My Story
Bill Wilson, C.P.A.
Hi, my name is Bill, Owner and Operator of WBWilson Tax Service. I am a C.P.A. licensed in the State of Florida. I have been married for more than 22 years, and have three grown children, as well as three grandchildren.
I originally received my C.P.A. license in the State of Maryland; but, recently transferred my license to the State of Florida when I relocated to that state. I continue to maintain my membership with the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants and will soon be gaining membership with the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants. I am also a registered tax preparer with the IRS and have completed their 2017 Annual Filing Season Program.
I began preparing personal individual income tax returns in 1983, even before I graduated from college. My first client was my cousin, whom I charged $5 (yes, that’s five dollars) that year to prepare his taxes….my how times have changed.
In May 1983, I graduated from Towson University (Towson, Maryland) with a degree in Accounting. In May 1984, I passed the Maryland Certified Public Accountants examination. My first job out of college was with an accounting firm who had many tax clients. One of my responsibilities during their busy tax season was to assist in preparing client’s personal income tax returns. To assist with this, the firm gave each employee a handbook on tax laws. I began reading through it like a child would a Christmas toy catalog. In the process, I realized that I truly enjoyed learning about personal taxes and helping people with preparing their tax returns.
At first, I began preparing tax returns just as a service to help family and a few friends that I knew in my church, and for only a small fee. Because I had a regular full-time job, I only prepared tax returns during some evenings, but, mostly over the weekends. As the years went by, my tax service spread by word-of-mouth alone, and my client base grew slowly. My goal was never to make it into a business, but just to help family and my friends with something that I loved to do and was good at doing.
One of my clients at that time included a minister of the church I attended. In preparing his return, I began to learn the unique tax rules that applied solely to ministers.
In 1991, I moved from a small town northeast of Baltimore City, Maryland to the Gaithersburg, Maryland area to take over the job of Director of Finance at a large local church. At that time, my client base had grown to approximately 30 clients – still all family and friends. However, because of the distance of the move, I lost nearly all of those clients over the next few years. However, I began to assist some of the new friends that I made in my new living area with their tax returns, mostly all obtained by word-of-mouth. The clients I had lost from my former living area were quickly replaced by new clients, and my client base began to grow again.
After my move in 1991, I also began to give added focus to preparing tax returns for pastors and ministers. This allowed me to increase my knowledge and skill-set that is necessary in preparing these unique returns.
In early 2014, I took early retirement from my regular day job and began to dedicate more focus on my tax practice. This allowed me to provide better service to my growing client base, which at the time numbered approximately 170.
In late 2014, my wife and I relocated to the Gulf Coast of Florida. With the move came a new way to provide my services to my clients – most of whom still lived in the State of Maryland, but also throughout the U.S. You can read more about this in my Tax Preparation Process on this website.
My client base includes individuals with home-based businesses, rental properties, investments, multiple deductions and credits, and who are ministers. While the majority of my clients live in the State of Maryland, I have clients that reside throughout the United States; this provides me with the opportunity to continue to broaden my knowledge and understanding of tax laws in multiple states.
Finally, this past year saw the passing of the biggest change to our U.S tax code since 1986. While this will have various impacts on different individuals, it will likely result in lower taxes for the large majority of taxpayers in 2018. As for 2017, there were no significant changes to the tax laws; so, the tax filing process will be very similar to last year.
So, until next year, happy filing.