Taxes From Your Couch

The majority of our clients do not really need to come to the office to get their tax returns prepared. We do like to meet our clients at least once but it doesn’t always happen. Perhaps 30-40% of our clients have situations where a face-to-face meeting is desirable or necessary.  This may be due to business concerns, a need for explanations as to recordkeeping for particular deductions or credits, tax planning and/or discussion of changes in their lives that are occurring or have occurred.

For those clients who wish to have their taxes prepared without leaving home, we have a STRESS-FREE time saving method which can make that happen.  There is no wasted time driving to and from an office where you sit waiting for your taxes to be completed. Read below to see how.

TO BEGIN THE REMOTE PROCESS – Send an email to info@afsnodebt.com and say remote in the subject line.  We will send you a link to our secure portal with a password that you will want to personalize.  We will also send a couple of forms. If you are a new client, we will send a NEW CLIENT form to fill out with information we need to prepare your return.  We would need you to fill that out and send back to us via the portal. We will also send a tax organizer to help you in determining what documents need to be sent.  We will also upload our welcome letter, our guarantee and privacy policy as well as an engagement letter. 

As a remote client, you have the same guarantee of accuracy, assistance and customer service as any brick and mortar tax firm, without the in-store wait and from the comfort of your home, school, work, etc.

SECURE PORTAL – Clients can upload their documents via our secure and encrypted client portal or via fax, whichever method is most convenient.  Our client portal supports Word, Excel, PDF, Quickbooks, TIFF, GIFF, JPEG and Bitmap. 

You will have access to this portal 24/7.  You can upload documents to us. If we need more information, we will notify you and any additional documents needed can be uploaded via the portal. In some cases, such as for a variety of tax credits, we will send you links to forms to fill out attesting to your eligibility for the credit.  When the return is complete, we can upload a return summary for viewing and acceptance. If you have questions at this point, you can email or call our office.  Changes can be made, if necessary, up to the time the return is e-filed. After that, changes can only be made via amending the return.

We encourage use of the secure portal but we will accept faxes and drop-off of documents.  

PAYMENT AND SIGNATURES – prior to e-filing, we need signatures on the e-file forms and payment of fees.  Signatures are handled in one of 2 ways; we can download the forms to the portal for the client to print and sign and send back via fax or portal, or we can use a signature app called Right Signature where documents are sent to you for digital signatures.  Per IRS requirements, this application uses knowledge-based authentication. Most have used this before at some point. The app asks you 4 questions and as long as you answer 3 correctly, it allows the signature process to take place. You can sign with your mouse or your cell phone.  If the process fails because answers are incorrect, we can resend or you can use an alternate method of signing, as described above.

An invoice for the tax preparation or other services will be  uploaded to the portal or sent to your email.  

And that is it.  We will immediately e-file upon receipt of payment and signatures and notify you when that is complete.

Within 2-3 days of e-filing, you should be able to track your refund at Where’s My Refund and should have your refund 7-10 days after that, depending on whether you are receiving a check or direct deposit.  (note that if your are receiving a refund due to to tax credits, your refund will be delayed some while the IRS verifies eligibility).

Should you be unhappy with our service, we will make every effort to make it right, as stated in our guarantee.  At your request, we can immediately delete your private folder and all of its contents.

While you will have access to your return through the portal for 3 years, we can also provide a copy for that length of time if necessary.  

We are available year-round for tax help, questions, advice, etc.