Tax Preparation Process

Meeting with a CPA

Especially for new clients, it is recommended that you come in to meet with one of RBM's tax advisors. This will allow us to ask you questions about your information that might lead to more deductions against taxable income for you.

These meetings are scheduled in one-hour increments. If you have a lot of unusual transactions or are very disorganized, you may want to warn the receptionist that you may need more time than one hour. Meetings are scheduled during the workday, evenings, or weekends. You can call to make an appointment any workday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Drop-off information

Some clients are organized enough to drop off their tax information and leave a phone number for questions. Whether you meet with one of our tax advisors or drop off your information, your return will be prepared by our computerized tax program by one of our professionals. Each return will be reviewed for completeness. We can e-mail a draft copy of the return to you if you would like to review it prior to being finalized. After the return is completed, the filing copies are matched with preaddressed envelopes for your signature and possibly a check if payment is due on any of the returns. Your copy will be bound into a file along with your supporting documentation for you to keep in your files.

How are fees calculated and charged?

For individual, corporate and partnership income tax returns, our fees are based on the schedules that you are required to file. If we have not prepared your return in the past, and you would like an estimate of the fees that would be charged, please call. It is easiest if you have last year’s return in front of you so you can estimate what schedules may be needed this year from what schedules were filed last year. We do charge for extra work. The following examples are what we consider extra work:

1. Bookkeeping – Individuals: If you bring us in a shoebox with receipts stuffed inside, we will need to do some bookkeeping to sort through the box.

2. Bookkeeping – Businesses: We will need a balanced trial balance. For the trial balance to be “balanced” we are referring to each of the following:

• Total debits are equal to total credits
• Cash balances agree to the reconciled cash balances at year end
• Other balance sheet accounts such as accounts receivable and accounts payable are equal to the detailed listing of receivables or payables at the end of the year
• The equity accounts before closing reconcile to the equity reported on the prior year’s balance sheet

3. Tax Planning: We can always help to determine your tax liability for the next year based on any assumptions or changes you provide for us.

4. Unusual Number of Items: Most clients have just a few W-2’s to report wages and 1099’s to report interest, dividends, or capital gain income. When this becomes excessive (i.e. they must be alphabetized in order to keep track of them), we will charge extra for this time. This is quite often the case for Day Traders in the Stock Market.

5. Tracking Down Information: Some clients ask us to track down any information they are missing. For example, we must call the Town tax collector to find out how much was paid in property taxes, we must call the bank to find out how much was paid on the mortgages, and call the stock broker to find out the needed information on the portfolio income. This time is billed on a per hour basis.

How can I make an appointment?

Simply contact any one of our professionals to schedule a time that is convinient for you to come by our office for a meeting, or we can come to you. Please contact Lesley Amos at (318) 221-3615.