“Tax season feels like a black hole to me. I send a pile of papers to you and then I wait.
I don’t know what happens or how long it will take to hear from you.
I get back a thing to sign and I just trust that you did it all right.”

The quote above is from a client conversation that I had early in my career. Hearing this client’s experience has haunted me ever since! It also has informed my decisions about how to improve that experience. We want you to understand how we work and why each step matters.

We use a two-week cycle for preparing tax returns. Our team focuses on each step to make sure that all necessary information is received, understood, and processed.

As you will see throughout the two-week process, we need your support! Here are some ways you can help:

• Be on time! Your submission date is the key to successful completion of the two-week cycle.
• Spending time chasing documents and requests is not fun for us and we believe that you don’t enjoy being chasedeither! When we contact you for additional information, a timely response keeps us on track. Your delay is our delay. Once you move outside of the cycle plan, we can only complete your return based on the available time in our schedule.
• Being early does not move you up in our schedule! We appreciate it so much when you get everything to us ahead of your submission date. That said, it does not change the schedule!
• Calling or emailing us frequently to check in takes us away from our process rather than speeding it up!
• We promise to communicate any concerns or delays and ask you to do the same! No one likes to be stood up!

And now – here it is! The exciting details of our two-week cycle! (We know you don’t think this is exciting, but we are trying to be transparent and interesting! Play along please!)

Step 1 – Monday Submission Date

This is the date that your two-week cycle begins. All your documents for tax preparation are due to be received by our firm by this date.

Step 2 – Document Processing from Monday to Friday of Week 1

Beginning on Monday, your documents are added to our internal workpapers. They are compared to prior year documents to determine if anything is deemed missing. They are reviewed by our team to consider any preliminary questions.

Step 3 – Follow up by Friday of Week 1 (if needed)

If any documents are missing or we have any preliminary questions, we forward those requests to you by Friday.

Step 4 – Preparation of Draft Return between Tuesday and Friday of Week 1

We prepare an initial draft of your tax return from the information on hand within one week of your submission date. If we are waiting for a response to follow up, the return may be placed on hold until this step is complete.

Step 5 – Final Review begins Monday of Week 2

The return is scheduled for Jodi’s review. This queue begins with the returns that are deemed complete without pending items for follow up. Once those returns are complete, the returns awaiting follow up will also be reviewed. It is always our goal to have all initial follow up resolved before final review.

Step 6 – Communication and Completion between Monday and Friday of Week 2

Jodi reaches out with any additional questions from her review and the results of the return. She also provides the annual required verification information document for completion. This step is accomplished by email and may require a telephone call.

Step 7 – Delivery of Tax Return by Monday (two weeks after submission date)

Upon receipt of your invoice payment, the return is delivered via Dropbox and efile authorization documents are processed via Docusign. This delivery is scheduled to be accomplished by the Monday two weeks after your submission date.

Step 8 – Complete your tax filing (within three days of delivery)

Review your return in Dropbox and contact our team with any questions or to schedule a time to review together. You must review prior to authorizing efiling because once efiled, the return can not be changed without amending. Sign the efiling authorization documents via Docusign.

For further understanding of our process and planning, please see the following:

In Scheduling is the Heartbeat of a FIA Firm, we explain why it is important to balance our workflow throughout the year.

If you are scheduled for a date between April 16th and October 15th, please read Why We File Extensions – Debunking the Myths where we clarify why and how we use the months of February through October for tax preparation.