Dear Client,

We appreciate the opportunity to work with you. To minimize the possibility of a misunderstanding between us, we are setting forth pertinent information about the services we will perform for you.

For individual income tax returns, we will prepare your 2011 Federal and State income tax returns from information you furnish to us. We will not audit or otherwise verify the data you submit, although we may ask you to clarify some of the information. We will furnish you with questionnaires to help you gather and organize the necessary information for us, in order to keep our fee to a minimum.

We must receive all information to prepare your return by March 25, 2012 to ensure that your return will be completed by April 15, 2012.  If we have not received all of your information by March 25, 2012, and your return is not completed by April 15, 2012, you may be subject to late filing or late payment penalties.

It is your responsibility to maintain, in your records, the documentation necessary to support the data used in preparing your tax returns, including but not limited to the auto, travel, entertainment, and related expenses and the required documents to support charitable contributions. If you have any questions as to the type of records required, please ask us for advice in that regard. It is also your responsibility to carefully examine and approve your completed tax returns before signing and mailing them to the tax authorities. We are not responsible for the disallowance of doubtful deductions or inadequately supported documentation, nor for resulting taxes, penalties and interest.

For tax years beginning in 2000, the IRS has provided that an individual taxpayer and his or her spouse, if applicable, may authorize the IRS to discuss the taxpayer’s tax return with the CPA who signed the taxpayer’s return as the return preparer. We automatically check this box “yes” which grants the IRS permission to contact our firm with questions that may arise during the processing of your return. You would also be granting our firm the permission to (1) provide the IRS with any information that may be missing from your return, (2) call the IRS to inquire on the processing of your return or on the status of your refund, and (3) respond to any IRS notices that you have provided to our firm relating to mathematical errors, offsets, and return preparation. Please note that our firm will not receive separate copies of IRS notices; therefore, you must provide our firm with copies of any notices you receive from the IRS. Once elected, the authorization cannot be revoked. The authorization is valid for one year after the due date for filing the tax return.

We are responsible for preparing only your individual income tax returns.  Our fee does not include responding to inquires or examination by taxing authorities. However, we are available to represent you and our fees for such services are at our standard rates and would be covered under a separate engagement letter.

We will use our judgment to resolve questions in your favor where a tax law is unclear if there is a reasonable justification for doing so. Whenever we are aware that a possibly applicable tax law is unclear or that there are conflicting interpretations of the law by authorities (e.g., tax agencies and courts), we will explain the possible positions that may be taken on your return. We will follow whatever position you request, so long as it is consistent with the codes and regulations and interpretations that have been promulgated. If the IRS should later contest the position taken, there may be an assessment of additional tax plus interest and penalties. We assume no liability for any such additional penalties or assessments.

 As your CPA, we collect:

• Information provided by you from your tax organizer, worksheets, documents, and discussions and
• Information that we develop as part of this engagement.

As your CPA, we are required to keep all information about our engagement confidential, so we will not disclose any information about you unless we have your approval or are required/permitted by law. This applies even if you are no longer a client.

As your CPA, we are committed to the safekeeping of your confidential information and we maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect your information.

It is our firm’s policy to retain copies of your tax returns for five years, after which they will be destroyed.

Fees for our services will be at our standard rates plus charges and out-of-pocket expenses. Payment for service is due when rendered and interim billings may be submitted as work progresses and expenses are incurred. We reserve the right to stop work on any account that is 30 days past due, in accordance with our firm’s stated collection policy.  In the case of default you may be liable for all costs of collection, including but not limited to, reasonable attorney's fees, court costs, interest, late fees and collection fees.

If any dispute arises among the parties, they agree to try first in good faith to settle the dispute by mediation administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Rules for Professional Accounting and Related Services Disputes. All unresolved disputes shall then be decided by final and binding arbitration in accordance with the Rules for Professional Accounting and Related Services Disputes of the AAA. Fees charged by any mediators, arbitrators, or the AAA shall be shared equally by all parties. IN AGREEING TO ARBITRATION, WE BOTH ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IN THE EVENT OF A DISPUTE EACH OF US IS GIVING UP THE RIGHT TO HAVE THE DISPUTE DECIDED IN A COURT OF LAW BEFORE A JUDGE OR JURY AND INSTEAD WE ARE ACCEPTING THE USE OF ARBITRATION FOR RESOLUTION.

The Colorado Department of Revenue now has an online internet-based service that we can access to get information on your account including tax payment history, account balances and refund status.  As part of our engagement to provide accounting and tax services, we ask that you give us consent to access your account online so that we can verify tax items and resolve issues more efficiently.  If you give us your consent it will continue in effect until our relationship ends or you withdraw your consent in writing. 

Please be advised that we can not start work until we have this signed engagement letter in our file.

Very truly yours,

CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS AND ADVISORS

A copy of this agreement will also be sent to the email address provided.