Frequently Asked Questions answered in plain English.

An Enrolled Agent is a federally authorized tax practitioner with unlimited rights to represent taxpayers before the IRS. Enrolled Agents earn the credential from the IRS and keep it through ongoing continuing education. TreeStar is an EA-led firm, so the people who plan and prepare your taxes can also represent you if the IRS has questions.

Yes. We are headquartered in Chico, with offices in Garberville, Sacramento, and San Francisco, and we serve clients nationwide. Documents, signatures, and messages move through our secure client portal, so you do not need to live near an office to work with us.

It starts with an inquiry and a conversation about your goals and what you need. If we are a good fit, you review and sign an engagement letter in the TaxDome portal, and onboarding continues there as we gather prior returns, records, and access to your books. Our Become a Client page is the place to start.

No. You can start with a single service, such as a tax return or a bookkeeping cleanup, and add more later. Bookkeeping, payroll, tax, and advisory work best when they share the same information, but you choose the scope.

Yes. We review where your books stand, catch up missing periods, correct what needs correcting, and reconcile the accounts so they can support your returns. From there, you can move into ongoing monthly bookkeeping. Our Bookkeeping Cleanup & Catch-Up page explains the process.

We keep client books in QuickBooks Online. If your books live in another system today, we will talk through the move during onboarding.

Yes. We can reconcile your provider's reports to your books, flag errors, and help with payroll tax notices, without asking you to change providers. Our Outside Payroll Provider Support page has more detail.

Yes. We can help you collect Forms W-9, track contractor payments through the year, and prepare the Forms 1099 that apply to your business. Our W-9 & 1099 Services page explains how it works.

Yes. Send us every page of the notice through the TaxDome portal and note the response date. We will review what it asks and, with a signed power of attorney (IRS Form 2848), can respond to the IRS on your behalf. Our Client Guides page lists first steps to take when a notice arrives.

Yes, where permitted. We help with correspondence from California agencies such as the Franchise Tax Board, the Department of Tax and Fee Administration, and the Employment Development Department, and we coordinate it with any related federal matter.

We prepare individual returns (Form 1040) and business returns for S corporations (Form 1120-S), partnerships (Form 1065), and C corporations (Form 1120). Multi-entity groups are a regular part of our work.

No. We work with clients year-round, so planning conversations can happen before the year closes, not after. Returns are filed in tax season, but most of the decisions that shape them are made months earlier.

Yes. Our Tax Discovery review looks at past returns and records for missed items, exposure, and corrections worth considering. Whether an amended return makes sense depends on your facts and which years are still open.

Our specialties span six industry groups: highly regulated businesses (including cannabis, hemp, tobacco and nicotine, and psychedelics), professional gambling, agriculture, construction and trades, manufacturing, and real estate. Our Industries pages cover each one.

Yes. Cannabis is a core specialty, from cultivation and manufacturing to distribution and retail, with deep experience in §280E, inventory, and cost of goods sold. We handle the accounting, tax, and payroll side and work alongside your attorney and compliance team on licensing and legal questions.

Yes. We work with professional poker players and other gamblers on recordkeeping, income and expense tracking, and tax planning. Gambling tax rules have changed recently, so we review the current rules against your records before planning.

Yes. Inventory and cost of goods sold sit at the center of our work in manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and regulated industries. That includes choosing and applying inventory methods, such as the small business rules under §471(c) and the cost capitalization rules under §263A, where they apply.

Through the TaxDome client portal, which provides secure upload, e-signatures, and messaging. Please do not send tax documents, account numbers, or identification numbers by regular email or through this website's forms.

Use the Client Portal link at the top of this site, which takes you to the TaxDome sign-in. New clients receive an invitation to set up portal access during onboarding.

Client tax and financial information is handled under your engagement letter and exchanged through the TaxDome portal, never through this website. As tax return preparers, we are subject to federal rules that restrict how tax return information may be used and disclosed. Our Privacy Policy explains what this website itself collects.