Tax Preparation Services in Alexandria, VA

Bring last year's federal and Virginia returns, every W-2 and 1099, and any K-1s from partnerships or S corporations. Add brokerage and bank statements, Form 1098 for mortgage interest, charitable receipts, and records for credits like childcare or education. If you own a business, include a current profit and loss statement, balance sheet and payroll reports. Sorting it all by source and year makes it easy to spot what's missing.

As soon as your forms arrive, usually late January through February. Brokerage statements and K-1s can come later, which is a good reason to start with what you have. Starting early leaves time to reconcile income, check deductions and fix reporting errors before the federal deadline in April and Virginia's in May. If you have business income, foreign accounts or a problem from a prior year, earlier is always better.

Yes. Enrolled Agents are licensed by the U.S. Treasury to prepare returns and to represent taxpayers before the IRS without limits on the type of matter. In practice, that means if your return draws an IRS letter or an exam, you're not starting over with someone new. The person who prepared it can respond for you.

The IRS doesn't forget. Eventually it can file a substitute return based only on the W-2s and 1099s it has on record, usually with no deductions and a much higher bill. Filing accurate returns replaces that number with the real one and puts you back in compliance. If tax is owed, catching up is also the first step before a payment plan or other IRS relief can be approved.

Yes. Once we know the true balance, the choices typically include an installment agreement, a request for penalty abatement, Currently Not Collectible status if you can't pay right now, or an Offer in Compromise if you qualify. Each has its own IRS eligibility rules and conditions you'll have to keep, so we compare them against your income, assets and expenses before recommending one.

Usually, yes. Business returns depend on clean books and entity specific rules, and they flow into the owner's personal return through K-1s or Schedule C. There's also estimated tax, payroll, depreciation and owner pay to coordinate. Alexandria has plenty of government contractors, and for those clients we can keep the books DCAA ready and step in as a fractional CFO so the return at year end is the easy part.

By scope. We look at the number of entities, income sources, schedules and states, whether prior years are involved, and how much reconciliation the records need. A W-2 household is quick. A business owner with rental property, a brokerage account and a foreign bank account takes more work. We review your documents first and quote based on what's actually there.

Yes. If the IRS sends a CP2000, asks for documents, opens a correspondence audit or assesses a balance, the founder can respond on your behalf with a Form 2848 on file. Hold on to the records behind your return, like receipts, statements and mileage logs, because they're what we'll use to support each line.