(Must be signed prior to the start of tax preparation – (If married filing joint, only one is required to sign, though we would prefer both signatures)
We are pleased to have this opportunity to assist you with your income tax return preparation. This agreement will confirm the understanding between you and Hampden Hills Tax Service, Inc. hereafter known as HHTS, concerning tax services we will provide. We will prepare the US federal and state income tax returns & gift tax returns from the information you provide to us. We file taxes for clients who live in all 50 states and DC. We do not prepare oversees tax returns, non-resident federal income taxes returns, or taxes for people living abroad (exception military personal & people who are temporarily living oversees if income is reported on IRS tax forms). We will not audit or verify the information you submit, although we may ask you to clarify it. We are responsible only for the preparation of the income tax returns. We return all original documents and give you a complete copy of the tax return. We also do not file a state only income tax return, we must file the federal return in order to file a state return. In terms of US Federal income tax & gift tax returns, we only prepare IRS Form 1040 Series (except 1040NR), IRS Form 706, and IRS Form 709 for married clients electing portability.
We require records to be provided for extremely high audited areas of the tax return like cash charitable contributions over $250 and if your non-cash contributions are over $500. We must have all W-2 forms and 1099 Forms prior to completion of the tax return. Any documentation you provide to us, please make sure it is in black ink.
It is our understanding that all of the information submitted to us for the purpose of tax return preparation is true, correct, and complete to the best of your knowledge and belief and that you have the necessary written support for that information.
By providing your signature below, you are confirming to us that unless we are otherwise advised: your travel, gifts, and related expenses are supported by the necessary records required under the Internal Revenue Code; your business use of mixed-use property, such as computers and vehicles, is substantiated by a log of such use as to preclude the deduction of any personal expenses, which may be related to such property. You understand that, even if you qualify, you may not claim the Earned Income Credit (EIC) if you have not lived with the child for over half the year, even if you have supported them. If you qualify for the Earned Income Credit (EIC), Child Tax Credit (CTC), Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), or Head of Household (HOH), you can provide documentation to substantiate eligibility for and the number of credits claimed on your return should your return be selected for an audit. If you have any questions as to the type of records required, please ask us for advice in that regard.
You should note that in order to complete appropriate tax preparation and timely filed tax returns, we require that all information be provided to us no later than March 30th of each year. If you submit paperwork after March 30th, we do try and complete all returns by the due date, but if the information is submitted after March 30th, then there is no guarantee that it will be done without an extension being needed. If the due date of your tax return is any other date other than April 15th, then we need your information at least 15 days prior to the due date of the return to ensure we can timely complete your return. For people filing within the extension period, we again need your information at least 15 days prior to the extension due date to ensure we can file your return within the extension due date period. If you are a new client and we receive your taxes March 30 or after, we will not be able to file your taxes by the due date and we will ask you about an extension. In rare cases, we know before March 30th that we cannot finish returns by the due date for both existing and new clients. In those cases, all clients will be notified that we will have to do that and that will give the clients time to decide if they want us to file an extension or if they want to try and take their taxes somewhere else. Our staff will simply say we have to file an extension and ask you if you want to make a payment or how you want to handle that extension. If you want to take your return somewhere else, it is your responsibility to inform us of that prior to us filing the extension.
Up to Date Contact Information – It is the responsibility of the client to keep up-to-date information in terms of phone numbers, addresses, and e-mail addresses on file with us. We do not only need to contact you to get information to complete your return, but we also need to inform you once your return is completed. There are also times we must talk to you after we file your return originally. Examples are if your return rejects when we attempt to file it or we get some type of notice from a legal tax authority and we need to contact you. There might be a law change that we realize affects you or an issue on your return that comes up some time after we file your return. Due to these reasons, please keep us informed of any contact changes. We do not attempt to contact clients by mail for these issues.
