©Dania Bagyi Photography
By Christine Graf
Tax advisory CPA firm Bucknam & Conley has relocated its offices to a larger space at 18 Division St. in Saratoga Springs.
Founded 30 years ago by CPA Melinda Bucknam, the business has six employees. Co-managing partner Carissa Conley, CPA, joined the firm two years ago and formed a partnership with Bucknam in 2021.
“We focus on tax work,” said Conley. “We don’t do audit work, and we don’t work with non-profits or government. We don’t take on small returns because clients won’t get the benefit of our services. Our main focus is on business advisory and tax advisory for businesses across the country of varying sizes and different markets.”
Approximately 50 percent of the firm’s clients are local, and the rest are spread out throughout the United States. Many operate in multiple states and require multi-state returns.
Bucknam & Conley utilizes the latest technology and is 100 percent cloud based. For them, it remained business as usual when the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered offices.
“We already had a half and half work schedule and people were working from home half the time and coming into the office half of the time,” said Conley. “When COVID hit, our work flow did not stop at all. It was tax season, and we were able to get everything done. Our clients didn’t even notice that anything had changed.”
Since the start of the pandemic, staff at Buckman & Conley have helped clients optimize their employee retention credits and apply for New York State grants as well as PPP and EIDL loans. Many of their clients are restaurants—including many in downtown Saratoga–and all were able to survive the pandemic.
“We have done a lot of work with all of the COVID relief programs, and it’s still going on,” said Conley. “We are still doing a lot with the employee retention tax credit because the IRS kept changing how it should be reported. A lot of restaurants and other employers were carrying over these credits, so we’re still trying to get these processed and get the clients the tax credits or the refund that they deserve. But the IRS is extremely behind this year and are not even processing most of what they are receiving.”
Some of the firm’s clients have been waiting more than eighteen months for their tax refunds while others have not yet had their 2020 returns processed. Conley said it is nearly impossible to get through to a live agent at the IRS.
“There’s no one answering the phone at the IRS, and if you do get through, you get put on hold for 60 or 90 minutes. You either get disconnected or someone answers and tells you that there is nothing anyone can do.”
“Right now, I’m advising clients not to overpay their taxes—try to get closer to the exact amount. And if they are overpaid for 2021, maybe apply it to 2022 and change your withholding or estimated payment so that you aren’t expecting the cash to come back. You will increase the tax that is in your pocket now. I know a lot of people like to have a refund, but it’s just not worth it right now if you are not going to get it.”
As of the end of the year, the IRS still had 6 million unprocessed individual returns. As a result, some people are receiving panic-inducing letters from the IRS stating that their assets will be seized due to unpaid taxes.
“It’s terrifying for people. The notices just keep coming, and they are impossible to stop,” said Conley. “I have a client who the IRS thinks owes a significant amount of money. We filed an amended return at the beginning of last year, and the IRS actually owes her money. But they haven’t processed the return yet, so she is still getting tax notices that she owes money as well as penalties and interest and now we are going to come after you because you didn’t pay it.
“We were able to get them to put a hold on the account for 120 days, but we are approaching that mark now and they still haven’t processed it.”
In addition to helping clients navigated the unique challenges brought on by the pandemic and the IRS backlog, staff at Buckman & Conley are closely monitoring changing tax laws and the floundering Build Back Better bill.
For more information, visit www.saratogacpa.com.