Learn how AccounTAXstic saves time and money for the firm and its clients using Melio to get paid

Meet AccounTAXstic

AccounTAXstic provides accounting, bookkeeping, and tax preparation services to small and large businesses. The firm specializes in real estate, insurance, transportation, and other professional service-based industries.

Sabrina James founded the firm at the end of 2020, with over 10 years of accounting and tax experience under her belt. She is a licensed tax preparer and an Advanced QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor.  After losing her job during the pandemic, Sabrina saw an opportunity to invest in herself, learn more about the tax industry and seek out her own clients.

“I strive to keep a positive mindset. I viewed the chaos surrounding the pandemic as a means of opportunity,” Sabrina says. “So many small businesses suffered financially at the start of the pandemic. Many business owners came to me for advice on how to reduce their expenses and apply for PPP (Payment Protection Program) loans. This gave me an opportunity to get new clients and grow my firm.”

The name of the company is an amalgamation of accounting and taxes, “which will hopefully be a fantastic experience for anyone who uses my service,” says Sabrina, who is now moving out of her home office and into an office building suite as she expands her staff.

The challenge

Before Melio, Sabrina tried a few different payment solutions. The challenge for Sabrina and her clients was when a payment was received from a third-party merchant, such as Stripe or Square.

“We would notice on bank transactions that the full amount was not received due to the service fees being deducted. It was very difficult to apply the payment to the correct invoice without knowing the exact total of the service fees to subtract from the invoice. I had to take additional steps such as logging into the merchant portal and printing the reports before I could apply the payment to the invoice,” she says. This was time-consuming as Sabrina had to wait for her client to send a report from the third party detailing the fees.

The solution

After conducting research, Sabrina found Melio, which she uses as both a standalone platform as well as through its integration with Intuit’s QuickBooks as she has two separate companies – one where she receives payments for tax preparation and the other, payments for bookkeeping.

Melio allows Sabrina and her clients the option to pass on the merchant fees to their customers. “A lot of merchant services don’t offer that. I was super excited to try it out on my own before I recommended it to some of my clients to use it. And they loved it,” she says.

Most of Sabrina’s clients are in the B2B space –  vendors and contractors that get paid for their services. They are grateful to use this service where they can pass on merchant fees to their customers, she notes.

With Melio, AccounTAXstic was able to cut down the time it spends on accounts receivable by 80%, or about six hours a month. She also estimates Melio saves her and her clients around $60 a month just in merchant fees.

Another time-saving feature she enjoys is the capability to send an invoice without having to create a new client within QuickBooks. If, for example, she is at a networking event, a prospective client interested in  bookkeeping or tax preparation services may ask how they can sign up. Sabrina can then ask them to make a deposit of $50 or $100.

“I can text my company’s customized Melio link to the prospect and they can just enter in the amount to pay. It’s that simple. Later I can create the invoice and apply it within QuickBooks,” she says. “I like that capability of getting paid immediately versus having to wait to add the prospect as a client and then create the invoice. It just saves time.”