Arbor Creek Tax Service LLC

Individual services

Benefits of Using a Paid Preparer

With so many do-it-yourself tax programs available for sale, it’s a legitimate question to ask why you should hire a paid preparer when you can create and file a tax return on a home computer. Keep in mind that entering tax information into a computer program and making adjustments necessary to clear the program’s diagnostic error messages is no substitute for understanding tax law. The Internal Revenue Code and related Treasury Regulations contain over 10,000 pages of complicated provisions. Working with a tax professional who understands how the provisions affect your specific situation and how the rules interact can provide you with the best result on your tax return. Obtaining tax benefits is often a complex process involving properly executed and timely-filed elections. Simply entering amounts into an input program often leads to lost benefits. We find that in many cases we save new clients more than the cost of our services compared to returns they have prepared themselves. Proper reporting and filing can also help keep you off the IRS radar.

Other Benefits Include:

• When your information is compiled and we’ve examined and discussed your unique tax situation, we take care of preparing the forms and we file the returns electronically.

• We will explain details of how items of income and expense affect your return, and will make recommendations on how to reduce your tax liability.

• If you receive any communication from the IRS or state revenue department, we are available to assist you with resolution.

• As professional tax preparers, we know the proper means of reporting income and deductions, the proper forms to use, and the proper entries to make. Using a paid preparer makes your return much more likely to be “accepted as filed,” meaning in most cases you will avoid the dreaded letter from the IRS triggered by a box that was not checked or a number entered on the wrong line.

• We can discuss with you the tax effects of any changes in income anticipated for the coming year, to help eliminate the guesswork involved with figuring out what your tax situation will be in future years.

• We can make recommendations for changing withholding at work to help put you in the position you want to be in when it comes time to file next year’s return.