PERSONAL INCOME TAX PREPARATION ENGAGEMENT LETTER
FIRST THINGS FIRST….
We apologize for the plethora of disclosures and jam packed information in this document. Tax law is becoming increasingly complex, and we need to make sure that our client’s stay informed and protected. We much appreciate your business and look forward to another successful tax year together!
Terms and Conditions. This letter states the terms and conditions by which you (“you,” “client” or “your”) have engaged Meyer Tax Consulting LLC (“We,” “us” or “our”) to provide certain tax return preparation and consulting services. To ensure a clear understanding of the separate responsibilities we and you have in this engagement, we ask all clients for whom returns are prepared or reviewed to confirm the following arrangements.
Services. We will prepare your federal and requested state/local income tax returns and any bookkeeping necessary for preparation of these returns based solely on information provided in the Client checklist and via the tax documents you submit. We will not audit or otherwise verify the data you submit, although it may be necessary to ask you for clarification of some of the information. We will provide questionnaires and worksheets to guide you in organizing the information we need to prepare your tax returns. You represent that the information you are supplying to us is accurate and complete to the best of your knowledge and that you have disclosed to us all relevant facts affecting the returns. This will assist in pertinent information not being overlooked.
Our engagement does not include tax planning services, which are available as a separate engagement. During the course of preparing the tax returns, we may bring to your attention certain available tax saving strategies (such as the use of itemized deductions or tax- deferred retirement accounts) for you to consider as possible means of reducing your income taxes in subsequent tax years. However, we have no responsibility to do so, and will take no action with respect to any such recommendations, as the responsibility for implementation remains with you, the taxpayer.
Client Responsibilities. Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure that all information necessary to prepare your tax return is included in your tax package. Since the returns will be prepared based on the information you provide, you should closely follow the questionnaires and worksheets in assembling required information. You should retain all the documents, canceled checks, and other data that form the basis of income and deductions. These may be necessary to prove the accuracy and completeness of the returns to a taxing authority. As the taxpayer, you have the final responsibility for the income tax return(s) and, therefore, you should review them carefully before you sign them.
Disputes, Termination of Services, and Refunds. If Meyer Tax Consulting LLC begins preparing your return and you then terminate the engagement, you will be invoiced and charged for work completed to that point. This applies to tax returns that have been worked on but not yet shipped to the advisor or client. We do not provide tax preparation fee refunds in situations where returns have been completed and shipped to the client or advisor, regardless of whether the return has or has not been filed. Termination prior to filing will result in originals being returned to the client and a copy being retained by us.
In the event of a dispute related in any way to our services, our firm and you agree to discuss the dispute and, if necessary, to promptly mediate in a good faith effort to resolve. We will agree on a mediator, but if we cannot, either of us may apply to a court having personal jurisdiction over the parties for appointment of a mediator. We will share the mediator's fees and expenses equally, but otherwise will bear our own attorneys' fees and mediation costs. Participation in such mediation shall be a condition to either of us initiating litigation. Any applicable statute of limitations shall be tolled for a period not to exceed 120 days from the date either of us first requests in writing to mediate the dispute. The mediation shall be confidential, as allowed or required by law, except our final settlement positions at mediation shall be admissible in litigation solely to determine the prevailing party's identity for purposes of the award of attorneys' fees.
Requests for Missing Information. Meyer Tax will make attempts to request additional information required to complete your federal and/or state tax returns using the contact information provided on your Client Tax Organizer. If we do not receive a response within 30 days from the first request for information, we will close your order and charge you for the time spent on your tax return(s) up to that point. Your Organizer and supporting documents will be returned to you via email or U.S. Mail so that you can find an alternate tax preparer.
Errors, Misrepresentations, Fraud, Illegal Acts, Theft. Meyer Tax Consulting LLC will not attempt to discover errors, misrepresentations, fraud, illegal acts, or theft. Therefore, we have not included any procedures designed or intended to discover such acts, as we have no responsibility to do so. If you require assistance with this, we can put you in contact with a local CPA who can perform these services for you. We will only render such accounting and bookkeeping assistance as determined to be necessary for preparation of the income tax returns at an additional charge.
Standards. We use professional judgment in resolving questions where the tax law is unclear, or where there may be conflicts between the taxing authorities’ interpretations of the law and other supportable positions in accordance with IRS Circular 230 guidelines.
