Thank you for taking the time to complete our intake package.

For our new clients, this information is critical to ensure an accurate filing of your tax returns. We request that new clients submit at least prior year tax return (preferably two), to be used as comparison for your upcoming filing.

For our existing clients, while we may have some of this information from past engagements, we kindly request you provide it again so we can make sure our records are 100% accurate and up to date. You will have the ability to notate if certain sections are unchanged from your prior year filing, and in those cases you will not need to re-enter information. IRS compliance is crucial, and for those who have worked with us before you know that we work extrememly hard to get you every dollar that you deserve.

IMPORTANT: We have included a checklist of documents that are most commonly needed. You can save and return at your leisure if you need to gather some of your documents. This is meant to add to the convenience that our tax office provides.  Upon completion of ALL parts of this form, you must click the "SUBMIT" button at the bottom of the form to transmit to our office. Closing your browser before clicking "SUBMIT" will delete all info without sending it to us. You will receive a confirmation email after submission to ensure that we received your info.

Please also note that our firm will ask for a valid government-issued photo identification during your engagement to comply with federal and state identity theft protection efforts.

***We use industry-leading technology Secured Socket Layer (SSL) to keep your information safe. All sensitive information is securely transmitted, encrypted, and can not be compromised.

Simply Royal Tax Services, LLC

Melanie Jones-Rivers, AFSP

 Tax Practitioner

Email: melanie@simplyroyaltaxservices.com

Phone:  (219) 202-5621

Dear Valued Client,

This letter is to detail the terms of our engagement with you, and to clarify the nature and extent of the services we will provide.  To ensure an understanding of our mutual responsibilities, we ask all clients for whom returns are prepared to confirm the following arrangements. 

By providing us with your signature, you are accepting the terms and conditions specified in this letter.

***Please note that by signing this form you are affirming that you have read and understood the above-mentioned details. 

You attest that you understand that this information is being provided to the IRS and state tax authorities. You attest that your tax preparer advised that any false and misleading information that you provide for income tax filing purposes is against the law and is subject to penalties.  You understand that Simply Royal Tax Services is only liable for any errors and omissions on their part and responsible for any interest and penalties and not tax due

If you are in agreement with the conditions set forth above, please sign this letter in the space indicated. This letter will apply for all tax returns prepared for you by our tax preparers. 

We want to express our appreciation for this opportunity to work with you.

Sincerely,  

Simply Royal Tax Services

OUR RESPONSIBILITIES

We will prepare your federal, state, and local income tax returns from the information you supply. We will not audit or otherwise verify the data you submit, however it may be necessary to ask you to clarify some of the information that you have submitted. We will supply you with guides to assist you in gathering the information required to accurately complete your return. We reserve the right to assess additional bookkeeping charges if necessary.

• We may ask for clarification of your submitted information.
• We are not responsible to discover fraud or other irregularities, should any exist.
• We will work to find all the credits and deductions you are legally entitled to.

Our work in connection with the preparation of your income tax returns does not include any procedures designed to discover defalcations and/or irregularities, should any exist. We will render such bookkeeping assistance as necessary to prepare your income tax return.

 

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

It is your responsibility to provide all of the information required for the preparation of complete and accurate returns. You should retain all documents that form the basis of income, expenses, credits, and deductions. These may be necessary to prove the accuracy and completeness of the returns to a taxing authority. We will keep a copy of all documents as a precaution, so as to be readily available in the event that they must be submitted on your behalf.

• To provide all information necessary to draft a complete and accurate return
• To provide all of your information and respond to any requested clarifications in a timely manner
• To retain, all documents and data that attest to the claimed income and deductions in the event you have to provide them to a taxation authority
• To carefully review all documents provided by our office before you sign your completed tax return
• To not knowingly commit fraud

Ultimately, you are responsible for the filing of your income tax returns and, therefore, you should review them carefully before signing and approving for IRS transmission.

 

PENALTIES, EXAMINATIONS AND NOTICES

The IRS and state taxation authorities have the ability to impose penalties for certain offenses, including understatement of income, late filing after the published deadline, underpaying estimated taxes, or not withholding enough in taxes from your income. They can also select any return for examination.

There are various penalties that may be imposed when taxpayers understate their tax liability.

Your returns may be selected for review by federal taxation authorities, state taxation authorities, or both. Any proposed adjustments by the examining agent are subject to certain rights of appeal. Optional audit protection at an additional cost.

