Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, HHTS prepares taxes for many clients all over the United States. Out of State clients either mail or submit their taxes via our client tax portal. In either of those cases, prior to sending your tax information, you will need to go to our client’s tab on our website and select which option applies to you. Just follow the steps. If you are mailing your return, just skip the last step.

Once we complete your taxes, we will either mail your e-file forms with an invoice or put your e-file forms with how much is owed to us on your portal. We of course attempt to call all of our clients to go over the results of your tax return. Not all of our clients talk to us on the phone, some would prefer to talk to us via the portal. In those cases, we do put the information in the portal, though we would prefer to talk to you about your results on the phone so you can ask questions and we can make sure all of your questions are answered. Once we get your signed e-file forms and payment, we will either mail your completed return or put your completed return in your portal.

The cost of tax preparation varies from client to client; additionally, it can vary from year to year. Normally, HHTS charges on a per-form basis and only charges you for the forms used in your particular tax situation. However, in some cases, we do have to add on additional items. For instance, if we have to do bookkeeping or you have a large amount of stock sales then there would be an additional charge. You will find our prices very competitive. We are happy to provide you with an estimated price quote prior to preparing your taxes.

Yes, we can provide you with an additional copy of your taxes for a small fee. Clients are provided a complete copy of their taxes at the time of service. However, some clients find it necessary to obtain an additional copy from time to time. The fee for an additional copy is $5.00 per tax year needed. Furthermore, we ONLY accept cash as a form of payment for copies.

Clients who already have a tax portal: If you use our tax portal, then there is no charge if you want us to put a copy of the tax in your tax portal, which is available for our current active clients.

Clients who do not have a tax portal: If you do not have a portal yet and want a prior year copy put in your portal, we will only put a prior year copy in your portal after we have finished the current year’s taxes. People were abusing this in the past and saying they were going to have their taxes prepared, but only wanted to get around the $5.00 paper printing fee. Since we have to pay for each of our clients to have the portal, this is our way of controlling costs.

Email: You do have the option of getting your taxes via email. Email is not a secure method of sending or receiving tax information, but we will email your taxes if you request that we do so. We just need you to correctly fill out the Consent to Release Information form from our Forms/Worksheet tab on our website. Make sure when you fill it out that you select the option to release to self and if married self/spouse over the internet or fax. If you are or were married in that year, both spouses must sign the consent form as required by law.

We prepare amended returns here for anyone, regardless of if we prepared the original return or not. If we did not prepare your original return and you only want to amend the state return, then we will have to charge for both federal and state returns since the federal carries to the state. If the change is a result of a mistake that we made, there is no charge for the amended return. If the change is a result of any other reason, including the law changing either requiring an amended return or for your benefit then there is a charge to amend the return.

It has been made aware to us that sometimes our pdf forms that have digital signature capabilities do not display properly or give the opportunity to digitally sign them when displayed in Chrome.  Therefore, we have discovered a fix for these issues.  Please click on the form you need to digitally sign.  Then click on the button to download the form to your device.  Next, you will need to open the downloaded form in Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat.  This should then allow you to digitally sign your documents.  However, you still may need to initially set up your digital signature. 

Starting 2023 for tax year 2022, we will use both standard PDF copies and converted PDF copies to prepare your taxes, if we can read them. Once we finish the return, we will send you e-file forms, but those cannot be returned as a converted PDF. If you send us PDF forms that are converted (like W-2s), we can do you return, but we cannot print the forms, use them for audits, supply them to IRS or the states, or give you a copy of those forms.

Acceptable PDF Forms: (Standard PDF Copies) IRS and States require originally scanned forms, not converted from a picture file. For us to be able to use a PDF, the file must be able to print on one standard sheet of printer paper (8×11). Legal size paper, if scanned correctly can be adjusted to print on an 8×11 sheet of paper. If you view the PDF, you should see it perfectly fill the page when you view it in the PDF file at 100%. Converted PDF copies usually only fill part of the page and if that happens, they cannot be printed. It will only normally print 1/3 of the page.

If you use your phone or tablet, it takes a picture and then converts it. I have seen some clients who used a phone or tablet and got the PDF to print on a standard sheet of paper, but I am unsure how they did it or what app they used. Also, if you use an all-in-one scanner, printer, or copier, then it usually takes a picture and converts it. For some though, you can call the company and ask them how to correctly set it up for printing and do a different setup for scanning. Generally, if you want great printing, the scanning will be bad, or great scanning the printing will be bad. However, there are some exceptions, so calling the company they might be able to tell you how to make it work correctly.

If you are unable to physically visit our office to bring your tax material, then you can mail or put your tax information in your client tax portal.

In either case, go to our client tab and select which one applies, then just follow the steps.

First, if someone passes away, you want to file a tax return for them, even if they are under the filing requirement or have not filed in many years. For the past several years, thieves have been filing tax returns for deceased individuals and creating huge issues for their survivors. IRS suggests that people file a tax return for deceased individuals, so you shut down their tax accounts and avoid fraud from happening on their accounts. This can create an issue for the representative of the estate to prove it was not you that filed the fraudulently filed tax return.

POA, power of attorney, and authorizations end on the day someone passes away. Going forward from there, you need either a court qualification letter (stating you are an executor) or a small estate affidavit. If a Virginia Estate is worth $50,000 or less, then the heirs can use a Small Estate Affidavit (If all heirs sign it). The government wants to make sure you are legally able to file the tax return for the deceased individual. The thieves that I spoke of above, do not tell the IRS they are deceased so no one asks for this information from them. Exception, if your spouse passed away and you are filing jointly, you do not need either of those forms for the tax returns.

Any money a person makes the day after their death and going forward does not get filed on a personal tax return. It applies to a 1041 estate tax return. This is not the estate tax you hear about in the news or most people talk about. That tax return is the 706 estate tax return. The 1041 is a judiciary return on income received after death, whereas the 706 is for the assets a person owed while they were alive. Most of our clients do not have to file a 706 estate tax return since their estate does not exceed $12,060,000 for the tax year 2020 (that number can be reduced by certain lifetime gifts).

If you have to file an individual return for a deceased person, go to our client tab and select either new or return. Follow the instructions from there.

If you have to file an estate return (Form 1041), go to our client tab and go to the bottom and select either new or return client | Entity.