
NEW CLIENT WELCOME AND ENGAGEMENT OUTLINE
We welcome you to consider our tax filing and preparation service at Mountain Tax Services, LLC. This page explains how we will operate together if you choose to work with us to fulfill your Federal, state(s), and/or local income tax filing obligations. Your engagement with us renews annually if you choose to continue working with us. While it is understood that your tax obligations are solely between you/your family and various tax authorities, Mountain Tax Services, LLC stands ready to help you understand and fulfill your obligations.
Setup Needs: In order to prepare and file your taxes, we need your identifying information, including legal name(s), Social Security Number(s), Date(s) of Birth, and Address(es). Several states and localities require State ID or driver's license info, or processing of returns with refunds is more efficient with this information, so when not required for filing, we suggest that you provide a copy of this information if you have these forms of identification. We do not require examination of past tax return filings, but this is most useful to ensure we do not miss anything for you and also this sharing provides us an opportunity to review past filings for potential mistakes or issues. You are solely responsible for providing to us all tax documents you receive in any form of mail/e-mail or are otherwise aware of (e.g., W2s, 1098s, 1099s, expense reports, etc, etc.) and for all other information that may affect you in terms of tax obligations. To the best of our ability with the information we have as provided by you, we will advise if we have reason to believe a form or tax reporting element is missing, however you are ultimately responsible for informing us of all taxable income, including crypto-currency gains, barters, gifts and all other taxable income, as well as any information about expenses or potential deductions so that we can advise you of applicable tax consequences and reporting guidelines. It is always better to ask us specifically rather than risk us missing something that pertains to your tax obligations.
ENGAGEMENT:
By moving forward with us, you agree to this outline of engagement for tax services on an annual basis and we confirm our agreement to operate and communicate with you in the following ways. For couples filing jointly, any member of the married couple can agree to move forward with us, but both members of the couple must sign IRS Form 8879 or state equivalences before taxes can be filed. We cannot keep tax information private from other members of a couple in joint filing situations.
We will depend on you to provide the information we need to prepare complete and accurate returns. We may ask you to clarify some items but will not audit or otherwise verify the data you submit. It is your duty to report accurate data and keep records so that your filing is supportable in the case of questions or an audit of tax authorities. You are responsible to maintain, in your records, the documentation necessary to support the data used in preparing your tax returns, including but not limited to income, deductions, and the required documents to support charitable contributions, business and rental income and expenses, and of business versus personal use of any property, such as cars, for a minimum of 3 years from the filing date. Mountain Tax Services, LLC does not assume liability for false reporting, under-reporting, or any missing information. While Mountain Tax Services, LLC will be ready to help you with any questions from tax authorities, you remain ultimately responsible for your return and the information provided therein. Once we receive your information and ask you clarifying questions, we will complete a draft copy of your tax filings for your review. Before we are able to file your return, you must review the draft filings and sign IRS Form 8879 and/or associated state or local forms which makes you legally obligated for your tax return information. All tax payments are your responsibility.
You will depend on us for expertise in creating and filing your return. Our annual service fee includes short- and long-term tax advice, preparation and filing (electronic whenever possible), and tax withholding advice twice annually. We have several tax guides to organize collection of data for certain common tax issues such as Schedule C businesses, Schedule E Rental Properties, and Schedule H Household employees. We will check your return for errors with our tax software system as well as with tax professional personal oversight. We will provide clear instructions of methods of payment for tax obligations and methods of deposit for refunds. We will follow specific IRS and other tax authority guidance on all known elements of your tax situation whenever possible and in the event of more ambiguous tax situations we will advise of the lack of tax authority clarity and approaches you may take. We will communicate responsively and professionally throughout the course of our business together.
Pricing:
Before commencing work with you, we will provide an annual price quote for services based on our anticipation of the scope of services you will require. This will be your final invoiced fee unless we advise you before filing that additional price changes are necessary due solely to added additional burdens for us to file your return. These added additional burdens are most likely to be additional work needed to collate unorganized information or new tax issues that were previously unknown to our firm when the initial annual price quote was made. Payment is expected immediately before we file for all first-time returns. For returning clients, payment is expected when the first refund from our work is provided to you by the taxing authority or when the return is filed if no refunds are applicable. Outside of the annual quote, the hourly rate of accounting and tax related work is $175, which is charged for any work beyond the scope of tax preparation and filing. We will charge interest in the amount of 5% per month for any outstanding invoices past 30 days due and any associated collection costs should you not pay timely. If we make a mistake or error in your tax filing, we will refund our fee up to the amount of the error, but only up to the extent of our fee.
Confidentiality and Privacy:
We strongly prefer you to utilize our secure document exchange center, known as Client Xchange as provided by the reputable TaxAct Professional Corporation. This platform provides the strongest privacy protections for your extremely sensitive information. This data is encrypted and stored only on TaxAct's secure servers. While we have every reason to believe in the security of the Client Xchange and TaxAct platform as well as our e-mail platform backed by Wix's security systems, data breaches are becoming increasingly common and we simply cannot guarantee that no data breach will ever occur with these companies. Nonetheless, we commit to informing you of any known data breaches if they occur. If you choose to submit sensitive tax inform in any way outside of the Client Xchange, you assume all responsibility for any data breach issues that may arise.
We have never and will never use foreign or offshore personnel to do any form of tax work for you as we are not comfortable transmitting your information outside of our control. Only your assigned Mountain Tax Services, LLC tax preparer will examine your information unless we inform you in writing that another employee needs to access information for consultation or other reasons. We only collect nonpublic personal information about you that is provided to us by you or obtained by us with your authorization. For current and former clients, we do not disclose any personal information obtained in the course of our practice except as required or permitted by law. Permitted disclosures include, for instance, providing information to unrelated third parties with your permission who need to know that information to assist us in providing services to you. In all such situations, we stress the confidential nature of information being shared. In order to guard your nonpublic personal information, we maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with our professional standards and IRS circular 230 guidance. If we are asked to disclose any privileged communication, unless we are required to disclose the communication by law or valid subpoena, we will not provide such disclosure until you have had an opportunity to argue that the communication is privileged. You agree to pay any and all reasonable expenses that we incur, including legal fees, that are a result of attempts to protect any communication as privileged. In addition, your confidentiality privilege can be inadvertently waived if you discuss the contents of any privileged communication with a third party, such as a lending institution, a friend, or a business associate. We recommend that you contact us before releasing any privileged information to a third party. Privacy laws were established by the IRS effective January 1, 2009, and we are prohibited from providing confidential information or copies to anyone other than you without your specific, written authorization. Please expect to provide that written authorization before we can release any of your confidential information or copies of your tax return to any third party. Additional fees may be incurred. It is our policy to keep records related to this engagement electronically for future convenience should review be required. We do not keep original client records or forms. Original documents will be returned to you at the completion of the services rendered. When records are returned to you, it is your responsibility to retain and protect them for possible future use, including potential examination by any government or regulatory agencies.
Liability Limits:
Mountain Tax Services, LLC's liability relating to the performance of the services rendered under this engagement is limited solely to direct damage sustained by you. In no event shall Mountain Tax Services, LLC be liable for the consequential, special, incidental, or punitive loss, damage, or expense caused to you or to any third party (including without limitation, lost profits, opportunity costs, etc.). Notwithstanding the foregoing, Mountain Tax Services, LLC's maximum liability relating to services rendered under our engagement (regardless of form of action, whether in contract, negligence or otherwise) shall be limited to the fees received by Mountain Tax Services, LLC for this annual engagement. The provisions set forth in this paragraph shall survive the completion of the engagement.