The whole process, start to finish, with nothing left vague.
“How does it work if you have no office?” is the question we get most. Here is the honest answer: better than the version with the office, and with about an hour of your time instead of an afternoon.
Six steps. You are involved in three of them.
Tell us about your situation
Answer a short set of questions online, or call and we will take it down for you. No account to create, no credit card.
What we need from you
- Roughly what your year looked like
- Which states are involved
- Anything unusual — a move, a sale, a new business
What we are doing
We read what you sent and work out which tier you actually fall into. If something in your description suggests a cheaper tier than you picked, we use the cheaper one.
Get a flat quote in writing
You receive a fixed price and a document list by email, usually within a few hours on a business day. If your situation turns out to be simpler than it looked, the price goes down, not up.
What we need from you
- Nothing — this step is on us
What we are doing
You get a written quote with a fixed price, a plain list of the documents we need, and a realistic date. If your situation needs something we cannot do, this is where we say so and point you somewhere better.
Upload your documents securely
A private encrypted portal opens for you. Snap photos from your phone or drag files in. We chase anything that is missing so you do not have to remember.
What we need from you
- Your tax documents, photographed or uploaded
- Last year’s return if we have not seen it
- Bank details for a refund or payment
What we are doing
We open your encrypted portal, work through what arrived, and come back with one consolidated list of anything missing rather than drip-feeding you emails for a fortnight.
We prepare and you review
Your preparer builds the return, asks any questions in one batch, and then walks you through the result on a call — what you owe or are owed, and why.
What we need from you
- Answers to whatever we could not work out ourselves
What we are doing
The return gets built and then checked — arithmetic, carryforwards, the credits people forget, and a comparison against last year to catch anything that moved without explanation.
You approve, we e-file
You sign Form 8879 electronically. We transmit, confirm acceptance with the IRS and your state, and send you a permanent copy of everything.
What we need from you
- Your review, and an electronic signature on Form 8879
What we are doing
We walk you through the result on a call, transmit once you approve, and confirm IRS and state acceptance in writing. You get a permanent copy of everything.
We stay reachable all year
Notices, questions, a new job, a house, a business — email or call. We do not disappear on April 16.
What we need from you
- A message whenever something changes
What we are doing
We stay reachable. A notice, a new job, a house, a business idea — a five-minute question does not generate an invoice.
Changing firms is easier than people expect.
You do not need permission, you do not need to explain yourself, and you do not need to collect anything from your old preparer beyond one document.
- Send last year’s return. A PDF of the complete filed return, including all schedules. That is genuinely the only thing we need from your previous firm.
- We read it properly. Carryforwards, depreciation schedules, basis, elections made in prior years, and anything that looks like it was missed.
- You hear if something is worth amending. With the number attached, so you can decide. Sometimes the answer is that it is not worth it, and we say that too.
- Nobody has to have an awkward conversation. You are not obliged to tell your previous preparer anything at all.
What if I cannot find last year’s return?
Then we get it another way. With your signed authorisation we can pull your IRS account and wage-and-income transcripts, which show what was filed and what third parties reported about you. It is not quite as good as the return itself, but it is usually enough to reconstruct everything that matters.
What if I have never filed at all?
Then we start there, and it is more fixable than the worry suggests. Transcripts, returns prepared in the right order, and a penalty relief request where the facts support one. More on back taxes.
Four channels, and a firm rule about the fifth.
Secure portal
Encrypted upload and download for every document, protected by multi-factor authentication. This is where anything sensitive goes.
Phone
(435) 341-4014, Mon–Fri, 9am–6pm Mountain Time. A real person, not a queue.
Video call
For the review before filing, and any time a screen share is faster than a paragraph.
For questions and scheduling. Never for Social Security numbers, account numbers or tax documents.
The rule about email. Ordinary email is not encrypted and is not private in any meaningful sense. Tax data is precisely what identity thieves want, and a mailbox is a permanent, searchable archive of it. We will never ask you to email a Social Security number, a bank account number or a photograph of a tax document, and if anyone claiming to be from Xelvon does ask, it is not us — call (435) 341-4014 and tell us. How we protect your information.
How long things take, including in the busy months.
| Stage | Off-season | February to April |
|---|---|---|
| Reply to your first enquiry | Same business day | Within one business day |
| Written quote | Same business day | One business day |
| Portal opened after you accept | Within hours | Within hours |
| Return prepared once documents are complete | 3–5 business days | 5–10 business days |
| E-file transmitted after you sign | Same day | Within 24 hours |
| IRS acceptance confirmed | Usually within 48 hours | Usually within 48 hours |
“Documents complete” is the phrase doing the work in that table. The clock starts when we have everything, which is why we chase hard and give you one consolidated list rather than a trickle of requests. An engagement started within ten days of a deadline carries a $250 rush fee, always disclosed before you agree.
About working with a remote firm.
Do I ever have to meet you in person?
No — and you could not if you wanted to. Xelvon has no office and holds no in-person meetings. That is a deliberate choice: it is what lets us work with clients across the country, keep prices where they are, and answer the phone in July instead of being out at appointments.
What if I am not comfortable with technology?
The portal is a web page you drag files onto, and if that is still not for you, we will do it by phone and post. We have never lost a client over software and we are not about to start. Call (435) 341-4014 and we will find a way that suits you.
How do I sign the return?
Electronically, on Form 8879, which is the IRS authorisation that lets us transmit on your behalf. It takes about a minute on a phone. Nothing gets filed until that signature exists, so you are always the one who decides when the return goes.
What happens after it is filed?
We confirm acceptance with the IRS and your state in writing, send you a permanent PDF of everything, and tell you when to expect a refund or what to pay and how. Then we stay reachable — a notice in September is exactly the kind of thing we want to hear about.
Can you work with my spouse or business partner too?
Yes. A joint return is one return with two people on it, at one price. For a business, we will happily loop in a partner, a spouse or an office manager — we just need your written authorisation to discuss your information with them, because we will not otherwise.