We're in between Christmas and New Years and things are beginning to ramp up with preparations for the upcoming tax season.
Today is about our open house. Most everyone should have received an invitation and we hope to see as many as possible to get reacquainted and show off our new front porch. That was one of the things I teased about in the last blog post.
For those of you we don't see regularly we've been busy having our front porch rebuilt to ADA standards. This means we've added a lift for those customers who have problems with stairs as well as new handrails that are much easier on the hands and provide more support.This doesn't mean, however, that we plan on lowering our standard of support to those with health/mobility problems. f you need to drop off, pick up, sign, or any other business directly from your car, a phone call to our office from the parking lot will bring us to you there.
Over the past years much has changed in every industry, and ours is no different. One of our biggest concerns has always been the security of our clients personal data. The number of e-mails we send for our customer base has continued grow each year and while we don't mind doing this security has always been a major concern. Encryption of data we send over the internet is a must since the internet is basically on open channel for anyone with the proper knowledge and tools. Using e-mail can be cumbersome however. Along with the e-mail it is necessary to talk to our customers to verify their identity and then exchange the password necessary to unencrypt the data sent.
In an effort to make the process of information exchange easier and less problematic we have partnered with Drake Software to use a program called SecureFilePro. By setting up a dedicated and encrypted space in a private cloud for each customer we can easily send and receive information to and from our clients in a safe and encrypted location without worrying about anyone else intercepting that is being transferred. We are using this for both our tax and bookkeeping clients and have found it to be both safer and more expeditious. While we don't require any of our customers to use this feature, we hope those who prefer not to visit us each time something needs to be done will take advantage of it. If you are interested in using this service please call your tax preparer and we will be happy to set you up.
For the next few days we'll be taking some time with our families and friends. Our hours on Monday the 31st are 9AM-2PM and we will be closed on the 1st. Starting Wednesday the 2nd we will be back for standard winter hours. On January 3rd we will begin taking appointment requests for the upcoming tax year. These appointments typically start at the beginning of February and end at the end of March. We attempt to contact those customers with special needs such as long appointments but if you require any special days or times it would be helpful of you to call us early to ensure that we can fulfill your needs.
Thank you all we look forward to seeing you later today or in the new year.