Tax preparation
Individual tax returns
Federal and state returns for individuals and families, prepared in Locust, NC.
Two ways to begin
Start online
Open your portal account now
Open your account and a list of what we need for the year arrives in your portal. Work through it at your own pace and upload documents as they reach you, rather than holding them all for one trip.
Start your individual returnNothing to pay until your return is finished.
Not available in CA, CT, IL, MD, NV, NY or OR.
Talk to us first
Book a free consultation
About thirty minutes to an hour, in the office on West Main Street or by phone. We will tell you what your return involves and what it is likely to cost before you commit to anything.
- Bring last year's return if we did not prepare it, and we will tell you what changed
- We go through your year and tell you what your return will involve
- You get a price before any work begins
The first conversation costs nothing and carries no obligation.
Already have an account? Sign in to the client portal.
What we handle
Find the one that describes your year
Most people who come to our office want one thing, which is a correct return filed on time without a long conversation about tax law. We prepare federal and North Carolina returns for households across the Carolinas. If your year needs extra forms, they are part of the return we prepare, not a separate job.
A job and a family
You work for an employer, and most of your return comes from the statements that arrive in January. We take it from there. That includes the credits your household qualifies for, for children, for childcare while you work, and for college costs. We also check the standard deduction against adding up your own deductions, and file whichever comes out better. (Form 1040, or Form 1040-SR at 65 and older.)
Working for yourself
You work for yourself, run a trade, or take contract work. If you are a sole proprietor or a single-member LLC, this belongs on your personal return rather than a separate business return. We work out your profit, the extra tax that comes with working for yourself, and the write-offs for equipment and vehicles that wear out over time. We claim the business income deduction where you qualify, and we set up quarterly payments so next year does not arrive as a bill you were not expecting. (Schedule C.)
Renting out a property
You rent a place out, whether it is a second house, one you inherited, or the home you moved out of. We report the rent you collected and the cost of keeping the place, and we claim the yearly write-off for the building wearing out. We carry those figures forward from one year to the next, so the numbers still hold up when you sell.
Selling stock or property
You sold shares, a fund, a piece of land, or a house. We work out what you paid, what you got for it, and what part of that is actually taxed. Brokerage statements are often incomplete about what you originally paid, so we check them against what actually happened instead of filing the figure as printed. It is the most common place these returns go wrong. (Schedule D.)
Retirement income
You are retired, or nearly there, and the money now comes from Social Security, a pension, or withdrawals from a retirement account. How much of your Social Security is taxed depends on everything else on the return, so we work it out for your year rather than assuming. We also check that money moved from one retirement account to another is treated as a transfer and not counted as income.
Living in one state, working in another
You live on one side of the state line and work on the other, or you moved partway through the year. We split your income between the two states so each one taxes the right share, and we claim the credit that stops the same money being taxed twice. Given where we sit, this is ordinary work for our office rather than a special case. (North Carolina Form D-400, with the part-year schedule.)
Fixing an earlier year
You already filed a year, and something was wrong or something arrived late. We look at what was filed and tell you whether correcting it is worth doing, because there is a limited window for claiming back a refund you missed. North Carolina has no separate amended form, so the state side goes on a fresh state return marked as amended. We handle both. (Form 1040-X on the federal side.)
Before you start
Send what you have, and we will tell you what is missing
You do not need a complete file to begin. We review what arrives, come back with a short list of anything still needed, and prepare the return from there.
Your North Carolina return
North Carolina taxes income at a single flat rate rather than in brackets, so there is no bracket to work out. The rate is 3.99 percent for tax year 2026, down from 4.25 percent for tax year 2025. The state return is Form D-400.
The state decision about deductions is made separately from the federal one. You can take the standard deduction on your federal return and still add up your own deductions for North Carolina, or the other way around. The two look like a single decision, which is how the state one gets missed. We work out both and file whichever comes out better.
An extension gives you more time to file. It does not give you more time to pay. If you expect to owe, that money is still due on the original date and interest runs from there, so we work out a figure to send with the extension rather than leaving it to guesswork. If you already have a federal extension, North Carolina follows it automatically and there is nothing more to file for the state.
What to bring
Whether you come in or send everything through the portal, this is the list.
- Photo identification, and Social Security numbers for everyone on the return
- Every income statement that arrived, from work, retirement, brokerage accounts, and contract work
- Last year’s return, if we did not prepare it
- Mortgage interest and property tax statements
- Tuition and student loan statements
- Childcare costs, with the provider’s name, address, and tax number
- Any estimated payments you already made during the year
- Totals for a business or a rental, if you have one
You do not need all of it to start. If something is missing, we will tell you exactly what to send.
What happens after you send your documents
We review the file and come back with a short list of anything still needed. We prepare the return, then send it to you to look over before anything is filed. Once you approve and sign it electronically, we file the federal and state returns and tell you when each one is accepted. Your copy stays in your client portal for good. If a notice turns up later about a return we prepared, send it to us and we will tell you what it means and what to do.
Questions we are asked often are answered on our frequently asked questions page.
Who we prepare returns for
Our office is at 217 West Main Street in Locust, on the line between Stanly and Cabarrus counties, and most of the returns we prepare come from those two counties and the towns immediately around them — Albemarle, Oakboro, Stanfield and Norwood on the Stanly side, Concord, Kannapolis, Harrisburg, Midland and Mount Pleasant on the Cabarrus side. What a return looks like changes a good deal across that short distance. A Harrisburg household is more likely to be sorting out vested shares and investment income; an Oakboro household is more likely to be reporting a farm alongside a wage job.
We also prepare returns for households well outside that area, in the rest of North Carolina and in South Carolina, and for people who have moved away and kept us. The work does not depend on you being able to reach the office.
Everything stays in one place
Your documents, our questions, the finished return, and your copy to keep all sit in the client portal. Please do not send tax documents by email.
Starting online
From sign-up to filed
Five steps, and none of them waits on our office. Nothing is charged until the return is finished and we know what it costs.
- 1You create your portal accountName, email, and a password. It takes a minute, and you do it yourself rather than waiting for us to set anything up.
- 2You choose Individual tax returnOne question on the sign-up form. Your answer is what opens the file on our side and starts everything below.
- 3You agree what the return coversA short agreement setting out what is included and what is not. Read it before you agree to anything. Nothing is charged when you sign it.
- 4Your organizer arrivesA structured list of what we need for the year, filled in through the portal. Upload documents as they reach you rather than all at once.
- 5We prepare, you review, we fileYou see the finished return before anything is filed. The invoice comes at that point, once the return exists and the price is known.
Where our clients are
Our office is on West Main Street in Locust, on the Stanly and Cabarrus county line. These are the towns we work in most, each with a page on what a return there usually involves.
Locust straddles the Stanly and Cabarrus county line, and we work across Stanly, Cabarrus, Union and Mecklenburg counties, into the rest of North Carolina, and into South Carolina. A return does not need you in the room — most of this runs through the client portal — so if your town is not listed, it is still ordinary work for this office.
We also keep monthly books for businesses in Locust, Albemarle, Concord and Harrisburg, and elsewhere across the region.