Tax Season Readiness 2025
Tax Year 2024 has officially begun!
As we kick off, we have a few reminders and updates for our clientele. Please bear with us, as there is a lot of information to convey:
- Individual tax organizers will be released next week. You will receive an email once it is available; organizers can be accessed any time in SmartVault.
- This year, our office will be utilizing Stanford Tax for online organizer services. If you prefer to complete the document digitally, we will send a link.
- If you have a PDF editing program on your computer (such as Adobe Acrobat), please edit the original document and upload to your Client Documents folder.
- Otherwise, please print, complete, and return the organizer to our office with the rest of your tax materials.
- Paper organizers will not be mailed this year. If you need a paper organizer, please print directly from SmartVault. You can also call our office to pick one up during office hours.
- The questionnaire portion of your organizer is essential to our preparation and mandatory. If you do not return the completed questionnaire with your tax materials, we will send you a link to complete it online.
- We strongly encourage clients who have a long filing history with our firm, or who have not had any significant change to their return within the last three years, to forgo scheduling a meeting unless recommended by your tax preparer.
- Meetings are not required to complete your return, nor are they “built in” to the cost of preparation.
- Be advised that tax meetings are subject to your CPA’s hourly rates and contribute to the total billable time invoiced for your return.
- If you would like to schedule an appointment with your tax preparer, you can do so using the link at the bottom of the email or by calling the office.
- We offer two tax season appointment types: Virtual or In-Person. Be sure to select the correct appointment type when scheduling.
- Appointment availability is first-come, first-served and subject to your tax professional’s schedule.
- Tax materials can be dropped off at our office, faxed or uploaded to your SmartVault portal.
- Administration is available to receive documents in-office M-F, 8am-5pm (Friday hours begin 1/31/25)
- Outside of business hours, there is a secure drop slot located at the north end of the office. It can accept legal-size folders or smaller.
- If using SmartVault, please be sure to upload your documents to the appropriate tax year.
- For security purposes, we strongly discourage sending sensitive information as a PDF attachment to a regular email.
- Engagement letters for your personal or business tax return will be sent via email once your documents arrive at our office.
- Due to the high volume of returns, the following cut-off dates have been implemented for those wishing to file timely:
- Businesses with a tax filing due date of March 17, 2025 must submit their tax documents to our offices by end of day on Friday, February 14, 2025.
- Individuals and businesses with a tax filing due date of April 15, 2025, must submit their documents by end of day on Friday, March 14, 2025.
- We will work to the best of our ability to file your return by the original filing deadline; should the need for an extension arise, we will file one on your behalf.
- Please be advised that your submission date is not necessarily the start date of your return– submissions are queued for prep and processed in the order which they are received.
- Work can be reordered based on contents of submission, client communications, outstanding documents, workflow etc.
- Please keep abreast of any communication from your tax professional.
- If you know you will not meet these deadlines for the timely filing of your tax return, communicate this early with your tax professional.
- If you need an extension calculation, please submit as much information as possible and inform our office by March 31st.
- Following last year’s protocol, paper copies of tax returns will only be issued upon request; digital copies will be available in SmartVault.