Frequently Asked Questions

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Now. Right now.

I cannot tell you how many times over the years I've had to tell clients 'It's too bad you didn't call me 9 months ago when I could have helped you with this.' The greatest value I've given to clients was when they came to me BEFORE or DURING the issue rather than months later.

So don't wait or put it off. 

Whether it's selling your house or rental property, receiving an inheritance, estate planning, buying or selling a business, potential settlement of a lawsuit, moving overseas or out of state all have potential tax pitfalls that can easily be avoided with a little planning in the moment!

In my opinion, professionally, your accountant should be able to competently handle complexity no less than 3-4 steps above your "normal" level of complexity. That way they can advise you on the strange situation that occasionally arises in everyone's life while hopefully "knowing what they don't know" so they can help you get additional assistance as needed.

Focus on the results which you are getting for the price that you are paying and be realistic from there. Everyone wants A+ service but if your current accountant/firm has 1,000 other clients and you are only regularly paying for just your tax return don't be surprised that your emails & phone calls go unanswered. You are only one out of a thousand to them.

Not as much as you think but probably still more than you want to pay.

I can usually get the scope of an engagement over the phone with enough questions and give you a price in writing with only one caveat: That all of the necessary information is provided at the outset of the engagement.

Other than the number of hours required by a project the biggest driver of a project's cost is whether the client can provide all of the required information upfront.

Want to minimize what you pay for professional services? Take the time to compile ALL of the necessary information upfront.