Extensions: If we do not have all the information needed to complete your return by the above date/dates, you are a new client filing with us on or after March 30, or we are not able to file your return by the due date, it may be necessary to file an application for an extension. This may require a tax payment made by you by April 15th, or if extended, the due date of the return, in an amount approximating your unpaid tax liability. That payment amount, regardless if it is a guess or an amount that is more specific, is the responsibility to the client to come up with. Until your return is complete, we have no way of knowing how much you might owe and we are not able to guess. The reason you are filing an extension is either you have requested an extension, you have brought in your records after the above date and we do not have enough time to complete them, or for some other reason we are not able to complete your return by the due date. Our clients are fully responsible to make any payment due by the due date of your return and if you estimate, we suggest you estimate high and just get any overpayment back as a refund on your return. An extension is only an extension of the time to file the tax return, not an extension of the time to pay amounts due on the return. An extension, if accepted by federal and/or states, only extends the filing time and gives you a new due date to file called an “Extension Due Date”. Only one extension can be filed for a client.
Once we file an extension for you, we cannot amend it. We can file zero balance due extensions. For zero balance due extensions, no signature is required on behalf of the clients, however we do need to talk to you and get your permission prior to filing an extension for you. If a client wants to mail a payment with their extension, they must come in and pick up the extension voucher or we can put the extension voucher in the portal for you if you have a portal with us. We do not mail extension vouchers to clients. If a client wants us to electronically debit their extension payment, taxpayer and spouse (if married), must sign an e-file form prior to us filing the extension and we must have either a voided check that we can read or an ACH deposit form on file before we can prepare the extension. We notify each client, either when you come in the office, by call back if we cannot finish your return, or once we receive your tax documents of the extension requirement if you file with us. If we call and you do not answer, we will leave a message. If you have been communicating with us in the portal, we will put the question in the messenger in the portal and if by email, we will email you the question. If you are not using our portal to communicate with us or using e-mail to communicate with us, we will attempt to call, in order to either leave a message or talk to you, up to 3 times on multiple days. Once we talk to you, leave a message, e-mail you, or put a message in the portal, it is your responsibility to either return our call, inform us if you want us to file an extension or not, and (if required) give us the required extension information. If we have left a message (either by phone, e-mail, or portal) or talked to you and you have not answered the extension questions or contacted us back, you are responsible for any and all penalties that are applied from not filing an extension. If we make an additional call to ask about extensions, those are simply a courtesy and not a guarantee that those can or will happen, even if they have happened in prior years. We normally use the same method to contact you as we have been talking to you about your taxes. Example: you have contacted us and use the portal, then our contact is normally the portal. We normally do not use multiple methods to contact you, however at any time, we can at our discretion, change to calling you and using that as our method to attempt to reach you.
Extensions take time to complete and we close at 5:00 pm on April 15th. We do not have enough time to complete extensions for people after 5:00 on April 15th. In order to make sure we can do everything we are required to do on filing returns and extension on April 15th, our phones turn off at 5:00 pm, we close and lock the doors, and we do not open the door after that time. After 5:00, our complete concentration is required in order to get everything correctly filed and everything that has to be done on April 15th. As a result, you must contact us by 1:00 pm on April 15th in order for us to timely file an extension for you. In rare cases, if we have time, which we normally do not have since we do not finish all the returns being filed till normally right at midnight on the 15th, we may at our discretion, file a zero-balance due extension for clients that we have not talked to. There is no guarantee that it can or will happen, but we may file those. If you filed an extension on your own, it is your responsibility to inform us of that prior to April 15th to avoid us from attempting to protect you and filing an extension for you as a zero-balance due extension.
Extensions for Married Filing Separately or Marital Issues – If you are married filing separately then you must file an extension separately from your spouse. If you are not sure if you are going to file jointly and you do not have proof that your spouse filed an extension with your name and social security number on the extension, then we suggest you file your own extension.
Extensions for multiple types of returns and/or people – It is the client’s responsibility to inform us of each return that you want an extension for and for each person you want an extension for. Example 1: You call and request an extension of time to file you and your spouse’s individual tax return, but fail to tell us you need an extension for your child’s tax return. In this example, your child will not get an extension filed for them. Example 2: You call to tell us that you want an extension for your individual tax return, but fail to request an extension for your trust tax return. Your trust will not get an extension filed for it.
Extensions for Completed Returns - Upon completion of your tax return, you will be fully responsible for the timely filing of said returns. A return cannot be filed until it is paid for and, if e-filing the return, both you and (if married) your spouse must sign and date the e-file forms. If the return is being mailed, then again both you and (if married) your spouse must sign and date the returns prior to it being mailed. Once your taxes are completed, if you cannot pickup your return by the due of your return, then it is fully your responsibility to contact us by 10 am the day before the due date of your return and request an extension. Extensions take longer to do on a completed return than a return we are not finished with. You of course already know your liability, so again it is your responsibility to pay that amount by April 15th.
