 Are you accepting new clients?
Yes. I am currently accepting new clients who are California family child care providers. New clients should be email users, as that is my preferred mode of communication and client education (via email newsletters). To file by April 15 or for help requesting an extension, I must receive your tax data no later than March 21. See my Child Care Tax Return Checklist for the information needed to prepare your income tax return. This information can be provided via email, fax or US Mail. You will need to send me copies of all tax forms (W-2s, 1099s, 1098s, etc.) or else scan the documents and email them securely with a password. I will also need a copy of your prior year income tax return. If you are a new child care provider or fairly new, please read My Letter to New Family Child Care Providers. Contact us via email to request a New Client Packet or to request our fax number. (Our fax number is not shown on the website to discourage junk faxes.) California residents can reach us by phone at 800-616-1268. Others please call 510-745-7275. What are your fees for tax preparation? ... A $250 deposit is required at the time I start work on a tax return and the remainder of the fee is due on completion. I never truly know what the final tax preparation fee will be until a tax return is completed. I can tell you that the fee for most home-owning family child care providers is between $450 and $550, sometimes more, sometimes less. (The main variant is the number of depreciable home and business assets being reported on the tax return.) For renting providers, the tax preparation fee is usually between $400 and $500, again, sometimes more, sometimes less. The tax preparation fees quoted in the previous paragraph cover a complete tax return for the provider, including a spouse's income and deductions. It also covers the calculation of estimated tax payments, if required. The fee will be higher if forms are required other issues, such as a second business, rental property, stock sales, dependent care and other types of credits, noncash charitable contributions, alternative minimum tax, limited partnerships, etc. The tax preparation fee may be somewhat higher for providers (usually those in their first year of business) who do a household inventory. This is because of the time involved in setting up depreciation for all of the provider's household furnishings. Though the tax preparation fee is higher, the provider will save more than enough tax to make up for it. Household depreciation generally continues for seven years, but the higher fee applies only in the first year. What is an Enrolled Agent? An Enrolled Agent (EA) is a federally-authorized tax practitioner who has technical expertise in the field of taxation and who is empowered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to represent taxpayers before all administrative levels of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for audits, collections, and appeals. This means that with your written permission, I can interact directly with the IRS to resolve any problems that come up. I became an Enrolled Agent in 1989 when I passed a difficult two-day test administered by the IRS covering all areas of taxation. Where are you located? I work from my home office in Fremont, California. Fremont is an East Bay city in the San Francisco Bay Area about halfway between Oakland and San Jose. I am located on the northern end of town, near the intersection of Decoto Road and Fremont Blvd. Thus, I am near to Newark, Union City, Ardenwood and the Dumbarton Bridge. (For security reasons, and because I do not take drop-in business, my address is not shown on the website.) I do not live near Fremont. Can I still work with you? I work with many satisfied clients in the Central Valley, Southern California, and other parts of the state away from my location in Fremont. We communicate via email primarily and also over the telephone. These clients usually send me their tax documents via US Mail or another shipping service. Some fax me their information. Many send it electronically as email attachments (using password protection for sensitive data). Will you prepare all of my tax return or just the day care forms? I will prepare your complete tax return, reporting all of your income and deductions and also those of your spouse, if you are married and filing together. I am married. Do you do filings for married joint and the business? Most married couples file jointly, though filing separately is also possible. Filing a joint tax return is the simplest way to go and usually results in the lowest tax. I produce a complete tax return, including the day care business forms, personal deductions, income for both you and your spouse, etc. If your spouse is also a self-employed sole proprietor, I can prepare those business tax forms as well. Do you offer bookkeeping or payroll services? I have a convenient payroll tax service specifically for California child care providers. Refer to my Payroll Tax Guide to learn about employer tax responsibilities. I do not offer bookkeeping services. Every day care provider should find a record-keeping method they are comfortable with and process expense receipts regularly (at least once per month). I recommend you consider using specialized software to help with your record keeping. I have also written up a step-by-step envelope record-keeping method for child care providers. Do you e-file? Yes, most all of my clients file their tax returns electronically. The cost of e-filing (both Federal and California) is included in my fee estimates above. There is