OUR MISSION

It has taken 6 years to develop Occupational & Professional Tax Deductions CheckLists. The actual content was not the difficult part. The difficult task was how to design an easy-to-read tax guide. Every tax season, for the past 25 years, my clients have telephoned me with the same questions. "What can I deduct?" Or, "I changed jobs, so what can I deduct now?" Or, "What papers do I need to bring you?".

I decided to prepare these CheckLists that would enable my clients to 1) always have a list of Occupational/Professional specific deductions and 2) avoid multiple trips to my office. As a courtesy to new clients, we review their prior 3 years tax returns. Often, there were tax deductions that they were legally entitled to deduct but the deductions were not taken by the person who prepared the last 3 years of tax returns. Lack of knowledge regarding a taxpayers specific Occupation/Profession results in missed deductions. Ultimately, I decided these CheckLists would be beneficial to all taxpayers and Tax Professionals.

These CheckLists are designed as an easy-to-use guide to maximize tax refunds in the preparation of income tax returns. There are over 100 Occupational and Professional Tax Deductions CheckLists and listed next to each deduction are the documents required by IRS to substantiate the legal deduction.

Major problems solved by our CheckLists are:

1) No extensive or comprehensive reading is required! Designed as a user-friendly guide to legally maximize income tax refunds whether prrepared by a Tax Professional or the taxpayer.

2) Know Occupation/Profession specific deductions! IRS publications and other tax preparation guides & books discuss employee and business deductions in general terms instead of in Occupation/Profession specific terms.

3) Faster review & preparation time! Tax Professionals make not take or have the time or opportunity to research every Occupation or Profession that exist. Taxpayers and Tax Professionals will have easy & quick access to over 100 Occupational/Professional specific deductions. For the Tax Professionals, they will immediately know what Occupation/Profession specific questions to ask, therefore saving time during the interview process with clients & when preparing tax returns.

4) At a glance, know how to document your deductions! This will enable taxpayers and Tax Professionals to know not only what specific expenses are deductible but also how to document the deductions.

5) Avoid multiple trips to the Tax Professional! There is a "free" downloadable Tax Preparation Check List to assist the taxpayer in organizing their information to avoid multiple trips to their Tax Professional. This list will assist the Tax Professional to expediently inform their new & current clients, prior to their appointment, what documents they will need to bring.

Jennifer H. Stokes, Licensed CPA Stokes Tax & Accounting Services

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jennifer H. Stokes B.S., M.S., CPA owns a CPA firm and specializes in Business Formations, Business Taxation, and IRS Tax Liabilities. She has prepared tax returns for more than 25 years for the self-employed, taxpayers with employee expenses and small businesses.

Education:
*Cosmopolitan Chamber of Commerce/School of Business Management
*Law Program for Community Developers & Social Workers/John Marshall Law School
*M.S. degree, Chicago State University
*B.S. degree, University of Illinois

Licenses & Certificates:
*Licensed Certified Public Accountant
*Licensed Real Estate Broker 03/89-04/02
*Licensed Insurance Broker

Professional Memberships:
*Illinois CPA Society
*National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP)
*National Society of Accountants (NSA)
*National Society of Tax Professionals (NSTP)



stokestaxservice@sbcglobal.net