Tax Stance: We will use our judgment to resolve questions in your favor where the tax law is unclear or where there are conflicts between the taxing authorities' interpretation of the law and what seems to be other supportable filing positions. Your return is subject to review by taxing authorities. Any items resolved against you by the examining agent are subject to certain rights of appeal. In the event of an examination, we will be available to represent you at our normal billing rates.
3rd Party - The IRS allows tax preparers as third-party designees, to communicate with them on behalf of their clients by indicating so on the face of the tax return. Unless instructed by you otherwise, we will answer affirmative to the question that allows us to communicate on your behalf with the IRS.
Intake & Worksheets - As part of our tax return process, we require each of our clients to do the Intake Form for the tax year we are preparing. We also request that certain clients fill out different worksheets depending on their specific tax circumstances. We use those forms to be more efficient and to help identify possible deductions that may potentially be overlooked. By signing below, you acknowledge that if you do not complete the intake accurately and/or requested worksheets, you understand that you could miss deductions, miss income not reported on W-2 or 1099 forms, or we could answer a question on your tax return incorrectly based on the incorrect information you provided. Also, we may require more time to prepare your tax return if we have missing information on the intake or worksheets. Submitting these worksheets will also help us minimize the cost of our services we provide to you.
Gift Tax: We file gift tax returns here for people who have gifted any individual or trust more than the yearly limit, which is the total of all gifts given over the course of the entire year. If you exceed that limit, you are required to file a gift tax return. It is the responsibility of the client to inform us of any gifts that you have given over the yearly limit. For that limit, call and ask us each year what that amount is. There is an exception if you fund a revocable living trust, you do not have to file a gift tax on those amounts.
Basis Worksheets for Partners of Partnerships & shareholders of S-Corporations: We required a basis worksheet in order to correctly file your K-1 forms on your income tax return. Many preparers do not know how to prepare them or want to prepare them. It is the ultimate responsibility of partners and shareholders to track their own basis. In saying that, partners and shareholders rarely will have any idea of how to track their basis, so we use basis worksheets in order to have those basis figures. If we prepare your S-Corporation or Partnership returns, we prepare, for informational purposes only, basis worksheets for our clients. We use the best information available to us to prepare those worksheets, but that does not mean they are 100% accurate. Getting the information from clients in order for us or anyone else to prepare a basis worksheet is very difficult and getting accurate information is even harder. In signing this agreement, you are acknowledging that we require basis or a basis worksheet in order to report your K-1 forms and if you provide your own basis, then you must show us how you came up with those figures and that they are accurate in order for us to use that figure. Some clients like to manipulate basis in order to give them a better tax advantage. Manipulating basis in order to get a favorable tax benefit that you do not qualify for is tax evasion and is illegal. We do not prepare taxes illegally here.
Text Notifications - When you provide us with your phone numbers, there may be times we send text notifications to you, including but not limited to: appointment reminders and important due dates. We will not send marketing communications via text messaging. By signing below, you agree to allow us to send text notifications to you. This is not a guarantee that you will receive a text message.
Law Changes: Congress can change the law at any time and make it retroactive to the beginning of any current or prior year. After a law passes, IRS then has to apply the law and that application of the law can look very different than people think, what we hear on the news, or what politicians say. A change in the law may mean you have to amend your current or prior returns or redo a return that has been finished, but not filed yet. We charge to amend returns since it is a completely new return, but if we prepared the original return, we charge at a discounted rate. We also charge to redo a return. Congress is constantly talking about law changes, but until it is law, we do not use or calculate it into the taxes, nor do we delay finishing a return. Something is not a law until it passes both houses of congress and the President signs it. The final versions of bills are normally very different than what the news media or politicians say, because of that, accountants would never finish taxes if we waited on laws to pass. We finish taxes as the law is on that day. If the law changes the next day, the return will have to be redone if not picked up or amended once filed.
