ProConnect™ Tax Online spotlight: Alejandra Matias

Meet Alejandra Matias, a QuickBooks ProAdvisor® certified in QuickBooks® Online who started her practice, Taxes United LLC, in Phoenix in 2010. An Intuit® ProConnect™ Tax customer since 2010, the firm has two full-time and two part-time/contract employees, and processes about 1,000 returns each year. Alejandra has specializations in personal tax returns and accounting services for self-employed and small business clients.

Alejandra’s Story

I started my business when I was 18. I guess you could say I started pretty young. My dad was an accountant in Mexico, but when he came to the United States, he didn’t practice accounting at all. So, when it came time for college, I decided to go for accounting. At the beginning, I knew very little. I was doing simple tax returns that only included W-2s and helping my friends with their taxes. Then, more people were recommended to me, they recommended more people and it just kind of built from there.

ProConnect Tax Online played a big role right from the start. When I was in college, I was working with people in coffee shops or at the library for almost two years. Being mobile and in the cloud meant that I could access my clients’ documents right away, let them know the status of their refund, give them copies of their tax return or process the tax return while I was at school, in the library or anywhere else.

Now that I’m running my business full time, I can’t imagine doing it without the cloud. A lot of my clients need tax information on the weekend, or when they finish work. For example, I’ve had clients who were closing on a mortgage or a loan at 8 p.m., and they needed last-minute information. They’re already stressed out! I can go into their files and get their information for them, just like that. They say they’ve never had that kind of service before, so obviously they’re happy. The real estate professionals love to get that information really fast, too – and, as a result, many of them are now clients.

Another great thing about ProConnect Tax Online is that it looks great and it’s super user-friendly. Every time I open it, I just want to work. I know that sounds silly, or like a small thing, but it’s not. The fact that it’s so easy to use means we’re able to do more for our clients and can spend more time paying attention to them. We’re not just typing and typing; we also get to know them and answer a lot of their questions.

I want to create a better customer service experience, spend time answering questions and plan for the year. That’s what I love about what I’m doing now: working with small businesses and self-employed clients. I see myself in them all the time. They give me good ideas, too. It’s an exchange, and ProConnect Tax Online makes that possible.

Lately, I’ve been going to a lot of tax law update forums, and when I tell other accountants that I use ProConnect Tax Online, some of them say, “Oh, that’s in the cloud. I have all these clients, and I already know the software I’m using. I don’t want to change.” I get it; change scares people. It’s hard. But, I tell them to think about what’s stressing them out now. Take tax season, for example. It’s stressful because of all the information we have to gather and enter. We’re scrambling to figure out the software, or we’re worrying about employees. But, what about the clients? We never really get to know them.

ProConnect Tax Online changes all that. It’s simple, fun to use and you can access it anywhere. Change can be scary, but sometimes it’s worth it. ProConnect Tax lets you create the best customer experience for your clients and takes a lot of the stress out of the equation for you. It’s that simple.