Tax Returns
Throughout Clifton Douglas’ eight years of preparing clients’ federal and state income/franchise tax returns, no filing deadlines have been missed, no significant legislative developments have been overlooked, and all readily available tax savings opportunities have been maximized. Such results were obtained by Clifton Douglas’ implementation of the following tax services, which we do not believe are offered by most tax service providers:
New Tax Developments: Many tax service providers claim to follow new tax legislation, but at Clifton Douglas we believe in showing you that such legislation is being tracked via our bi-monthly (at times weekly) Clifton Douglas Tax Alerts. These alerts provide a high-level summary of the new development(s) along with a high level analysis of how they are expected to impact taxpayers. All tax alerts are written and reviewed in-house by Clifton Douglas management.
Tax Return Processing: It is typical for tax service providers to prepare requisite tax returns, but ship the returns on the due date and leave the processing of tax returns to the company. This approach results in a great deal of work for companies, along with the risk that something could go wrong with filing the returns. Clifton Douglas prepares the returns well before the filing deadline, reviews the returns with company management while obtaining signatures, processes the returns for mailing, mails the returns before the extended due date, makes copies of all certified mailings/checks, and stores the signed returns on a secure online file room. This eliminates a great deal of work for companies, along with reducing the risk of non-filing or of not adequately storing the returns and supporting documentation.
Audit Firm Prohibited Services: There is an important service Clifton Douglas offers that audit firms, due to their attest function, are prohibited from offering. For example, the previous bullet presents many “white glove” approaches that are prohibited under an attest relationship. Not only will we pick up the payment checks, if additional checks are required with certain tax returns previously missed in the company check run and/or the company does not have time to prepare the checks, Clifton Douglas will draw the funds from our own bank account and write the requisite checks on behalf of companies. We will obtain reimbursement from companies at a later date.
Tax Saving Opportunities: It is typical for tax service providers to prepare requisite tax returns without giving due consideration to basic tax savings opportunities. Clifton Douglas continually monitors cash opportunities for companies by evaluating whether any overpayments should be refunded, determining whether a filing obligation is no longer required, and calculating/claiming tax savings opportunities like bonus depreciation, the federal refundable research credit, and five-year federal net operating loss and research credit carrybacks (where applicable).