Court rules can also affect how laws are implemented, interpreted, or rule that a law in un-constitutional. Courts can also strike down certain parts of laws. We do not get notified when court cases conclude or the results of that ruling. If reported in the news, we might not read a particular news article(s) that may or may not report the rulings of various cases. We do get updates on some cases each year, but again, we do not get notified or even know about every case. Since we are not attorneys, we do not base our actions on court cases, unless they are known by us in advance and we are able to implement them. Lastly, if we have charged for a return, service, or anything that was required by law and then ruled un-constitutional, there is no refund since our fees are based upon information at that time. If something is ruled un-constitutional it will normally be challenged by going to appeal or the supreme court. We only base our actions on what the taxing authorities instruct us to do, unless we have something with substantial authority that we could use to alter what those instructions tell us to do.
Fees: Fees for our services will be based on forms that are on the return, how many forms we have to input into the software, and on the amount of time required to prepare the returns, at our normal billing rates, plus any out-of-pocket expenses. Our form fees are subject to change from year to year. If we have given you an estimate, the estimate is an average based on what you have told us you would have. The final amount might be higher or lower than quoted. Payment for taxes and/or services is due when work is completed by HHTS, regardless of an extension being filed. Payment is also due when work has been done, but has not been completed, through no fault of HHTS, and/or we have not had contact with you for 60 days. If you want us to try and take our fees from the refund and we allow that service, there is no guarantee that we will be able to take any/all of the fees from the refund. If we are unable to take all or part of our fees from the refund, then you are responsible for paying the balance.
Once we start a return, if you choose to not have us complete the return, we still charge for what we have done and our time. Our minimum charge in this situation is $65.00.
If your taxes are being handled via mail, email, or our portal, then we will send your e-file forms to you with our fee for our services. Once we receive your e-file forms and payment, we will send your completed copy of the tax return and any original documents back to you. If you emailed us your documents, we do not return those, since they are copies. We cannot e-file your taxes with a payment due to HHTS. If you handling everything via mail, we will send you our invoice once the tax is completed with your e-file forms. Once payment is received, we will send your taxes and your copy to you. Since we cannot mark a mailed return complete without payment, we keep your documents and return until your payment comes in, which helps us to ensure your return is not missed being marked completed, which is an important step.
By signing below, you agree that you are personally responsible for any and all payments due to Hampden Hills Tax Service, Inc. for services provided for you.
Prepayments: For customers going out of business or terminating trust and estate accounts, they must prepay for their income taxes or risk having to pay the fee for the income taxes out of their personal funds. We offer this service for clients under the following conditions.
The fee covers the following year’s income tax under the assumption that it will be filed the following year while IRS E-File window is open. If you do not file the following year, but instead have us prepare the income tax in any additional year, we will apply the payment to the return, but you may owe more due to possible changes in fees. There is also additional fees if you chose to file, in any year, during the time IRS E-File Window is closed, which is approximately between November and January, though it can be anytime IRS determines.
The fee covers returns based on what you have told us that you will have on your return, but if you fail to tell us forms or things that change your price more than $50.00, then you owe the difference.
Fee Deposits: For people who are filing more than one year at a time, we get a deposit toward those fees. Those fees are estimates only and the final fee can be higher or lower than the estimate. We apply those fees to the returns completed first and then move the remaining balance to the next return year. For most people there is a balance due at the end of the return since we normally only get a percentage of the total estimate, but in some cases, we required a full deposit. The percentage of the deposit required is completely at the discretion of the preparer, but there is a minimum requirement that the preparer cannot go under. No work is started until the deposit requirements are met.
Individual Return Minimum Fees (Federal & State)
The minimum fee for an original tax return is $157.
The minimum fee for an amended tax return (we prepared the original) is $75.00.
The minimum fee for an amended tax return (we did not prepare the original) is $182.00.
The minimum fee for a consultation appointment is $65.00.
The minimum fee for a letter written is $65.00.
The charge for hourly services connected to taxes, for example, tax bookkeeping $65/hour.
The tax bookkeeping for a tax return is not the same thing as the monthly bookkeeping fee we charge or offer. This is a bookkeeping charge for us to add up receipts or items so we can prepare your return.
If you require bookkeeping for the entire year for a business that is more than us adding up some receipts and you do not want to pay someone for regular bookkeeping, we do offer a limited bookkeeping service, though it is not what we recommend that you use. However, if that is what you choose there is an additional engagement agreement for that service.
