Tax Season 2025

In the interest of transparency, below you will find an outline of our income tax preparation process, which is used for business and personal returns...

1. Engagement Letter:  Our annual services agreement, sent to Clients through Canopy for their review and electronic signature.
2. Tax Organizer:  A questionnaire, sent to Clients through Canopy as a checklist to minimize the risk of overlooking important tax information.  Rockland Pros will review the Client's Tax Organizer beginning on their respective Start Dates.
3. Tax Documentation:  A Client Request will be sent through Canopy, after Clients submit their Tax Organizer, to begin uploading their files.  Rockland Pros will beginning reviewing our Clients' tax information on their Start Dates.
4. Reconciliation:  Performed by Rockland Pros.  During this step, we will review our Clients' Tax Organizers together with their tax documentation to confirm that we have all the information necessary to prepare and file our Clients' income tax returns.
5. Draft Income Tax Returns:  Performed by Rockland Pros staff or ERO based on nature or complexity of each income tax return.
6. Review Income Tax Returns:  Performed exclusively by an ERO (e.g., Brian Campbell).
7. Summary & Administration:  Sent to Clients through the Canopy Client Portal. 
8. e-File Authorization Forms:  Sent to Clients through the Canopy Client Portal.  [Note:  For Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) income tax returns, Rockland Pros must receive the electronic signatures of BOTH taxpayers.]
9. Invoice:  Sent to Clients through Canopy.
10. e-File:  Upon receipt of the e-File Authorization Forms and payment of our invoice, Rockland Pros will electronically file Client's income tax returns.

This process aligns 100% to the automated workflow that we designed and implemented in Canopy.

 We have some exciting enhancement that we would like to 

bring to your attention for 2025...  

• Workflow:  We've designed a workflow within Canopy that aligns with our income tax preparation process to help facilitate the preparation and filing of your income tax returns.
• Engagement Letter:  Upon the signing of the Engagement Letter, Canopy will automatically create the income tax preparation workflow for each Client - beginning with creation of a Communication Hub that will be available within your Client Portal.
• Communication Hub:  We took your feedback and created a Communication Hub, accessible within your Canopy Client Portal, to can communicate with us throughout the income tax preparation process.
• Tax Organizer:  We experimented with this built-in Canopy tool last year and decided to roll it out to all of our Clients this Tax Season to minimize the risk that our Clients may forget to provide us with important tax information.
• Status Updates:  As part of the workflow, our Clients will receive automated updates upon the completion of each step within the income tax preparation process.  This will provide more transparency throughout the process.
• Invoices:  All of our invoices have been created and sent through QuickBooks since our inception.  It was brought to our attention that these invoices have been caught by e-mail filters, putting them in spam/junk mail folders.  We will be using Canopy to send invoices, which you can view from within your Client Portal.
• Payment:  Payment by electronic check (ACH) or credit card will be available directly through Canopy.  For those who wish to pay by credit card, Canopy's merchant service processor offers significantly lower rates than we were able to offer through QuickBooks.  Payments can be made directly through your Client Portal. 

This commitment to innovation reflects our unwavering dedication to providing top-tier services in an ever-evolving industry.

Rockland Pros has transitioned its billing model from the 

"Cost-per-Form" model to an "Hourly Rate" model for all services, effective January 1, 2025.

Hourly rates will be billed in 15-minute increments as follows:

• Administrative Staff (Non-Accounting Staff) = $50 per hour
• Accounting Staff (Non-Filers) = $150 per hour
• Managing Partner/Electronic Returns Originators (ERO's) = $300 per hour

This transition is designed to provide:

• More Transparency: Clients will be billed for the actual time and effort involved in performing its services, in excess of its minimum rates per services.
• Fairer Pricing: Complex or unique situations will receive the attention they need, with fees reflecting the time involved.
• Improved Service Delivery: This fee structure allows Rockland Pros to leverage resources, ensuring quality and accuracy.

This change aligns Rockland Pros with evolving industry standards, while ensuring fair compensation for the expertise provided to each Client.

We will continue to accept the following payment methods:

Cash, Check, Electronic Check, Zelle/Chase QuickPay, 

Venmo, Paypal and Credit Cards.

We are transitioning from QuickBooks Payments to Canopy Payments.  This transition will be more efficient for our team, eliminate invoices from ending up in spam/junk mail folders, and will reduce the credit card fees previously charged through QuickBooks.

As a reminder, all invoices are due upon receipt.  Income tax returns will not be filed until invoices are paid in full.

We re-engaged our service agreement with our 

International Accounting Firm partner to assist with the 

review of your tax documentation 

and the preparation of your income tax returns.

Be rest assured that ALL income tax returns 

will continue to be reviewed and filed by an 

Electronic Returns Originator (ERO) of Rockland Pros.

We are happy to report that we renewed our lease with 

Office Evolution, 

a Corporate suite within 

1 Blue Hill Plaza, Lobby Level, Suite 1509

(across from the Security Desk)!  

For those who are not familiar with Blue Hill Plaza, we are in the skyscraper located across from the Pearl River Hilton 

(as depicted in the picture).

As a reminder, we welcome visitors by appointment only - no walk-ins.