We wanted to provide an update to our clients that still need to file their 2019 income tax returns and what to expect while our country is dealing with COVID-19. These expectations are to help minimize the points of contact that our clients and employees may have in order to minimize the risk of contracting or spreading the virus. Unless mandated by local, state or federal or authorities we plan to stay open during our currently scheduled expanded hours through April 15th.
Our office is taking additional steps within our office to ensure we are maintaining a clean and sanitary location. We will be cleaning our workstations more frequently, as well as washing our hands more often. We also have hand sanitizer at our desk locations so that our staff can sanitize their hands after each client visit. We will also be removing non-essential items from our workstations that our clients have access to, to minimize the objects that are exposed wherever possible when we are meeting with our clients.
As of March 16, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service has not extended the filing deadline so we wanted to inform you of what our current plans are based on the tax filing deadline remaining April 15th, and what will happen if the IRS extends the deadline to file automatically.
This means we are still requesting your tax information no later than April 1st to our office so we can have enough time to complete your tax return by the currently scheduled deadline of April 15th. Returns that are received after April 1st with an April 15th deadline in place will be subject to an extension being filed if we are unable to complete your tax return by the current deadline of April 15th.
Please plan accordingly to get your information to us ahead of this date.
After April 15th we will be shifting gears to our bookkeeping clients and payroll clients so that we can complete their required reports and other items by Monday, April 20, 2020, and Thursday, April 30, 2020, when they are due. This means that during the last two weeks of April you may see longer turnaround times on getting your taxes completed while we focus on the other services that our firm provides.
Clients have multiple options to submit their tax information in order to minimize contact as follows if there is not a need to meet with their tax professional:
- Upload tax information to our secure portal on our website. Please contact us if you are not already set up.
- Upon uploading your tax information please contact our office to information is that your tax information is uploaded.
- Mail tax information to 11183 Lake Blvd, Chisago City, MN 55013.
- Place information in our drop box at our office.
If you do not want to come to our location to pick up your tax return, we can mail a hard copy of your tax return to you with instructions of what to sign and return to our office. We do offer an electronic signature via Right Signature so that we can expedite the processing of your tax return if you want that option.
We do need a separate email for each signer on the tax return if this is an option you prefer to utilize. For clients that receive their tax return via the portal, we will only mail you a hard copy of your return if requested, or if you have provided original documents to us and we need to return them to you. All clients that pick up their tax information from our front desk or when meeting with their tax professional will receive a hard copy.
We will continue to offer face-to-face meetings for the foreseeable future. We are merely trying to inform our clients that they have other options to get their tax information to us if they do not need to meet with their tax professional. If you are getting your information to us without meeting with us, and have specific questions or concerns that you want us to address while completing your tax return, please provide a note with these items or send your tax professional an email. Our tax professionals email addresses are as follows:
- Cory Lindgren – cory@lindgrentaxandaccounting.com
- Courtney Knuth – courtney@lindgrentaxandaccounting.com
- Wade Clarin – wade@lindgrentaxandaccounting.com
- General Questions –general@lindgrentaxandaccounting.com
Unless there are unforeseen circumstances, we will continue to allow clients to drop off their tax information with our tax professionals with an appointment or by dropping off at our front desk. We are, however, asking if you are showing even mild symptoms of a cold or other possible illness that you submit your information to us in one of the manners above. We all have loved ones that can be high-risk should they contract the COVID-19 virus and we want to make sure that we are minimizing the risk of spreading any illness to our staff, clients, and their loved ones.
When dropping off your tax information to us, we ask that you provide us with your completed organizer that was mailed to you. If you need a new organizer, you can also get and/or complete our organizer that is available on our website.
What will change if the tax deadline is extended by the federal or state government:
- We only plan to continue expanded office hours of 9:00 – 9:00 Monday – Thursday and 9:00 – 4:00 Friday and Saturday.
- Starting, Thursday, April 16th our planned office hours are Monday – Friday from 9:00 – 4:00. We will assess the ability to offer additional hours as the time gets closer.
- We will begin accepting new clients to a level that we feel will not affect our ability to serve our returning clients from last year and depending on how long they extend the tax deadline.
We hope that the current situation that our country is facing is short-term and that our clients experience minimal effects on their day to day living as we all face conditions and a living environment none of us could have ever predicted.
Should there be a need to make additional changes to our operations we will provide additional updates to our clients on our Facebook Page and here on our website.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our office at 651.257.2152.
Thank you,
Cory R. Lindgren
Enrolled Agent/Tax Professional
See Notice: COVID-19 NOTICE