SONDRA P. GAYLORD

Enrolled Agent, LLC

5670 Lamplighter Road Girard, Ohio 44420-1628

Work Phone 330-759-7605 or 330-759-3062 Fax 330-759-7625 (New as of 10/07) Home Phone 330-759-3062

e-mail: sgaylord@neo.rr.com

Click Here for a: Map and Directions to my Office

 

"I especially like to represent my clients before the Internal Revenue Service -- let me do so for you!"

 

Sondra Gaylord, Enrolled Agent, LLC, has a full-service tax office that is open 12 months of the year. The office offers all manner of tax preparation and tax management: personal, business, rentals, corporations, partnerships, estates, trusts, and fiduciary returns. We emphasize quality and personal service.

Real Estate Tax Issues (from purchase to management to sale) are a specialty of the office. Sondra is Certified by the State of Ohio to offer Continuing Education Credit in a variety of classes concerning Real Estate, including Code Section 1031.

We also represent taxpayers who are in audit. Further, Sondra Gaylord is available to teach, hold seminars, and offer specialized tax classes and presentations.

An Enrolled Agent is a tax specialist enrolled with the Treasury Department and authorized Federally to practice before the Internal Revenue Service. Please read more about my practice, focus and approach, below.

2005: Invited to join a 4-year Post-graduate program: National Tax Practice Institute. Held in Washington DC and administered by National Society of Enrolled Agents. The designation of "Fellow" follows completion.

2005: Teamed with Atty. Patricia Kearney in 1-day presentation to Alabama Society of Enrolled Agents: Corporations (A.M.); Real Estate and Tax Law (P.M.)

 

Education, Treasury & IRS Experience

 

1980     All but Dissertation to PhD,  Virginia Polytechnic & State University

1977     Master’s Degree, Virginia Polytechnic & State University

1955     Bachelor’s Degree, Indiana University

 

I was never an employee of Treasury Department

1976                First exposure to Federal Taxation,  IRS 17th St., Wash. DC - VITA Class

1980-1996      Represented IRS in VITA, TCE, and Operation Outreach Programs.

There was no program of any kind in the Northeastern area of Ohio.   Worked under Cleveland Taxpayer Assistance Office.  My duties included teaching, creating full curriculum   (we had no texts at that time),  scheduling training, arranging for sites,  public relations (including publicity, radio and  TV Q&A programs), public appearances, scheduling speakers from other taxing agencies, staffing sites, site management and reporting to IRS.

1991-1994            Board member of IRS District Director Institute on Federal Taxation. 

Duties included:  planning,  moderating, and presenting topics on federal taxation.

1994 - 2003     Continue to offer workshops and presentations as requested by

Taxpayer Education.  Will be a presenter at Youngstown State Univ. Institute on Federal Taxation, 2003, Topic of Code Section 1031 Tax Free Exchanges

 

 

Employment Experience

 

1980 – 2003                Tax Practitioner.  I own and operate a full-service year-around firm.

1987                            Attained Enrolled Agent status

1980-1984                   Created and presented 2 teaching units:

 

·        Yes, You Can!, a 32-hour workshop which offered 8 different aspects of personal financial planning to the public.  Coordinated speakers, curriculum, activities through the Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.  Invited to present it in Cincinnati at the National Library Association Conference 1983. 

 

·        2) Your Money or Your Life  (With my late husband, a physician) 16-hour unit integrating good health management with good financial management. 

Four workshops within the unit.

 

1976-1980                   Teacher of the Deaf, Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax, Virginia

1972-1976                   Career Education Specialist, Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax, Virginia

1964-1972                   Self-employed Speech & Hearing Therapist

1955-1964                   Speech & Hearing Therapist private practice and in school systems

 

 

Professional Memberships

 

National Association of Enrolled Agents

Ohio Association of Enrolled Agents

National Association of Tax Practitioners

Accreditation Council for Accountancy and Taxation

 


A Bit About My Practice, My Focus and My Approach

 

I accept Audit cases from a variety of referring sources: attorneys, other professionals, friends of clients.  “Audits won or resolved in my clients’ favor include such issues as:  innocent spouse question in 1991:  a carpenter entitled to earned income credit but denied two years in a row;  contested dependency questions; basis adjustment problems; 941 and 940 issues; numerous new clients who arrive in my office having not filed in a decade or more; and many other issues.   I am prime litigator for the firm.

