General Questions
What are your credentials?
The owner, April Bahrs, is an Enrolled Agent, which is the highest credential awarded by the IRS. Enrolled agents (EAs), attorneys, and certified public accountants (CPAs) are the only professionals that have unlimited practice rights before the Internal Revenue Service. Earning the EA credential required passing three IRS Special Enrollment Examinations (individual taxes, business taxes, and representation) and passing a suitability check (criminal background and tax compliance). To maintain the credential, 72 hours of continuing education are required every three years. Enrolled Agents must adhere to strict ethical standards.
Do you specialize in any industries or business types?
While our services are a good fit for businesses in a variety of industries, we specialize in service based companies and pass-through entities. This includes S-Corporations, LLCs (disregarded and s-corp elections), and Sole Proprietorships.
Is any of the work outsourced?
All services are performed by April Bahrs, an Enrolled Agent. We do not outsource any services.
Is my business too small to hire you?
We support a wide range of small businesses including solopreneurs, independent professionals, freelancers, tradesmen and other self employed individuals. We also offer individual tax preparation for individuals with rental property, investments, and other complicated tax situations.
I already have an accountant that does my tax returns. Do I have to switch to use your services?
Clients are never required to use our tax prep services. However, clients are encouraged to use a credentialed tax professional such as an EA (Enrolled Agent) or CPA (Certified Public Accountant).
What are your rates?
Rates are customized based on the needs of your business. Every business is unique and there is no one-price-fits-all. Following a consultation, a proposal with pricing will be provided. Pricing is usually a flat rate.
Bookkeeping Questions
How is your service different from other bookkeepers?
Many firms, even small firms, outsource bookkeeping and have high turnover which makes it difficult to know who is working on your books and what their level of expertise is. At Bryson Bahrs, LLC, services are performed in-house by April Bahrs, an Enrolled Agent.
Can you attend our company meetings?
If you are an established client utilizing our services, we do offer in-person meetings at your business location or our SouthPark office if you are local to Charlotte, NC. Virtual meetings (via Microsoft Teams) is available for all clients. There are additional fees for this service for both in-person and virtual.
What accounting software can you work with?
Most clients have moved to Quickbooks Online, but we work in a variety of software platforms including Quickbooks Desktop, Quickbooks Online, Xero, Sage, Wave and more.
Tax Preparation Questions
How is your service different from other tax professionals?
Our goal is to provide a high level of personalized service. We specialize in small business and offer income tax return preparation for single-owner pass-through entities. We also offer individual tax preparation for individuals with rental property, investments, and other complicated tax situations.
Our priority is helping business owners understand how their business operations affect their taxes. Our business tax prep services provide a more seamless option for clients that utilize our bookkeeping service. This gives a greater understanding of how their business works and helps ensure their books are ready for tax time. Our clients do not need to go elsewhere to have their individual (personal) returns prepared. We offer both business and individual tax return preparation.
Do I have to be a bookkeeping client to use your tax prep services?
Depending on your business size, professional bookkeeping may be required before we can prepare your tax returns. We do offer stand-alone tax return preparation services for businesses that require minimal year-end bookkeeping, especially for very small businesses such as independent professionals, freelancers, tradesmen and other self employed individuals. We also offer individual tax preparation for individuals with rental property, investments, and other complicated tax situations.
Can you prepare tax returns for all business types?
We specialize in pass-through entities such as S-Corporations, LLCs (disregarded and s-corp elections), and Sole Proprietorships. Due to time constraints, other entity types may be referred to another tax professional.
Do you prepare individual tax returns?
Yes, Bryson Bahrs, LLC also offers individual income tax return preparation. This service is ideal for individuals with business income, rental property, investments, and other complicated tax situations.
Software Migration Questions
I migrated to Quickbooks Online myself and now my books are a mess. Can you help?
When migrating to Quickbooks Online from Desktop or Enterprise, the data needs to be as clean as possible and up-to-date. Even then, issues can still occur, such as the conversion of some transactions to journal entries. This can affect the balance sheet and income statements for businesses that use cash based accounting (which is the majority of small businesses). We can make adjusting journal entries so that year-end financial reports match pre-migration. In some instances, we may need to clean up your desktop file then start the migration over.
Can you migrate to and from accounting software besides Quickbooks?
Yes and no. It is possible to switch to and from nearly any accounting software, but the amount of data that can be imported may be limited depending on the platform and your budget. In some instances, it makes more sense to start a new set of books and use opening balances rather than importing transactions. Customers, vendors, and other lists can usually be imported. It's best to do the migration at the start of a new tax year if possible. When moving clients between incompatible platforms, we export their old data into CSV or XLS files to preserve past records. We also recommend keeping a subscription to the old software for at least a few months after migrating.
Still Have Questions?
Call or email to schedule a free consultation.