Lacerte® Tax spotlight: Tania Santos, EA

Welcome to another profile in a series of articles about users members of the Intuit® Tax Council and accountants who use Intuit® Lacerte® Tax. Meet Tania Santos, EA, founder and CEO of Platinum, a firm based in Salinas, California, offering tax and bookkeeping services. I sat down with Tania to learn more about how her firm is structured, a bit about her background, and why she is serving on the Intuit Tax Council.

Scott Cytron: I know you outsource tax prep to a team in Mexico. Tell me how you located your team members and how much time having an outsourced team saves you on your returns.

Tania Santos: It started as an experiment with my cousin in Oaxaca, Mexico, who is a CPA and started helping me with some data entry for bookkeeping. It then grew into adding one more person, and because of the lack of accountants here in the United States, he quickly became a leader and we hired two more bookkeepers. Our Mexican team now has one bookkeeping leader and three bookkeepers.

We used to be behind on preparing books for our clients, and had many mistakes that were discovered at tax filing time. Now, we have now implemented processes that prevent those mistakes, and we have our clients’ books up to date in real time. Outsourcing to Mexico was a game changer.

SC: What is Platinum’s tech stack, and what Intuit products are you using?

TS: Lacerte is our tax prep software, and I could not be happier. QuickBooks® Online is our number one tool. We also use Uncat and clients have embraced it happily. QuickBooks Time is essential to keep track of our outsourced bookkeepers and our team. Tax Dome is our CRM, and we use Intuit Tax Advisor to help us create plans for our clients.

SC: I know you’re a new member of the Tax Council. In what ways do you think the Council is important to the profession? 

TS: I think the council is important to the tax profession because we are the users of the tools being developed by Intuit, and we can give real life feedback and insight regarding the functionality of the products. Most importantly, we are a voice for many and we can help shape the future of the profession by voicing our opinions.

SC: What other volunteer work are you doing?

TS: I serve on the board of directors for the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce. This is a very rewarding volunteer work I do because I can help shape the economic vitality of my community. I am also a CADRE presenter for the IRS, and when necessary, I present tax material to business owners in English or Spanish.

SC: What was your very first job? 

TS: I was a data entry clerk at a water softener store and that was my first experience with QuickBooks Desktop. I scheduled service appointments and processed invoices. That was fun!

SC: How can tax professionals keep up with all the changes in tax laws and regulations?

TS: Never quit studying, attend conferences, network, and get involved in activities that will bring more knowledge regarding tax law changes. Stay open minded.

SC: If you were stranded on a desert island with access to just one kind of technology, what would it be, and why would you want it? 

TS: A cell phone gives us access to almost anything—we do it all on our phones.