At Esquire Group, we’re constantly looking to improve the quality of our services. We’ve discovered five major problems industry-wide that clients have with their tax preparers.
Truth is, we’ve struggled with some of them in the past. But we overhauled Esquire Group to address our shortcomings.
These are the top 5 complaints people have with their tax preparer and how we address each of them.
1. Lack of personalized service
The top complaint seems to be that tax preparer’s don’t take enough time to understand the client’s situation or business.
This can sometimes lead to mistakes. More often, it leads to frustration as clients need to repeatedly explain things to their tax preparer.
Our Solution: Each of our licensed consultants is limited to having a maximum of 100 clients – far below the industry average. This gives them the time to become intimately familiar with their personal situations.
2. Not Proactive
Most tax preparers just record what happened during the year on the tax return and determine the tax liability.
Clients desire tax preparers that proactively seek to improve their situations.
Our Solution: By limiting the number of clients each of our consultants has, they have the time and freedom to explore options to minimize taxes and streamline reporting.
We’ve helped clients transition from being self-employed to incorporating their business. We’ve helped clients reduce their taxes by capitalizing on tax treaties. We’ve even helped clients eliminate certain tax liabilities by using little-known IRS provisions.
Our consultants always examine prior returns to double-check for errors and file amended returns if needed – there’s always a possibility that your prior tax consultants left money on the table.
3. Poor Communication
Tax preparers don’t respond to communications in a timely manner.
Our Solution: We don’t make money on volume. Most tax preparation firms compete on price. Their preparers each have hundreds of clients.
Under these conditions, tax preparers are stressed and overworked. They don’t have the time to effectively communicate with each of their clients.
We charge more per client which gives our consultants the time to communicate effectively as they are familiar with each clients’ personal situations.
4. Everything Feels Rushed
Another common complaint is that everything feels rushed. Returns are filed just before the deadline. Clients are left in the dark about the status of their return and often don’t have time to review prior to filing.
Our Solution: We make concerted efforts to align our clients’ expectations with reality. Returns are filed on a strict first-in, first-out basis.
We send our clients several reminders about important tax-related deadlines as they approach to ensure they are aware of them.
Our consultants aren’t overworked. If you get your documents to us on time, your return will be prepared well before the deadline.
5. Feeling Forgotten
Most clients never hear from their tax preparers outside of tax season.
Our Solution: We take the time to stay in contact throughout the year.
First, each client starts the year with an Annual Tax Season Kick-Off call with their international tax consultant to update them on what happened during the year, get a jump on the year’s tax strategy, and begin the tax preparation process.
Next, our tax consultants review each client’s return with them before it is filed.
Finally, clients have a Year-End Tax Planning Call to see if there are any tax saving strategies that can be implemented before year’s end and prepare for the upcoming year. Don’t forget, your consultant is available to you year-round if you have any questions or concerns that you’d like to discuss.
Sound Appealing?
If you’d like a convenient and stress-free tax filing experience, then schedule a Tax Evaluation – a one-on-one consultation with one of our international tax consultants.
Your consultant will ask you targeted questions to get an overview of your tax needs. Naturally, you can ask any question you have.
After the call, you’ll receive:
· Written recommendations
· Easy to understand explanations
· Estimate for the price of your return
If we’re not a good fit for you, we’ll refer you to another trustworthy tax preparer.
Become a client and the price of your Tax Evaluation will be credited towards the price of your return.