 

PRIVACY POLICY

Tax preparers are bound by professional standards of confidentiality. Therefore, we have implemented policies and procedures to protect your right to privacy. For current and former clients, we do not disclose any nonpublic personal information obtained in the course of our practice except as required or permitted by law, and as is necessary to properly provide our services to you.

 

Types of Nonpublic Personal Information We Collect

We collect nonpublic personal information about you that is provided to us by you or obtained by us with your authorization.

 

Parties to Whom We Disclose Information

We make information available to our employees and to non-affiliated third parties who need to know that information to assist us in providing services to you. In all such situations, we require a contractual agreement that includes procedural safeguards that protect the confidential nature of the information being shared.

 

Protecting the Confidentiality and Security of Former Client Information

We retain records relating to professional services that we provide so that we are better able to assist you with your professional needs and, in some cases, to comply with professional guidelines. In order to guard your nonpublic personal information, we maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with our professional standards.

 OUR FEES

We invoice for time spent, depending on schedules and forms completed and out-of-pocket expenses incurred. Our rates vary depending on the nature of the work performed. The fee assessed is not a direct reflection of your refund amount, and payment must be remitted whether or not you are due an income tax refund.

 Additionally, by signing this form, you acknowledge that if you or your spouse owes a federal or government debt, such as IRS, child support, student loans, etc., you are still responsible for the tax preparation fees due to Simply Royal Tax Services at the time of service. If your federal refund is mailed to you, you remain responsible for the tax preparation fees as stated on your invoice. If, for any reason, you decide not to proceed with tax preparation services after the return is completed, you will be charged a $75 non-filing fee, payable immediately upon the decision not to file. If the fee is not paid immediately, you will be required to pay the full tax preparation fee as per the invoice attached to your tax return.

By signing this form, you agree that the bank account on file will be charged a processing fee of $100 in the following cases: (1) if your return is rejected due to having already filed or applied for a loan with another tax firm, or (2) if our office completes your return and you do not sign within 24 hours of being notified that your return is ready for signature. In this case, we will consider your return abandoned, assume you have filed elsewhere, and deactivate your return in our system.

ARBITRATION

If a dispute arises out of or relates to this contract or engagement letter, or the obligations of the parties therein, and if the dispute cannot be settled through negotiation, the parties agree first to try in good faith to settle the dispute by mediation administered by the American Arbitration Association under its commercial Mediation Rules before resorting to arbitration, litigation, or some other dispute resolution procedure.

AGREEMENT

The foregoing is in accordance with my (our) understanding of your engagement to provide tax and financial services and you are hereby advised that each item of revenue or expense can be substantiated by receipts, cancelled checks, or other documents. This information is true, correct, and complete to the best of my (our) knowledge. Further, it is my understanding that these terms will continue to be enforced for the succeeding years of our engagement.

Do not attach documents that are not for the tax year you have selected. If you need more than one year filed, please create a separate submission for each year.

**Earned Income Credit**

You may not claim the Earned Income Credit if you have not lived with the child for over half the year, even if you have supported the child.

TIEBREAKER RULES: To determine which person can treat the child as a qualifying child, the following tiebreaker rules apply:

If only one of the persons is the child’s parent, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the parent.
If the parents do not file a joint return together but both parents claim the child as a qualifying child, the IRS will treat the child as the qualifying child of the parent with whom the child lived with for the longer period of time during the year. If the child lived with each parent for the same amount of time, the IRS will treat the child as the qualifying child of the parent who had the higher adjusted gross income (AGI) for the year.

If no parent can claim the child as a qualifying child, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the person who had the highest AGI for the year.

If a parent can claim the child as a qualifying child but no parent does claim the child, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the person who had the highest AGI for the year, but only if that person’s AGI is higher than the highest AGI of any of the child’s parents who can claim the child.

Please make sure this information is accurate. If what you report differs from what the IRS has on file, your refund will be delayed 8-10 weeks and there is nothing our office can do to expedite processing. Attach a photo of your IRS notice or a screenshot of your Tax Record from the IRS online account.

If you have not yet set up an account using IdME, please do so: https://www.irs.gov/payments/your-online-account

We ask that you complete this due diligence questionnaire to ensure you are eligible to claim at least one of several valuable tax credits.  While the questions may seem to be a little intrusive, they are questions that we are required to ask under the due diligence requirements of the new tax laws.  We will keep your responses and documents on file, in the event the IRS should ever ask for them. Please complete them in as much detail as possible. 

