New Tax Office Prepares for a Busy Season

Betty Lyons recently opened Lyons Tax, Bookkeeping and Accounting off Gravois Road in Fenton. The Fenton Chamber of Commerce hosted an official ribbon cutting and grand opening for the new tax office on November 11.

Lyons said that she has been helping clients with their taxes for 20 years, but that she had always worked for other companies. Now that her children are in school she decided it was time to get back to work. She thought she would take a chance on herself and open her own office rather than look for a job with a large accounting firm.

“It was time to get out on my own and make my own money,” Lyons said. “Most of my background is in doing taxes.”

Lyons' specialty is in tax preparation. She also offers help with personal financial planning, setting up a new business, small business accounting and payroll. She highly recommends QuickBooks for small business accounting and can train clients on how to set up and operate the software to their best advantage.

Lyons resides in Cedar Hill, but she chose to set up shop in Fenton. She said she found her new office off Gravois Road by chance while out driving one day. The space was formerly used as an accounting office.

Her advice to people who might be leery of April 15 is to not wait until the last minute.

“If you think you’re going to owe, don’t wait. You don’t have to pay it right then--I’ve lost track of the number of people who think they’re gonna owe and then wait for the last minute,” Lyons said. She expects to be very busy when tax season begins in mid January.

Lyons charges a flat rate for tax preparation, based on the types of forms that need to be filled out. She charges by the hour for accounting and bookkeeping services.