-mail you a secure engagement letter and proposal. These documents will detail the scope of our work and the pricing of your engagement.

The client will then be required to electronically sign accepting the engagement letter. Upon acceptance of the engagement letter, the client will be required to make a 55% deposit on the total fee for their services. There are multiple acceptable payment methods, including credit card and ACH transfer. These transactions are secure and protected.

Once the engagement letter has been electronically signed and the deposit has been paid, the taxpayer is then considered a client of the firm. The client will be e-mailed acknowledgement of acceptance and further instructions on the process, including setting up an account in our client portal.

If you are looking to set up an advisory call with the firm, there are several options. Feel free to call or e-mail us, or you can sign up for a time using the Calendly service on our contact page here.

After accepting the engagement letter, the client will receive an e-mail instructing them on how to setup their secure firm portal. Once setup is complete, the firm portal will serve as the platform where clients upload their documents in PDF, excel, word, or picture format. Additionally, the client’s secure portal will have an instructions sheet guiding them on all tax documentation required by the firm to prepare their tax returns. The secure portal will also contain a tax organizer to help the client gather tax information in an organized fashion. The Organizer serves as a due diligence check as we review the tax return. It is essential and should not be ignored or overlooked.

After the client uploads their tax documents, our team will prepare your taxes and answer all your questions. Preparing the client’s tax returns requires no action from the client. The only duty of the client is to wait for the product! Upon completion of the tax returns, drafts will be uploaded to the firm portal for a round of discussion and review. Any necessary corrections will be made to the draft and the final version of the tax returns will be uploaded to the portal. At this point, once the client has possession of the product, the firm will charge the remaining 45% percent of the fee.

The client will then review and confirm the final draft of the tax return. If there are questions, they can be raised at this time in a single email. Followign this, you willl be asked to esign  a form granting permission to the firm to electronically file. The firm will then electronically file the tax returns for the IRS and relevant States. The client has the option to set up direct debit to pay taxes or direct deposit to receive their refund. Direct debit and deposit is recommended and will soon become mandatory.

When the Federal and state governments each accept the tax returns electronically, e-mails will be sent confirming the successful filings. The e-mails will then be forwarded to the client as proof of filing. This is the end of the process.

Our firm uses a very straightforward policy for pricing and payment. First, all pricing is transparent. All fees are presented to the client before the client signs the engagement letter and are based on the information provided by the client at that point.. The client will have full knowledge of all fees before hiring the firm. However, if after all documents are uploaded, additional services are necessary (such as clean-up accounting or additional State filings) there may be an out-of-scope charge added. We try as best as possible to provide an estimate of this charge before starting the work.

Fees are based on a flat fee structure. Our firm does not charge on an hourly basis for tax work. The only service charged on an hourly basis is tax advisory since the time span can be uncertain. Upon signing the engagement letter, clients are required to pay a fifty-five percent deposit towards their tax service fees. Once the tax services are complete, or a tax product has been uploaded to the client’s secure firm portal, the remaining forty-five percent of the fee will be billed.

To put it lightly, busy season is a chaotic environment for a tax firm. Busy season results from the fact that tax documentation is not produced and provided to a client until around mid-February or the end of March. Since the typical individual tax deadline on an annual basis is April 15, this leaves a very small period of time (about a month and a half) to complete or extend all client tax returns. In other words, a great deal of work is pushed into a very small time frame. Hundreds of tax returns must be prepared in a period of approximately 45 – 60 days.

There is often a lack of understanding regarding the nature of busy season and new clients are often unfamiliar with the atmosphere. They may not understand why a tax firm is so busy, why it is unable to accept new clients, or why it is taking more than a couple days to complete their tax returns.

To help clients understand the nature of busy season, we recommend having a look at this website. This article should help shed some light on the situation and answer many commonly asked questions about busy season.