Hourly services connected to taxes are tax bookkeeping, calculating the basis of property, research for tax positions or elections, audits, going through client receipts, calculating basis for partners or shareholders in their respective companies, going through documents to find what applies to a tax return, consultation appointments, and time spent on the phone getting information or assisting clients. We allow each client a total of 20 minutes on the phone for their tax returns without charging them.
Late Fees: After 30 days, payment is past due and is subject to a $20.00 late fee. The entire balance includes all related late & collection fees as well as any other fees incurred. HHTS charges a 9% interest rate on past due invoices compounded monthly. Checks returned for non-sufficient funds are subject to a $25.00 fee. If court action is required, court fees, attorney fees, and a $50.00 collection fee will be added to the total amount owed to HHTS.
E-File: We are required by law to e-file all tax returns, unless the return cannot be e-filed due sanction, IRS/state not allowing a certain form to be e-filed, client request to mail return, or IRS/State requiring it to be mailed. By default, we e-file all returns. By signing below, you give us your permission to electronically file an applicable tax return(s) and authorize us to enter a Personal Identification Number (PIN) on your behalf. If you choose to electronically sign your tax returns, electronic filing documents, and any other correspondence with Hampden Hills Tax Service, Inc. your initials and signature below constitutes your permission to accept signing electronically. This does not mean you are signing the returns by signing this agreement, but authorizing us to use your electronic signature if and when you do sign your return(s) electronically. All electronically filed returns go through an IRS-approved 3rd party and your signature below is your acknowledgment that you understand that and give us permission to file them through the 3rd party.
Rejected E-File – When we electronically file your taxes, we get back a code that says either accepted or rejected. If accepted all is good and your return is now in the hands of the IRS or states that we e-filed to. If rejected, your return is not filed. In some situations, we can fix issues on our own without contacting our clients and if that is the case, we will do so and re-file your taxes. If we cannot fix it on our own, we will attempt to contact you by phone up to 3 times to either get you or leave a message. Once we have either talked to you or left a message, it is the responsibility of the client to take care of the situation. In some cases, we will have to redo your taxes and if so, you will have to pay a fee for us to redo your taxes and pay for any additional forms that would be required in addition to signing new e-file forms. Before the corrected return can be e-filed you, and if married your spouse, must sign the new e-file forms and you will have to pay the additional fee/s. In some cases, you cannot e-file the return and it must be mailed. If that is the case, your return will still need to be redone and an additional form must be added to your tax return. You will need to come in and pick up the new copy of your return, which has different codes on the state return, an additional form on the federal return, and we have to change any direct deposit or direct debit information on the return. The additional fee will have to be paid at that time. Any new information that you must provide us to make any changes will have to be provided by you before any changes can be done. Once we have everything we need to correct your tax return, then you will go into the queue to be re-done. We normally require a 3-day turn around to re-do rejected e-file returns once we get all the information we need to correct the return.
Un-opened Mail: Legally, we are not allowed to open your mail for you. If you receive tax documents in the mail, please open your envelopes for us prior to dropping off your documents.
Signatures: We cannot sign taxes for clients and no tax can be e-filed without valid signature(s) prior to e-filing the tax return. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS! Also, you can only legally sign for a spouse or a child who is over the age of 18 if you have a valid power of attorney to sign on their behalf or valid conservator paperwork appointing you as a conservator for the person.
Other filing requirements: It is the responsibility of the client to inform HHTS of any tax filing requirements in other taxing jurisdictions. We file a federal and a state return for your home state. If we notice, when preparing your return, that you are required to file another state return, then we will inform you that it has to be filed, but is not our responsibility to find that information.
Foreign accounts/assets: It is the responsibility of the client to inform HHTS if they have any foreign bank accounts or foreign assets. This is very important and has to be disclosed on a tax return and other taxes might be due as a result.
Copies of Returns: We give each client one copy of a tax return, which is included in your fee. For additional copies, we charge a fee. We are required to keep returns for 3 years from the date of filing. We do not guarantee we will have copies of any returns older than 5 years as of the date of filing.
