A small firm, built deliberately small.

Why online only

An office is a fixed cost that gets paid for out of your fee, and in a tax practice it buys surprisingly little. Almost nothing about preparing a return requires two people to be in the same room — the documents are files, the questions are questions, and the signature is electronic. What the office does buy is a commute for you, a lease for us, and a calendar full of appointments that make the phone go unanswered.

Removing it lets us do three things: serve clients in every state rather than one metro area, keep prices where they are, and stay reachable year-round. The trade is that you never shake anyone’s hand. We think that is a good trade, and if you do not, we are genuinely not the right firm for you.

What we are, and what we are not

Xelvon Tax Advisors LLC is not a CPA firm. Nobody here is a certified public accountant, an attorney, or an enrolled agent, and the firm is not licensed by the Utah Board of Accountancy or any other state board of accountancy. We put that on the homepage, in the footer, and here, because finding it out later would be a bad surprise and you deserve to weigh it before you hire anyone.

What we are is an IRS-registered paid tax return preparer firm. Preparing and e-filing federal and state returns, keeping books, running payroll, filing information returns and planning ahead does not require a CPA licence in any state, and it is the work we do all day. What requires a licence — audits, reviews, compilations and any other attest engagement — we do not do, will not do, and will tell you to hire a CPA for.

The word “advisors” in our name is used in its ordinary business sense. It is not a credential and it does not imply one. Our complete scope of practice is set out here, including the precise limits on representing a taxpayer before the IRS.

Where we can work. We prepare federal returns for taxpayers anywhere in the United States, and state returns for every state except those listed here. A small number of states license or register tax return preparers, and we do not offer services there until our registration is in place. We cannot currently prepare any returns for residents of Connecticut and New York, where a state preparer registration is required before a firm may prepare returns or advertise. We cannot currently prepare individual income tax returns for residents of Maryland and Oregon; business and fiduciary returns for those states are outside that restriction. If you live in one of these states, call (435) 341-4014 and we will tell you exactly where our registration stands rather than take work we cannot do.

How we price, and why

Flat fees, published openly, quoted in writing before work starts. Not because it is fashionable, but because an hourly rate points our incentives away from yours and gives you nothing to plan around. If a return takes us longer than we expected, that is our problem to solve — which is a much better arrangement for everyone than it being yours to pay for.

We also do not take our fee out of your refund. Refund-transfer products layer bank fees on top of preparation fees, route your money through a third party and slow it down. You pay us directly, and the IRS deposits your refund straight into your own account.

And we take no commissions. We do not sell insurance, investments, or anyone else’s products, so nothing we recommend earns us more than anything else we might have recommended. That is worth knowing when someone gives you advice.

How we handle your information

A tax file is the most complete dossier that exists on most people: identity, income, family, property, health spending, charitable giving, bank details. Losing control of it is not an inconvenience, it is a permanent problem for the person it belongs to.

So documents move through an encrypted portal rather than email, access is protected by multi-factor authentication, and we maintain a Written Information Security Plan as the FTC Safeguards Rule and IRS Publication 4557 require of every paid preparer. We also will not use or disclose anything from your return for any purpose beyond preparing it without your separate written consent, because Internal Revenue Code section 7216 makes that a criminal matter and because it is plainly the right rule. The detail is here.

What you can expect from us

• A straight answer, including when it is no. If planning cannot save you money, if an S-corporation election would cost you more than it saves, or if your matter needs someone with credentials we do not hold, you will hear that instead of a proposal.
• The price we quoted. It moves only if the scope genuinely changes, only with your written approval, and it moves down as readily as up.
• Plain English. If you cannot explain a tax position to the person whose name is on the return, it is not a position, it is a hope.
• A reply within one business day, Mon–Fri, 9am–6pm Mountain Time, in February and in August alike.
• Your records, whenever you want them. If you leave, you take a complete copy of everything. Holding a client’s file hostage is indefensible.

The formal details

Xelvon Tax Advisors LLC is a limited liability company registered in the State of Utah, managed by Joseph Edwin Fox as managing member. The firm operates exclusively online and does not maintain a public office or hold in-person meetings. Business hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Extended hours from late January through April 15.

Reach us on (435) 341-4014 or at hello@xelvontax.com. Written correspondence may be sent to UT.