The Internal Revenue Code and regulations impose preparation and disclosure standards with noncompliance penalties on both the preparer of a tax return and on the taxpayer. Unless we have a reasonable belief that any tax position in your return will be sustained on its merits due to having substantial authority, a preparer penalty will be imposed on us unless that position has a reasonable basis and is adequately disclosed in the return. And, while we might be able to avoid a preparer penalty by adequately disclosing the return position, you might not have to disclose the position in order to avoid applicable taxpayer penalties. If we determine that we would be subject to a preparer penalty by delivering your return to you, you agree to either adequately disclose that position on your return or change the position to one that would not subject us to penalty. If you do not choose to change your position or adequately disclose so as to eliminate, in our sole opinion, our exposure to the preparer penalty, we, in our sole discretion and at any time, may withdraw from the engagement without completing or delivering tax returns to you. Such withdrawal will complete our engagement, and you will be obligated to compensate us for all time expended and to reimburse us for all out-of- pocket expenses through the date of our withdrawal.
Filing Deadline and Extensions. The filing deadline for business federal tax returns is March 15th and individual federal tax returns is April 15th (or the next business day when the deadlines fall on a weekend). If supporting documentation is received within two weeks of these deadline and you have not filed your own federal and state extension(s), Meyer Tax will prepare them for you and you w ill be charged for each federal and/or state extension form prepared.
Meyer Tax Consulting LLC will make good faith efforts to complete tax returns prior to the deadline. However, due to the high volume of returns, the vast majority of returns received within two weeks of the deadline may very likely be extended. Therefore, regardless of the date w e receive your tax information, Meyer Tax Consulting LLC cannot guarantee the completion and filing of tax returns before the filing deadline. Note that we are required by the IRS to electronically file returns.
Extensions. If necessary or desired, extensions will be prepared by Meyer Tax. When no payment is es t i m at ed t o be due or there is no estimated tax, we will prepare and file an extension on the client’s behalf. In situations where an estimated tax liability exists, we will provide the extension form and amount due for the client’s submission and payment to the appropriate tax authority. Extensions will be prepared based on the supporting documents on hand. Any amounts not paid by the filing deadline are subject to interest, late payment penalties, and underpayment penalties. You are responsible for these.
Disclosure of Personal and Tax Information. Meyer Tax makes all reasonable efforts to maintain the privacy of client personal and tax information. We will share your information only with our staff (including seasonal employees and independent contractors), our affiliated companies and service providers that give direct service to us on your behalf, and as otherwise permitted or required by law. Should we receive a request for the disclosure of privileged information from any third party, including a subpoena or IRS summons, we will notify you. In the event you direct us not to make the disclosure, you agree to hold us harmless from any expenses incurred in defending the privilege, including, by way of illustration only, our attorney’s fees, court costs, outside adviser’s costs, or penalties or fines imposed as a result of your asserting the privilege or your direction to us to assert the privilege.
Examination of Returns. Your returns may be selected for examination or review by the taxing authorities. Any proposed adjustments by the examining agent are subject to certain rights of appeal. In the event of such government tax examination, we will be available upon request to assist you. If an examination occurs, we will represent you if you so desire; however, these additional services are not included in our fee for preparation of your returns and we will render additional invoices for the time and expenses incurred.
Retention Policy. We retain tax return files for five years. These files are then destroyed unless you inform us otherwise.
Fees. Our fee for these services will be based upon the amount of time required at standard billing rates plus out-of-pocket expenses. A retainer, typically 50%, must be paid before work can begin. All invoices are due and payable upon presentation. If you sign an ACH form, you authorize us to automatically draft your account for the retainer and final fees due.
Electronic communication. We may communicate with you or others via email transmission. As emails can be intercepted and read, disclosed, or otherwise used or communicated by an unintended third party, or may not be delivered to each of the parties to whom they are directed and only to such parties, we cannot guarantee or warrant that emails from us will be properly delivered and read only by the addressee. We specifically disclaim and waive any liability or responsibility whatsoever for interception or unintentional disclosure of emails transmitted by us in connection with the performance of this engagement. You agree that we shall have no liability for any loss or damage to any person or entity resulting from the use of email transmissions
Receipt of Notices from Tax Authorities. Please email or fax any notice/letter received to our toll-free fax number 888-272-1258. In preparing your returns, we are not responsible for a taxing authority’s assessment of underpayment penalties or interest where this action results from erroneous, incomplete, inaccurate, or misrepresented information provided by you to us. We have no ability to audit your information or search for correct data. Notice/letters received due to an error on the part of Meyer Tax Consulting LLC will be resolved at no charge. Should a tax return require revision after completion through no fault of ours, revision fees will apply at our
standard hourly rate. Any tax return requiring revision due to a legitimate preparation error will be revised at no charge.