no extra charge. Paper filing is available upon request. Do you accept credit card payments? I accept credit and debit card payments though my Payments page which are processed by PayPal. When should I contact you for tax preparation? Short answer: The sooner the better. If you would like an office appointment for the coming tax season, call any time during the year. I plan my appointment calendar in November and December and keep adding appointments from there. The earlier you call, the more appointment times you will have to choose from. My evening and weekend appointments are most in demand. If you plan to drop off or mail in your tax information, please do so as soon as you have it all together and no later than March 21. Most clients must wait until around the end of January to receive all of their W-2, 1099 and other government forms, but not always. If you have your information ready to go in January, please send it on in or call for an appointment. What is your mailing address? I do not post my address on the website due to the fact that I work at home and do not take drop-in customers. Please email me or call 800-616-1268 for the mailing address in Fremont, California. How long will it take for my tax return to be completed? Often times, I will initially go through a period of asking for additional information and clarifications. Once I have all of your tax information, it generally takes a couple of weeks or more to complete your tax return. Turnaround time is faster (often a week or less) at the beginning of February and slower in March. If I receive your tax information just at the March 21 submission deadline, please be prepared to be patient while I work through the mountain of work that comes in at that time. I work hard to stay in communication during the tax preparation process and you are welcome to request a status update, at any point. I place a high priority on responsiveness, but at the same time, I take the time necessary to produce an accurate tax return showing the lowest possible tax. Will my tax return be completed by April 15? Or will I need an extension? If I have all of your tax information in hand no later than March 21, I should be able to complete your tax return by the April 15 deadline. I do not take on new clients after that date and all continuing clients who provide their tax information after that date should understand that I may very well need to put their tax return on extension. When extensions are necessary, they are submitted electronically, based on your estimated income and deductions. If a tax balance due is expected, I will let you know how much federal and state tax you should pay by April 15 to avoid late payment penalties. Extensions are very common these days. Some people wonder if their chances of audit go up when they go on extension, but this is not the case. Once on extension, your new filing deadline is October 15. Will you file my tax return for me? Unless you request to file a paper tax return, I will set you up for free electronic filing. Nothing gets filed, however, until you have first reviewed your completed tax return and signed an efile authorization forms. Do I get a copy of my tax return? Very definitely, yes. I will provide you with a complete paper tax return copy for your records. In addition, you will receive an electronic PDF copy on CD. Can you help me if I get audited? Yes, because I am an Enrolled Agent, I can represent you in the case of an audit by the IRS or the California Franchise Tax Board. Audit representation is not covered by your tax preparation fee, however. I charge for these services based on my hourly rate. How long have you been in business? Since 1995. How long have you preparing family child care tax returns? I don't remember exactly, but it was soon after starting my business in 1995. My two young sons received part-time care from a wonderful child care provider who put me in touch with her provider association. From there, I began working with daycare provider clients. What is your educational background? I have a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley, where I graduated Phi Beta Kappa. I completed a year-long course in federal taxation at Ohlone College before taking and passing the Enrolled Agent exam in 1989. Every year, I take a minimum of 30 hours of continuing education tax courses. What is your professional background? Upon graduation from the University of California at Berkeley, I worked as a computer programmer for TRW and Xerox Corporation. When my children were young, I switched to the tax field due to my interest in tax matters and my desire to be self-employed and work from home. Looking back, I realize that my first "real" job was a summer internship at the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) in San Francisco. Do you know what I did there? I audited tax returns from breweries, distilleries and wineries! My manager and co-workers were so happy with my work that they presented me with a U.S. Treasury Certificate of Award at the end of the summer. Between this experience and the A+ I received in Accounting 101 at Berkeley (which I took "for fun"!), I probably should have considered a career in the tax field sooner. I firmly believe that things happen for a reason, though. My computer science career and education put me right in the middle of the tech revolution. I was an early adopter of email and the world wide web as communication tools and am now able to efficiently utilize the new accounting and tax software offerings.
Last updated: 30 April 2010
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