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You cannot file from what they sent you
For CPAs who open a client file in February and find it is not a return, it is an archaeology project. We fix the books. We never touch the return.
The line, stated first
Because it is the only thing you actually need to know before reading further.
We do not prepare tax returns. We do not do tax planning. We are not licensed to and we do not want to be.
That is not modesty, it is the entire business model. A bookkeeper who also does tax is a bookkeeper who eventually competes with you, and every CPA who has referred work out has been burned by exactly that at least once.
When a client we work on asks us a tax question, the answer is that they should ask you. Every time. It is the only answer we have.
What we take off your desk
Most of our work already arrives this way.
- Cleanup before the returnYears reconstructed from source documents and reconciled period by period, so what reaches you is filable rather than indicative.
- The client who will not stay cleanOngoing monthly work so next January looks like this January was supposed to. This is usually the referral that saves you the most time over a decade.
- Inventory and e-commercePlatform payouts reconciled, cost of goods sold that moves with units, inventory that ties to a count. The specialty most firms would rather not staff for.
- Trust accounts for your law firm clientsThree-way reconciliation and per-client ledgers prepared to the state bar format, for the attorney to review and sign.
- The awkward conversationIf payroll taxes are not being remitted or loan proceeds are sitting in income, we tell the client plainly. Sometimes it helps to have that come from outside the tax relationship.
- A file that answers questionsBuilt so that when you ask how a figure was arrived at, the supporting record already exists rather than being reconstructed for you.
Why this is worth a referral rather than a workaround
The alternative most firms live with is doing the bookkeeping cleanup inside the practice at compliance-season rates, absorbing it, or sending the client away to sort it out and hoping what comes back is better. None of those are good, and the third one is how clients get lost.
Deb is a degreed accountant with more than twenty-five years behind her, not a data entry service. The work that comes back to you has been reconciled by somebody who understands what the numbers are supposed to mean, which is a different product from what most bookkeeping shops deliver.
It also tends to make your own engagement more profitable. A client whose books arrive clean is a client you can serve at the margin the work deserves.
How a referral actually goes
Call us first if you want to. Ten minutes about what you are actually worried about in that file is worth more than any form.
Then the client books a review like anyone else. They get a straight read on what shape the books are in and a fixed price for the cleanup. They engage us directly and they pay us directly, so nothing runs through your firm unless you specifically want it to.
You stay the tax relationship throughout. We will copy you on anything that affects the return, and we will tell you before we tell them if we find something that changes your position.
Questions CPAs ask
Will you try to take my client?
No, and we have structured the practice so that we cannot. We do not prepare returns, we do not do tax planning, and we are not licensed to. When your client asks us a tax question, the answer is always that they should ask you.
What do you charge, and who pays?
The client pays us directly for bookkeeping, on their own engagement letter. You are not billing our work through your firm and you are not carrying it on your books unless you want to, in which case we can discuss a white-label arrangement.
Do you pay referral fees?
We can, and we are happy to discuss it. We would rather talk about the arrangement that fits how you work than publish a number. Some CPAs want a fee, some would rather not have one on the record at all, and both are workable.
How fast can you take on a cleanup?
Faster in the summer than in March, which we suspect is when you need it least and most respectively. If you have a client heading for an extension because their records are unusable, tell us early and we will tell you honestly whether the timeline is achievable.
What if the books are genuinely unsalvageable?
Then we rebuild from source documents rather than trying to repair someone else's work, and we say so up front. Reconstructing from bank statements, merchant reports and payroll records is often faster than untangling a file that was wrong from the start.
Can we talk before you contact my client?
Yes, and we prefer it. You know the relationship and the history. A ten minute call about what you are actually worried about makes the first conversation with them considerably more useful.
Start with a look at your actual books.
No cost, no obligation, and no sales pitch. You get a straight answer about where your books stand, and you can do whatever you want with it.
Prefer to talk first? (833) 653-7545 or hello@gotomybookkeeper.com