By It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and no, I’m not talking about the chill in the air – I’m talking about that time of year when we all get to file our taxes with Uncle Sam. Now, I know many of you hear “taxes” and clinch up in fear of this year’s bill, but this week, I’m going to focus more on how things work behind the scenes in our office.
As of the third week of February, we have received all of your Pershing tax documents. That said, we’re always hesitant to send those out immediately, as there are often revisions that will need to be made. In addition, many other companies’ 1099s as well as K-1s will be revised and distributed this week.
When it comes to gathering your tax documents for you, our goal as a team is to wait until we have them all in one place from the various entities we work with. Then, with your permission, we forward them electronically to your tax professional. This ensures that you don’t miss anything in the mail and minimizes the time it takes for your tax professional to construct your tax return.
Speaking of tax professionals, we always hear from clients who are in need of hiring someone. Often it’s due to a move to a new state or a change in the complexity of your tax return. When you ask us to refer you to someone we trust, we are confident that we can give you a great referral. However, it seems that recently some sort of rapture has occurred and taken with it all the seasonal accounting help. Many of the tax pros we work with aren’t currently accepting new clients simply because there are no workers to be found.
The way I view the situation this year is, if you have a decent accountant already, they’re probably not accepting new clients. If they are, they’re filing extensions for those new clients, as they can’t get everyone’s returns completed by the April deadline. If you are able to find someone who can take you quickly, perhaps proceed with caution. I know you need to get this arduous task completed so hopefully your local H&R block is open.
Then, sometime between now and summer, do let us know that you’re searching for a new accountant. We’ll help you find one who can start building a client relationship with you. Once tax season is done, accountants should have time to meet with new people and mutually determine if you’re a good fit for 2023.
As always, if any questions popped into your head as you read this, feel free to reach out to our operations team, who is actively gathering all tax docs and getting them ready to distribute. We’re available at 859.219.1006. Ask to talk to the operations team about your taxes.
Article by David Smyth, Senior Partner at Family Financial Partners — a financial services firm in Lexington, Kentucky.