A few things people ask.
What types of tax services do you offer?
Tax preparation comes first. William D. Briggs prepares personal and family returns as well as business and closely held company returns. He also prepares the financial statements and compilations behind a business return, from your bookkeeper’s general ledger. Around the returns: family business and continuity planning, executive and equity compensation planning, estates and trusts. Earlier forensic accounting work is not offered separately, but it sharpens the eye Bill brings to every return. The firm does not keep your books. It takes what your bookkeeper keeps and makes it mean something.
Are you taking new clients?
Yes. Wm. Briggs & Company is always glad to hear from prospective clients whose situations call for genuine, experienced judgment rather than a quick, standardized filing: complex or multi-part returns, equity compensation, a business or an estate or a decision with real tax consequences on the horizon. The best first step is a short conversation about what you’re facing, so the firm can understand your needs and show you how it can help.
Do you offer virtual consultations and remote services?
Yes. That is how every meeting is held. Bill meets with clients by phone, Zoom or Teams, whichever you prefer, and all meetings are by appointment only. That is by design: it keeps the practice’s footprint small and protects the privacy of everyone the firm serves. Documents are exchanged by secure arrangement. It’s also how Wm. Briggs & Company has kept long-standing clients as their lives and careers have moved across the country.
Do you offer year-round tax support?
Yes. Wm. Briggs & Company isn’t a once-a-year preparer. Many clients check in through the year, before a vesting, a sale, a property purchase or any decision that carries a tax consequence, because the work that matters most happens before you act, not at filing. You’re not calling a stranger each spring; you’re calling a firm that already knows your situation.
What should I expect from a first conversation?
A conversation, not a sales pitch. The firm will want to understand your situation and the decisions ahead of you, not just last year’s return, and will tell you honestly whether it’s the right fit.
What documents will you need for tax preparation?
It depends on your situation, and the firm would rather tell you exactly what’s relevant than hand you a generic checklist. Generally that means your prior-year return if you’re new, your income documents (W-2s, 1099s, K-1s, brokerage and equity statements) and records for anything that changed during the year: a home sale, a new business, a move. Everything is exchanged by secure arrangement, and Bill enters every figure from the original documents himself.
How is this different from a large firm, tax software or an online portal?
You work with Bill. Not a rotating junior. Not a questionnaire. Not a portal that asks you to create an account, upload your life and figure out which box your situation fits. Nobody at this firm will ever send you a link and tell you to enter your own data. Your documents reach Bill by secure arrangement, and he enters every figure from the originals himself, correcting where the tax software lags current federal or state law. You talk to the same person every time. He does the rest.
That also keeps your information close. A deliberately small digital footprint. Documents moved only through channels Bill arranges with you directly. A website that never asks for Social Security numbers, account numbers or anything else sensitive. In a time when financial information deserves more protection, not less, the old way is the safer way. It is the only way this firm works.
Why is your office so understated?
Our clients judge us by our work. We’ve never needed a marble lobby to make the case.
Does Wm. Briggs & Company manage investments?
No. The firm handles the tax side and coordinates with your investment advisor rather than managing money itself. The two roles work best kept separate, and Wm. Briggs & Company is glad to work alongside the advisor you already trust.