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By Nancy Brumback, Contributing Writer
Business name: Krumsiek & Associates
Address: 112 Turnpike Rd. (Rt. 9), Westborough
Owner: Matthew Krumsiek
Contact Information: 508-532-8544
What services does Krumsiek & Associates provide?
“We are a tax-based firm. We only do taxes, tax planning, and tax guidance and advice,” said Matthew Krumsiek, who opened the practice in Framingham in 2009 and expanded to a second office in Westborough in early December.
“We cover three niches. We do tax preparation for individuals, tax preparation for corporations and small businesses, and a lot of tax planning.
“We are Enrolled Agents, which means we hold a federal license directly from the IRS. The Enrolled Agent license means you are a permitted to practice before the IRS in all 50 states and you take continuing education courses in taxation.”
Why open a second office?
“I’ve always been heavily involved with the Corridor 9 Area Chamber of Commerce, and Framingham was too far east to serve many of those businesses. We are keeping the Framingham office. Right now we have five professional employees in the two offices.”
What services do you provide for individuals?
“Basically tax preparation. Anyone who needs to file a return can benefit from professional tax preparation. Our fees for the average individual are around $200 to $250. In contrast, the self-filing software costs around $99.
“Tax planning and preparation for the average person determines what they can legitimately deduct. For example, most people underutilize the dependent care benefit; things like summer camps or separate charges for afterschool programs such as band or football can be considered dependent care expenses. The self-filing programs can miss things like the Massachusetts renter’s deduction for $150.
“When we review individual returns, there’s not one major change that’s going to create a windfall, but we may find 10 or 15 different credits that may make a $1,000 or $2,000 difference.
“We provide tax advice for individuals, such as setting up trusts or renting a property. Another aspect is estimated tax planning for wealthier individuals and those who work for publically-traded firms where they might need to understand the tax implications of stock awards. We provide tax guidance for the corporate executives of about 15 publically-traded companies in Massachusetts.”
Is it too late to start for this year?
“Not at all. We accept new clients up through the filing deadlines, but that doesn’t mean we will be able to file without an extension if it’s past our internal deadline. We have a policy that for corporations, whose tax deadline is March 15, if all tax documents aren’t in by March 1, we automatically file an extension. For individuals, we need documents by April 1 or we file an extension. That prevents mistakes that are often made under deadline pressures.”
What services do you provide for small businesses?
“Since we are tax specialists, we know the credits available. For eight out of ten new clients, we amend the last couple of years’ returns, just for missed opportunities. For example, for an aviation company that has a flight school, an aviation fuel tax credit worth about $900 a year had been missed.
“We help clients grow. We prepare about five or six business plans a month for clients for things like opening a second location, applying for a loan, bidding for contracts, buying new equipment. We work with clients to create an individual board of advisors for each small business to ensure educated decisions. These advisors might include a payroll person, insurance agent, accountant, attorney and tax advisor, all working together.”