 

Optional Fees

Audit Protection: $52

Defend My ID: $49.95

Consent To Use

Federal law requires this consent form be provided to you (“you” refers to each taxpayer, if more than one). Unless authorized by law, we cannot use your tax return information for purposes other than the preparation and filing of your tax return without your consent. You are not required to complete this form to engage our tax return preparation services. If we obtain your signature on this form by conditioning our tax return preparation services on your consent, your consent will not be valid. 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. For your convenience, we have entered into an arrangement with certain companies to offer an Electronic Refund Disbursement Service and/or Loan product. To determine whether these offerings may be of interest to you, we will need to use your tax return information. If you would like us to use your tax return information to determine whether these offerings are relevant to you while we are preparing your return, please sign and date this consent to the use of your tax return information. By signing below, you authorize us to use the information you provide to us during the preparation of your tax return to determine whether to offer you an opportunity to apply for the Electronic Refund Disbursement Service and/or Loan product.

Consent to Disclosure of Tax Return Information
Federal law requires this consent form be provided to you (“you” refers to each taxpayer, if more than one). Unless authorized by law, we cannot disclose your tax return information to third parties for purposes other than 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 to engage our tax return preparation services. If we obtain your signature on this form by conditioning our tax return preparation services on your consent, your consent will not be valid. 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. You have indicated that you are interested in utilizing the Electronic Refund Disbursement Service and/or Loan product from Refund Advantage Bank. To provide you with the opportunity to apply for and/ or receive the Electronic Refund Disbursement Service and/or Loan product, we must disclose all of your tax return information to Refund Advantage Bank. You may request a more limited disclosure of tax return information, but you will not be eligible to submit an application for the Electronic Refund Disbursement Service and/or Loan product. If you would like us to disclose your tax return information to Refund Advantage Bank for this purpose, please sign and date your consent to the disclosure of your tax return information.

By signing below, you authorize us to disclose to Refund Advantage Bank all of your tax return information so that it can evaluate and process your application for the Electronic Refund Disbursement Service and/or Loan product. You understand that if you are not willing to authorize us to share your tax information with Refund Advantage Bank, you will not be able to obtain the Electronic Refund Disbursement Service and/or Loan product, but you can still choose to have your tax return prepared and filed by us for a fee. 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. 

Consent for Payment
Simply Royal Tax Services is not responsible in the event the taxpayer omits or provides incorrect information (i.e. social security numbers, names, dates of birth, etc.).  These errors may delay your refund. Simply Royal Tax Services does not control whether or not the IRS randomly selects your return for an audit, however all clients are welcome to purchase Audit Protection and we will always keep all necessary documents on file to dispute an audit on your behalf.  All information obtained from the taxpayer and/or spouse must be submitted if the IRS audits your tax return. 

Simply Royal Tax Services is not responsible for any incorrect tax figures provided by the taxpayer and/or spouse.  If your tax figures change you will need to submit an amendment.  Simply Royal Tax Services offers amendment preparation for an additional fee.  If you have any overdue debts (i.e. school loans, child support, DPP, DFCS, etc….) that are scheduled to offset your refund, you will be required to pay your tax preparation fees upfront.  You are able to call the IRS offset department at 1-800-304-3107 or 1-800-829-7650 to check the status of any scheduled offsets. If you are unaware of a potential offset and your refund is completely garnished, your prep fee will be drafted from the bank account you have on file with our office. 

Simply Royal Tax Services is not responsible for any changes the IRS or receiving bank may make on disbursement dates.  Simply Royal Tax Services is not responsible for any glitch issues that the IRS experiences that may cause a delay in receiving your tax refund. We DO NOT reimburse any bank fees in the event of this occurrence.

MUTUAL NON-DISPARAGEMENT
Simply Royal Tax Services agrees to refrain from any disparagement, defamation, libel, or slander of any of the Releasees, and agrees to refrain from any tortious interference with the contracts and relationships of any of the Releasees. Client agrees to refrain from any disparaging statements about Simply Royal Tax Services. Any instances of this found by Simply Royal Tax Services will result in a $1000 penalty per occurence payable by the client to Simply Royal Tax Services.

Clerical/Banking Errors
Simply Royal Tax Services tries its best to ensure that all client information is entered correctly. In the event a clerical error is dicovered that causes an incorrect deposit into your account, you give Simply Royal Tax Services permission to debit your account for the amount of the deposit to reverse this error.