We are truly excited for the opportunity to work with you this year. I'm writing you today to outline some important items related to the 2018 season, so it will go smoother than ever. We intend to deliver maximum value to you.

Paperless Office. We strive to keep your costs down and are sensitive to our natural resources. We are a paperless office, and our default delivery system is through the secure online portal. Paper copies are always available upon request. We encourage you to request that all your source document originators deliver info to you electronically, so you can forward it to us efficiently.

Secure Online Portal. This is the safest way to transmit sensitive documents. You can upload large files and multiple documents simultaneously here. When we have an action item for you, this is where it will be saved. Remember that your username is your email address. The system automatically resets the passwords periodically for your protection, but the Forgot my Password link is easy to use. Please contact us if you need help getting started using the Portal.

Tax Organizers. We emailed online access instructions to you on January 10th. Let us know if you need assistance, or if you did not receive. Refer to the organizer for what you had last year. We encourage you to use it as a guide. You are not required to fill it out or use it, but it will help us prepare more accurate filings. We will ask you to complete the questionnaire portion of the organizer, before we begin tax prep.

Dropping Off Info. We have 3 locations for you to drop off info this year. Visit www.cpaso.com/contact for exact locations and directions. We encourage you to call in advance to schedule a time.

• Glenwood Springs: Monday through Thursday from 9:00am to 5:00pm, Closed on Friday.
• Avon: Monday 12:30pm to 5:30pm, Thursday 8:30am to 1:30pm, Closed on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.
• Lakewood: Monday through Thursday from 9:00am to 5:00pm, Closed on Friday.
• Montrose: Monday through Thursday from 9:00am to 5:00pm, Closed on Friday.

If you need to explain any of your info, a member of the local office team will be available to accept delivery and take notes. We ask that you collect all your info before scheduling a drop off time.

Tax Prep Process. Generally, we begin the preparation process when you have confirmed that all your source documents have been provided, completed the questionnaire, and signed the engagement letter. We'll send you an email during the process if there are any questions or clarifications needed. When your tax returns have been completed, you will receive an email from us with instructions on how to complete the filing. We will follow up with a reminder if we do not hear from you within a few days.

Signing E-file Forms. This year the IRS has authorized a fully electronic signature process. Instead of printing, inking your signature, scanning, attaching, and emailing, we are now able to use Knowledge Based Authentication (KBA) to complete the signature process. We offer this to you at no additional cost, upon request. Also, you are welcome to stop by one of our local offices to sign the forms, or sign and scan them back to us if you prefer.

Virtual Meetings. This option will create more opportunity for us to connect with you. Regardless of the weather or different physical locations we can facilitate a meeting where you and I can get face-to-face and look at the same document. This is intended for review of your tax returns, after they have been completed. We'll be following up with additional info on this subject in the weeks ahead. Tax return review meetings (phone, video, or in person) are available with me upon request.

Cutoff date for business returns (Form 1120S & 1065) is February 22nd. This means that we cannot guarantee to complete your business returns by the first deadline of March 15th, unless all info for the business has been received by the February 22nd cutoff date. Otherwise, we’ll file an automatic extension of filing to move deadline to September 17th.

Cutoff date for individual and fiduciary returns (Form 1040 & 1041) is March 22nd. This means that we cannot guarantee to complete your returns by the first deadline of April 17th, unless all info for the business has been received by the March 22nd cutoff date. Otherwise, we’ll file for an automatic extension of filing to move deadline to October 15th. Note that extension is for time of filing only, and taxes owed are still due by April 17.

Payment before filing. We respectfully request that payment is made after we complete and deliver drafts of your tax returns, before we file with the tax agencies. This is the most logical and fair time to exchange value, in our experience. Note that monthly business clients for whom we provide full service accounting are not subject to this, when they’ve setup automatic monthly payments. Let us know if you’d like to discuss a monthly engagement for your business.

April 18, 2018. This is the day after the big deadline this year. April 15th (the typical deadline) fell on a weekend, and the first Monday afterward is a holiday in Washington DC, so filing deadline is April 17th this year. Anyway, all of our offices will be closed on April 18th to allow us a chance to rest and reset ourselves after a grueling busy season.

Thank you for choosing CPA Solutions for your tax/accounting needs. We truly enjoy working with you.

Sincerely,