 

My love of research was honed during my graduate work at the doctoral level.  If I am unsure of my own findings, I do not hesitate  to reach for a research bank (such as National Association of Tax Practitioners) for substantiated answers to questions. I am not afraid to ask and insist that all people in my office approach tax problems with the same attitude.

 

I distribute four newsletters annually to clients, updating them and alerting them to important tax and personal finance elements. I developed a series of presentations to: Realtors (6 speeches last year), contractors, hairdressers and groomers, senior citizens, and other special interest groups. 

 

Through the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, I developed a 16-unit workshop which I wrote and implemented. “Yes, You Can!”  This involved 32 hours of  lecture, activities, and group interaction.  Topics included banking, finance, insurance, housing, tax, retirement, starting a small business, marriage & re-marriage, personality and money.  Invited to Present at the National Library Association meeting in Cincinnati, 1983.


Also, I developed and offered (with my Physician-husband) “Your Money or Your Life”, 16 hours of lecture, interaction, and workshops.   This was presented at churches from Reston Virginia to Aptos, California.

 

I was featured in many radio and television appearances (for Internal Revenue Service) monthly for from one to three hours of Q&A, for over a decade.

 

I wrote and published two newsletters: First Class Female (a variety of business issues for businesswomen which was sold to the Youngstown Business Journal; and Femina, a newsletter for women physicians under the sponsorship of Northeastern Ohio University School of Medicine (NEOUCOM)

 

My business is intentionally small with an Associate and two secretaries.  We employ the best tax programs available.  We pride ourselves on our on-going personal relationship with our clients. We underscore ethical practices in all elements of our work.

 

I am closely tied to area tax practitioners.  We have established a network of support.  We meet 8 times a year and present topics to each other.  My professional relationships include a key member of our multi-city tax professionals. She has invited me to address their group. (“Techniques for Recognizing Hidden Taxable income: Corporations and Partnerships”)

 

I work best when I have assembled a “team”. For instance, on a number of occasions, an IRS agent, an attorney, and I have worked together in collaboration, we three, on behalf of a taxpayer. I believe that networking is one of my key strengths.

 

I enjoy studying an issue by “picking it up by all four corners to examine it from underneath.” 

 

I enjoy boiling complex subject matter down to manageable units.  For example, recently the Mahoning and Trumbull County Boards of Realtors asked me to present a concise presentation on Code Section 1031 Tax Free Exchanges.  I wrote a 40-minute lecture which I illustrated.  I brought in a Title Guarantee person to discuss her duties as a Qualified Intermediary.  People were able to walk away with a workbook in plain English, illustrated with “silly dogs”, to help them remember the key points. 

 

I have done the same with various groups on such topics as: “Independent Contractors vs. Employees”, “Business vs. Hobby”, “Publication 230 and Ethical Practices”, “Business Formation”, “Starting a Small Business”, “The Alternative Minimum Tax and Timing Issues”, “Depreciation Since 1978”, “Earned Income Credit Since 1988: Legal, Ethical, and “Practitioner Issues:  Office in the Home”. 

Please feel free to call me to meet and get acquainted. My phone numbers are above.

 


Many thanks to Steven S. Shagrin, JD, CFP®, CRPC, CRC, CELP for his help in setting up and hosting my page. Be sure to check out his unique approach to Financial Life Planning™ at http://www.PlanningForLife.info.


Ó{0_5992.JPG|1|pinelake|11/5/2007 9:24:45 AM C:\wwwroot\pinelakereserve\images\NEW\100_6292.JPG|1|pinelake|11/5/2007 9:24:41 AM C:\wwwroot\pinelakereserve\images\NEW\100_6293.JPG|1|pinelake|11/5/2007 9:24:35 AM C:\wwwroot\pinelakereserve\images\NEW\100_6294.JPG|1|pinelake|11/5/2007 9:24:30 AM C:\wwwroot\pinelakereserve\images\NEW\100_6306.JPG|1|pinelake|11/5/2007 9:24:26 AM C:\wwwroot\pinelakereserve\images\NEW\100_6307.JPG|1|pinelake|11/5/2007 9:24:20 AM C:\wwwroot\pinelakereserve\images\NEW\100_6315.J