Frequently Asked Questions

Book a free 30-minute consultation on our contact page. We'll talk through your situation, tell you honestly whether we can help, and give you a firm flat quote before any work begins. From there you create a free account, upload documents to your secure vault, and we take it from there.

No — Ascend Taxes is a fully remote practice serving clients nationwide. Everything happens over video, phone, and your secure client portal, so you can work with us from anywhere in the country on your schedule.

All 50. Because we operate remotely and e-file directly with the IRS and state agencies, where you live doesn't limit us — and we regularly handle multi-state situations like remote work, relocation, and income earned across state lines.

If your year was simple — one W-2, standard deduction, no life changes — DIY software may genuinely be enough, and we'll tell you so. A preparer starts paying for itself when things get more complex: self-employment or side income, equity compensation, a home purchase or sale, a new business, multiple states, or an IRS letter. Those are the situations where missed deductions and mistakes cost real money.

You work with the same preparer — Darian — from your first call through filing and all year long, not whoever happens to be at the desk. Add performance-based flat pricing, year-round planning instead of a once-a-year transaction, and a client portal with live return tracking, and the experience is closer to having a private tax advisor than visiting a seasonal storefront.

Our fees are performance-based — anchored to the value and savings we create for you, with tax planning tied to projected savings and IRS resolution billed on success-based milestones. You get one flat quote upfront after your free consultation, before any work begins — and never a percentage of your refund.

Our fee reflects the value of the work — the return filed right, the savings found, the case resolved — instead of an hourly meter. One line we never cross: under IRS rules (Circular 230), a preparer can't charge a percentage of your refund, and we wouldn't anyway. Your refund is 100% yours.

Yes. If spreading your fee out helps, just ask during your consultation — we'd rather set up a schedule that works for you than have cost keep you from filing right.

No. The flat quote you approve is the price you pay — IRS e-file included. If the scope genuinely changes mid-engagement (say, we discover a second business that needs its own return), we pause and re-quote before continuing. You'll never see a surprise line item.

Then we'll say so. If a planning engagement isn't going to move the needle for your situation, we tell you upfront rather than charging you to confirm the obvious. That honesty is the whole point of tying our fee to your outcome.

Typically: W-2s from every employer, any 1099s (NEC, K, INT, DIV), last year's return, mortgage and student-loan interest statements, and records of deductible expenses. Create a free account and our document checklist tool builds a personalized list for your exact situation.

Through the secure document vault in your client portal, protected with bank-level 256-bit encryption. Please never text or email photos of your Social Security card or other sensitive documents — the vault exists so you don't have to.

Once we have your complete documents, most individual returns are prepared and ready for your review within about a week — often faster outside peak season. Business returns and complex situations take longer, and we'll give you a realistic timeline with your quote. You can watch every stage live in your portal's return tracker.

The federal filing deadline is typically April 15. Quarterly estimated payments are due April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15. If a deadline is about to be a problem, talk to us early — filing an extension is quick, but an extension to file is not an extension to pay.

Yes. If we find money left on the table in a past return, we can file an amended return — generally you have up to three years from the original filing deadline to claim a refund. A quick review of your last few returns is often one of the highest-value things a new client can ask for.

Your client portal's return tracker shows every stage from “documents received” through “accepted.” Once the IRS has your return, their Where's My Refund tool shows the refund itself — most e-filed refunds arrive within 21 days.

Don't panic, and don't reply on your own — send it to us first. Handling IRS notices and audits is one of our core services: we review the letter, explain what it actually means, and manage the response and any negotiation for you, with fees tied to resolving your case.

Every return we file is double-checked before it goes out. If an error on our side ever needs correcting, we fix it and file the correction at no cost to you — that's what standing behind our work means.

The opposite — year-round support is the core of how we work. Tax season is when returns get filed, but the savings get created in June, September, and December: W-4 tuning, estimated payments, entity decisions, and year-end moves. Your portal, your tools, and Darian are available all year.

If you're self-employed or have significant income without withholding, the IRS expects payments four times a year — April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15. We calculate your quarterly amounts as part of planning, and your portal keeps the deadlines and amounts in front of you so nothing sneaks up.