Preparing For A Tax Appointment

Getting Prepared

If this is the first time that you have had John Masters, CPA, P.C. prepare your return, please review this material even though some of it may not apply to your situation. Gather your materials in any manner that seems appropriate and bring them for your appointment.

When a new client comes to us for tax return preparation, we need to learn about our new client. We can learn the fastest by reviewing the last tax return that was filed. For this reason, we ask that you bring a copy of last year’s state and federal tax returns for our review. In addition, there are often carryover items from the prior year’s return that effect the current year’s return.

There are several effective ways to prepare for your initial interview in our office. Every year we prepare and send to each of our clients a tax organizer for assembling their tax data.  (By clicking the underlined hyperlink "tax organizer" you will be taken to a page with a list of organizers for both business and individual taxes.)  Also,  your prior accountant may have sent you a booklet of his own for preparing this year’s return. You can use that booklet if you like. Finally, you may simply use last year’s tax return as a guide for preparing this year’s tax data.

The main reason for a data gathering system is to prevent omission of relevant tax data. If we notice that relevant data is missing, we will call you. However, your diligence in providing us with the information reduces our preparation time and, therefore, causes your bill for our services to be less than it will be if we must assemble the data or make calls to obtain the information.

In preparing your information, if you are unsure of what to include or how to present it, just write down what you know. If we need additional information or do not understand your data, you can explain it at our interview, or we will call you for additional clarification. Our objective is to get your return prepared completely, accurately, and as quickly as possible. We may estimate or omit minor items in the interest of time if we believe that is appropriate and in your best interest. Remember though, we cannot "create" data for you.