NEW ITEMS FOR 1040 INDIVIDUAL TAX CLIENTS (PLEASE READ):
Providing tax documentation We have an exciting new feature for individual tax returns-e-signatures! For a nominal $5, you will securely receive a PDF of your 1040 return and sign electronically via DocuSign. We will provide this time saving feature unless you contact us to opt out (then the return will be provided the same format as last year).
Being a paperless office, we encourage you to provide actual source documents (W-2s, 1099s, etc) via email, fax, or our meyertax.com portal to minimize tax preparation time. Otherwise, you may mail, dropoff, or arrange an appointment at our office: 1207 S White Chapel Blvd, Ste 150B, Southlake, TX 76092.
Tax Checklists Please notify us if you would like to receive a checklist (based on your prior return data) to help collect documents.
Health Care Penalty. Under the new ACA (Obamacare), penalties may apply if you do not have qualified health insurance for you and your dependents/spouse the entire tax year. We may assume by the information provided that you are covered. It is your responsibility to notify us of a coverage lapse. We will then provide you with a checklist to prepare extra forms and assess IRS penalties or exemptions. The Affordable Care Act added many tax provisions that will likely cause your fee to increase from last year.
Foreign Reporting. Please note that any person or entity subject to the jurisdiction of the United States (includes individuals, corporations, partnerships, trusts, and estates) having a financial interest in, or signature or other authority over, bank accounts, securities, or other financial accounts having a value exceeding $10,000 in a foreign country, shall report such a relationship. Filing requirements also apply to taxpayers that have direct or indirect control over a foreign or domestic entity with foreign financial accounts, even if the taxpayer does not have foreign account(s). If you do not provide our firm with information regarding any interest you may have in a foreign account, we will not be able to prepare any of the required disclosure statements. Certain individuals and entities may be required to electronically file Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) with the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Failure to comply with the filing requirements may result in significant civil and criminal penalties. Unless otherwise
specifically agreed in writing, we will not prepare, file, or provide assistance with respect to the FinCEN Form 114 due June 30th.
If the foregoing pages correctly states your understanding, please sign below. In the event you provide us with some of the information necessary to prepare tax returns, the commencement of our services constitutes your acceptance of the terms of this letter, even if this engagement agreement is not signed. We appreciate the opportunity to work with you!
Sincerely,
Jackie M Meyer, CPA, Managing Shareholder
Meyer Tax Consulting LLC
I HAVE READ THIS ENGAGEMENT LETTER AND AGREE TO AND ACCEPT ITS TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
Signature Print Name Date
TAX FILINGS REQUESTED (Please fill out, to confirm our understanding of your engagement):
Year Entity or Individual Name Federal Form(s) State(s) Other/Comments
EX: 2022 Smith, Joe & Jane 1040, foreign info CA,TX May need to file daughter separate
1040
Please note any questions/concerns about health coverage, foreign reporting, requesting a tax checklist, etc here:
CONSENT TO USE OF TAX RETURN INFORMATION
Federal law requires this consent form be provided to you. Unless authorized by law, we cannot disclose your tax return information to third parties for purposes other than those related to the preparation and filing of your tax return without your consent. If you consent to the disclosure of your tax return information, Federal law may not protect your tax return information from further use or distribution.
You are not required to complete this form. Because our ability to disclose your tax return information to another tax return preparer affects the tax return preparation service(s) that we provide to you and its (their) cost, we may decline to provide you with tax return preparation services or change the terms (including the cost) of the tax return preparation services that we provide to you if you do not sign this form. If you agree to the disclosure of your tax return information, your consent is valid for the amount of time that you specify. If you do not specify the duration of your consent, your consent is valid for one year from the date of signature.
Taxpayer hereby consents to the use by Meyer Tax Consulting LLC of any and all tax return information contained in the taxpayer’s federal income tax returns (Forms 1040, 1040NR, 1040A, 1040EZ, etc. and supporting schedules) for the purpose of mailing, including electronic transmission, to the taxpayer information pertaining to:
· Newsletters of accounting firm/preparer.
· Newsletters of affiliated financial planning firm to the accounting firm/preparer.
· Press releases and published articles of accounting firm/preparer.
· Upcoming seminars, webinars, and webcasts.
· Accounting firm/preparer promotion or hire announcements.
