Thank you for your interest in my professional services. The purpose of this memo is to be sure you have been informed of any matters that might affect your decision to use my services. An explanation of the types of work that I do (and do not do) is included in my disclaimer document.

An Absence of Any Employees

I presently work out of a large home office by myself. City ordinances prohibit me from having employees in my home office, and I'm not trying to build a business, so I make extensive use of technology instead of hiring employees. However, because of limitations on my time, I charge the same amount for work that could be delegated (if I had employees) as for work that involves a high degree of experience and/or traning.

On the other hand, a client's fax messages, mail, phone messages and other forms of information are very private - even if I'm not in the office when they are received.  If I'm out of the office for an extended time, I will usually put my office phone on call forwarding to my mobile phone. However, when I'm in meetings I turn off my mobile phone and may not respond until there is a break in whatever kind of meeting I may be attending.

Although I work as a solo practitioner, I am affiliated with the International Tax Compliance Group, which is a small group of CPAs who all work extensively in the preparation of international (cross-border) tax returns.  I refer work to other members of this group and provide assistance to them as needed. At the present time, there are four members of this group. Two are located in the San Francisco area, one is located in the New York city metro area and I am located in the Kansas City metro area.  If you retain me to help you, my engagement letter will state that you understand that your tax information may be shared with other members of this group. 

Because I work by myself, there is a risk that if something happens to me, there is no one available to ensure that a client's work will be finished on time. However, I maintain a confidential list of current clients with instructions to my wife or the executor of my estate (one of my daughters if my wife is not available) regarding what needs to be done. I update those instructions once each month and store them offsite on a computer disk.  When the ITCG is involved in helping me with a client, the other members of the group will be available as a backup in the case I become ill, disabled or deceased.

Some Limitations On My Time

I'm over age 65 but I choose to continue working because I enjoy what I do. However, I don't feel obligated to work 60 or 70 hours a week and I take the time to attend various sporting events or other activities in which my four grandchildren are involved. Other personal and family matters may take priority over how much time I work.

I serve as the CEO of a small family publishing company (Offshore Press, Inc.) that publishes various newsletters, reports and books -- most of which I write or have written.  Orders and phone inquiries may sometimes interfere with the time that is available for clients.  I write and distribute a free email newsletter called the Jacobs Report and a semi-monthly email news letter for clients and paid subscribers. (The International Wealth Protection Monitor .)  Preparation of these newsletters and other work  required to respond to customers and to manage the company web sites takes about 2/3 of my time.

I am also the volunteer Treasurer of and Website Administrator for Positive Lights, Inc., a not-for profit corporation dedicated to improving the care of residents in nursing homes and similar elder care facilities. (I encourage you to view the website at www.positivelights.org and small donations are much appreciated.)

The most cost effective use of my time and experience is for phone consultations and for research regarding questions as to how the U.S. tax law would apply to various cross-border transactions. I provide assistance to other tax professionals who are not familiar with the international tax rules and the preparation of various forms required for foreign trusts, foreign corporations, foreign partnerships, foreign employment and foreign investments. In some cases, I will prepare these forms using data provided by other accountants or tax professionals. The least cost-effective use of my time is to ask me to do any bookkeeping or accounting work to organize raw data into the form needed to prepare the various tax forms listed above. 

No Referrals to Former Clients

I will not provide the names and phone numbers of any current or past clients to be contacted by a prospective client to make inquiries about the quality of my work. If you become a client, I will not divulge your name and contact information to anyone except in response to a court order.  If you wish, I can refer you to some other financial or tax professionals with whom I have worked and they will respond to your questions about my professional services and reputation.

I Do Not Participate in Competitive Bidding for Clients

I do not offer contingent fees or competitive bids and I do not respond to a Request for Proposal.  Nor do I offer guaranteed fees for any tax preparation or accounting work. My billing rate is $300 per hour.  I prefer to work with a client's current tax accountant and to limit my work to helping the client's local accountant in the preparation of the forms required for persons with cross border business or investment activities.

When it is necessary to analyze and compile financial data from bank statements, statements of securities accounts, checkbooks or other original sources, or to convert data from a different currency into U.S. dollars, I suggest that this work be done by other members of the International Tax Compliance Group.   

Additional Charges for Client Specific Research

In spite of having devoted nearly all of my time since early 1999 to the subject of international tax law, I have NEVER had a client for whom some research was not required in order to ascertain the best way of treating various transactions within the limitations of the tax laws and regulations.  Sometimes that research only involves an hour or less and sometimes it requires many hours.  The time required to study the pertinent sections of the law and regulations is charged for on an hourly basis and is in addition to the time required to prepare any returns.

Additional Charges for Responding to IRS Inquiries or Audits

My fees for preparing various tax forms or returns do not include the time that may be required to respond to inquiries from the IRS or the time that may be required to assist a client when the IRS is auditing the client.  Large volume tax preparation services can do that because the majority of the returns that they prepare are very simple and rarely involve any complex or controversial tax issues.  The international section of the US tax law is very complex and ambiguous. However, most international tax professionals have observed that the focus of the IRS with respect to international transactions is with finding those U.S. persons who have failed to report their foreign source income. Thus, when an IRS agent sees that a taxpayer is filing the required returns, there is little incentive to pursue that taxpayer because the chances of finding unreported income are much less than with those who have not filed the required returns.

Working with Original Preparer for Amended Returns

If amended returns are required for prior years, I strongly encourage clients to let me work with the tax preparer who prepared the original return.  Otherwise, I have to replicate the original return on my computer before I can prepare an amended return. Doing that takes almost as much time as preparing an original return.  If potential clients are concerned about the risk of an open ended invoice based on an hourly rate, they can establish a maximum number of hours for a specific task or engagement. I will do the best I can to do as much as possible in the time allotted but can't guarantee that the work can be completed in that amount of time.

Getting Answers to General Tax Questions

If you only want to ask some questions about some aspect of international tax law and expect that the time required will be less than an hour, you should read and send me a signed copy of my Waiver Letter for phone consultations.  This type of phone consultation is intended only for those persons who are seeking an explanation of some element of the tax law -- usually some part of the international tax law.  It is not applicable for those who are seeking personal tax advice based on their specific situation.

If you wish to retain me for any consulting or tax preparation services, please sign and date this document and return it to me so I will know you have read it.

Yes, I have read this document. 

X___________________________________________________ 

Name (Printed) ________________________________________ 
Date _______________, 200__