Fees for income taxes for tax years 2017 – current year are $5.00 per copy, cash only and must be paid in advance. If for some reason we do not have a copy of returns the fee is refundable. Fees for 2006-2016 are considered a research fee of $10.00 per year, cash only, non-refundable, and must be paid in advance. We do not guarantee we can get a copy of returns from 2006-2016, which is why it is a non-refundable research fee. In most cases, we can, but as operating systems continue to change, it affects are ability to print those older years.
We do not have any supporting documentation prior to the 2010 tax year. If you want copies of supporting documentation, we charge an additional research fee of $5.00 per year, but we do not guarantee that we will have all of it or any of it.
Supporting documentation note: Sometimes people have very poor copies that do not scan good or scan at all. The copy might also be in a color that does not scan. Also, your documentation might be larger than 8”x10”, which will not scan.
FBAR Note: HHTS does not prepare the FinCEN 114 Report of Foreign Bank & Financial Accounts (FBAR). The return is not a tax return and must be filed by April 15th of each year to FinCEN. It is to report information for any individual with ownership, joint ownership, or signature authority over one of several accounts, investments, foreign pensions or mutual funds, or foreign life insurance policies when the aggregate total value of all the accounts is over $10,000 on any day of the year. Since this is not a tax return, we do not file it. It is the responsibility of each customer to report and file this. Failure to do so is extreme including extreme penalties. We do ask questions for forms that we put on your tax return in reference to assets more than $10,000, but we do not screen or discuss the FBAR. You do not want to miss filing this form if you are required to do so.
Corporations and LLCs: Corporate Transparency Act (CTA)/Beneficial Ownership Reporting. New starting in 2024, is a new reporting requirement that is not a tax return, but does affect entities that report to the state secretaries. Corporations and Limited Liability Companies report to state secretaires. This also includes Home Owners Associations. There are some exceptions to this reporting rule, but these can change over time. There is an initial reporting requirement and a report that must be done if various changes occur. We assisted a limited number of clients by doing the initial reporting for them in 2024, but we are discontinuing offering this service in 2025. It was never our intent to continue to file the BOI filings and we only offered that to help that initial filing in 2024 only. You have sole responsibility for your compliance with the CTA, including its BOI reporting requirements and the collection of relevant ownership information. We shall have no liability resulting from your failure to comply with CTA. Information regarding the BOI reporting requirements can be found at https://www.fincen.gov/boi. Consider consulting with legal counsel if you have questions regarding the applicability of the CTA’s reporting requirements and issues surrounding the collection of relevant ownership information.
Unrelated Business Income Returns IRS Form 990-T: Due to the fact, the individuals can handle their own retirement accounts, without assistance of brokers and advisors, clients can get themselves into trouble when it comes to their retirement accounts. Some brokers also can get our clients into trouble in reference to their retirement accounts as well. Investing tax deferred investments into taxable entities can change the status of your tax deferred investment. Investing in LLCs and partnerships can make a portion of your earnings in your retirement account taxable. As a result, your IRA or retirement might have to file an Un-related Business Income Tax Return, IRS Form 990-T. Very few people or firms prepare those returns, and even then, even less actually know how to prepare those returns. We specialize here, at HHTS, in filing those returns. Those are separate returns and have separate fees for those returns. Those fees, must be paid in advance, and it is highly suggested by IRS that you do not invest in things that make tax deferred retirement accounts taxable. It is your responsibility to file that 990-T return for your retirement account.
Disaster Zones & Declarations: It is the responsibility of the client to inform us if they are in a declared disaster zone. We must be informed, prior to completing your income tax return.
Credits or Deductions on Assets taken in prior years: It is the responsibility of the client to inform us if they sell an asset or, for some reason, they no longer have the asset that they took any prior year credit or deduction on.
Consent to Release Information: If you want any taxes or supporting documentation emailed to you, we will need a Consent to Release Information form from you and your spouse. Both spouses must consent if you want your personal supporting documentation emailed, by special election to do so. Also, if you want your taxes released to anyone else or any company than we need a specific release for that person or that company.
Email & Correspondence: We only keep email for 3 years. For messages in our portal, we only keep information from our clients for 1 year in the portal. Also, we only leave copies of returns that we put in the portal for our clients for 5 years. All other items we put in the portal for our clients are deleted on a yearly basis.
