Biography
I'm not fond of writing about myself, but you're entitled to know something of my background and qualifications.
I came into the tax business sort of backwards. I'm not an accountant, and didn't take a single accounting or math class in college.
I grew up in the redwood country of northern California, a fifth-generation California native and the daughter of an independent fisherman. Unlike the practical family I came from, I apparently didn't have a single practical bone in my body. So I majored in French, with a minor in philosophy. (CSU, Sacramento, 1983) In time, I married my husband Walt Rhoads and settled down with him in Oak Park.
As can reasonably be expected, I floundered for some years after graduation. For several years I worked for the Suttertown News as a proofreader and clerk. In 1995 I took my first tax course, and became licensed to prepare taxes in California. I was hired shortly thereafter by a large corporation, and prepared taxes in their storefront office for five years. Meanwhile I studied hard and took every tax class my employer offered, and a few accounting classes on the side.
In the spring of 2000 I left my employer and took the SEE exam to become an enrolled agent. That summer I started Oak Park Business Services.I started my own business because I felt that I could provide better service at a lower cost than my former employer.
I received my enrollment in the summer of 2001. I am now a member of the National Association of Enrolled Agents and the California Society of Enrolled Agents. For eight years I labored in obscurity, first from my home, then for five years in an office buried behind a Baptist church. In June of 2008, I signed a lease on my first real storefront, in the Tallac Village shopping center in Tahoe Park. This, of course, required a name change, as I was moving out of Oak Park for the first time. And so OPBS became Your Taxes & More. YT&M is still a small enterprise, but it strives to offer all the services that the "big boys" have, and then some.
Please feel free to contact me with your tax questions or problems. I'll be glad to help.