This consent to disclose may result in your tax return information being disclosed to a tax return preparer located outside the United States, including your personally identifiable information such as your Social Security Number (“SSN”). Both the tax return preparer in the United States that will disclose your SSN and the tax return preparer located outside the United States that will receive your SSN maintain an adequate data protection safeguard (as required by the regulations under 26 U.S.C. section 7216) to protect privacy and prevent unauthorized access of tax return information. If you consent to the disclosure of your tax return information, federal agencies may not be able to enforce United States laws that protect the privacy of your tax return information against a tax return preparer located outside of the United States to whom the information is disclosed.
If you agree to allow Meyer Tax Consulting LLC to disclose your tax return information, including your SSN, to Intuit Inc and Xpitax, LLC (US entities) for purposes of providing assistance in the preparation of your individual income tax return, please check the box below, provide the information requested below, and sign and date your consent to the disclosure of your tax return information.
This consent will be valid for a period of ten years beginning on January 1, 2022 and expire on December 31, 2034.
oX I (we) authorize Meyer Tax Consulting LLC to disclose to Intuit Inc or Xpitax, LLC, my (our) tax return information including my
(our) SSN to allow Intuit or LLC to assist in the preparation of my (our) individual income tax return.
Accepted by:
Date:
If you believe your tax return information has been disclosed or used improperly in a manner unauthorized by law or without your permission, you may contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) by telephone at 1-800-366-4484, or by email at complaints@tigta.treas.gov.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR OWNERS OF BUSINESSES, RENTAL PROPERTIES, HOME OFFICE USERS, OR IF YOU HAVE ANY DEPRECIABLE ASSETS
New Capitalization Policy
Over the last two years, the Internal Revenue Service issued new final rules which go into effect for tax years beginning after 1/1/2014. These incredibly complex Regulations require you to keep much better records for repairs, maintenance and supplies, and require you to specifically analyze each of these items costing over $500, assuming you do not receive audited financial statements. Some of the new rules are adopted by making annual elections on your tax return, while others technically require Form 3115, Change in Accounting Method.
At a minimum, we are automatically attaching a statement to your business's tax return to help meet the new requirements, but there is debate that an entirely separate Form be filed as well, Form 3115 "Change in Accounting Method" is filed to adopt several of the new rules (Method change #s 184, 186, & 187). In our opinion, this is a conservative type of "insurance," and filing this form may help prevent additional IRS scrutiny, penalties, and/or other fees.
By accepting this return, you agree that after reviewing options with Meyer Tax Consulting LLC, you have chosen not to file Form 3115 Application for Change in Accounting Method. Instead you are choosing to attach the statement of adoption of a policy to your return. You believe that your prior accounting methods substantially comply with the above rules, and no adjustment to prior tax returns is necessary.
You agree that you are taking the risk of additional IRS scrutiny, penalties, and/or other fees. You agree that you are taking the risk that under Audit the IRS may make changes to your tax return that may result in additional taxes due. You agree to not to pursue Meyer Tax Consulting LLC should any of the above happen. You accept all risks, liabilities and responsibilities yourself.
Non-employee compensation
You are responsible for filing 1099 forms for all eligible payees, if you did not engage us to do so. Penalties of up to $100 per form up to $1,500,000 per year may be assessed by the IRS for failure to file correct information returns.
If you have any questions about who should receive a 1099 or need assistance with preparation of the forms, please let us know. You represent to us that you have prepared and filed all 1099 forms as required by the IRS and this should be indicated on your tax return.
Bartering, Charitable Contributions, Travel, Meals, Entertainment, and Phone Expenses, and Business Usage of Autos. You should also know that IRS audit procedures will almost always include questions on bartering transactions and on deductions that require strict documentation such as charitable contributions, travel, m e a l s , and entertainment expenses and expenses for business usage of autos, computers, and cell phones.
In preparing your returns, we rely on your representations that we have been informed of all bartering transactions and that you understand and have complied with the documentation requirements for your expenses and deductions. The minimum substantiation must include the amount of the expense, the location, date/description of gift, business purpose, and business relationship. The IRS prefers a diary kept in chronological order, and we suggest using a particular charge card when possible. If you have questions about these issues, please contact us.
__ Check here that you’ve read & understand the above policies.
Disclaimer: The templates offered by TaxPlanIQ are intended to serve as a helpful starting point. While we strive for precision, we cannot warrant their completeness or compliance with specific regulations in your area. We encourage you to use them with discretion and to verify that they align with the pertinent local guidelines