Preparer: We cannot guarantee which preparer will do your taxes and preparers can change from year to year. We do attempt to have the preparer you ask for do your taxes, but we are responsible to get your taxes done as soon as possible and your tax might have something that someone else in the office has a specialty in and the return will be passed to that preparer to make sure you get the most tax savings.
Mailed Returns: Legally we must e-file all taxes, unless there is something on your return that will cause it to not e-file. If you have requested for us to not e-file your return(s) or if your return is not allowed to be e-filed, because of a restriction due to IRS, a state, or U.S. Territory, you will be solely responsible to file the returns with the appropriate taxing authorities by mailing your completed return to them. Review all tax-return information carefully before signing the return(s). We do not mail any tax information to the IRS, a State, or a U.S. Territory. Customers are solely responsible to sign, date, and mail those returns. We highly suggest that you send all returns certified with return receipt and keep that returned receipt with your tax records for a minimum of 3 years.
Payment Due on Return: If there is a payment due on your return and you have not chosen to have that amount debited from your account, you are solely responsible to mail that payment to the proper agency or filing it online. Some states require amounts to be paid by debit or paid online. Also, sometimes if you pass certain thresholds of amounts due then you will be required to pay amounts due either by debit or paid online from that point onward. In those instances, the state will not accept a mailed-in payment. If we advise you that this requirement applies to you and you choose to not have us debit your payment, then you are solely responsible for paying it online.
Married Filing Joint with Deceased Spouse: If your spoused passed away in the current year or filing year of the return and you are filing married filing joint (MFJ), then special issues can arise. The issue is who is responsible to file your spouse’s tax return and sign that return. If someone is acting or has been appointed as their executor or personal representative then that person is the only person who can legally sign the tax return for your spouse. In that case, this is not the engagement agreement you should sign. Please inform our staff that your spouse has an executor or personal representative that is no you. There is other intakes and engagement agreements that must be sign instead of this one. By signing this you are stating that you are the only person who can legally sign and act on behalf of your deceased spouse and you are the executor or administrator of their estate.
Tax Savings: HHTS and its employees also offer other services including financial and insurance services. In the course of preparing your taxes, we will notice things that can save you money on your tax return. Some of those things include financial and insurance-related items. Unless you request otherwise, we will acknowledge that your signing of this document means you want us to discuss these items with you. We will in no way try to sell you our products, but simply let you know that you can save money if you do them or have them. From there, if you want them, you can get them anywhere that sells them. If you choose, on your own, to ask us about our products, then we will discuss our products with you.
Gervase Financial Service, Inc. and Hampden Hills Tax Service, Inc. both operate from the same location, have the same employees, and have the same owners. Hampden Hills Tax Service, Inc. is our legal name, but our trade name is Hampden Hills Tax & Financial.
You must be 18 years old to sign this agreement.
Please note that this letter defines our respective duties and responsibilities relating to your engagement with our firm. If you do not understand any of the terms of this agreement, please call so we can review them with you.
PLEASE REVIEW AND SIGN:
If this letter is in accordance with your understanding of the terms of this agreement, please sign and return it to our office. We require a signed letter to be in our file prior to beginning tax preparation.
I affirm that the information I provide to HHTS is true, complete, and correct to the best of my (our) knowledge.
Notwithstanding anything contained herein, both the accountant and the client(s) agree that regardless of where the client is domiciled and regardless of where this agreement is physically signed, this agreement shall have been deemed to have been entered into at the office of Hampden Hills Tax Service, Inc. Located at 101 N. Blair Street, Vinton, VA 24179, USA. Roanoke County shall be the exclusive jurisdiction for resolving disputes related to this agreement. This agreement shall be interpreted and governed in accordance with the laws of Virginia.
I (we) have adequate records to support the information provided to our accountant for our tax return(s).
By signing below, I am personally responsible for the payment of all invoices and amounts due to Hampden Hills Tax Service, Inc. If you are a 3rd party signing on behalf of someone else, because they are a dependent minor, you are the Power of Attorney (POA), or you have a court appointment to do so, you are signing that you are responsible for payment. If your spouse is deceased and you are filing MFJ, then you are signing that you are legally in charge of your spouse’s estate and can legally sign the return as executor or administrator of their estate.