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Boreal Community Media

Cook County Tax and Accounting gearing up for the busy season

Dec 12, 2021 06:01AM ● By Editor
Photo submitted by Steve Fleace

By Boreal Community Media - December 12, 2021

Cook County Tax and Accounting is getting ready for the upcoming busy tax season!  Located on the shore of beautiful Tom Lake, north of Hovland, they are available for face-to-face meetings through Zoom and other online sources, as well as Facetime phone calls. When necessary, they will even meet with you at a place of your choosing, if the forest road drive is not for you! Their Client Portal, in addition to secure email and fax, makes it easy to send and receive information with them.

Steve Fleace grew up near the small southwestern Minnesota town of Okabena. A member of Mensa, he began his accounting career while still in high school and graduated from Nettleton College in Sioux Falls South Dakota with majors in both Professional Accounting and Computer Science. 2021 marked his 40th tax preparation season. Mary Kay originated from the central Minnesota town of Foley. She became involved with accounting and finance in 1987. Steve and Mary Kay met and began working together in 1988 and have been an unbeatable team ever since.

They began visiting Cook County in 1993 and decided by 1999 to put roots down here.  In 1999 they purchased property north of Hovland and by 2003 were residing permanently on Tom Lake. Both Steve and Mary Kay were employed by George Maruska Accounting in Grand Marais prior to his passing. The Maruska office came to be acquired and operated by a Duluth corporation. Noting the need for local accounting and tax professionals, Steve and Mary Kay re-opened Cook County Tax and Accounting in the summer of 2021. 

The services that Steve and Mary Kay provide are tax preparation, payroll services, accounting and consulting.  Clients can rest assured that their business will be handled directly by a true professional when working with Steve and Mary Kay.  They both grew up interested in numbers and it was a natural progression to pursue careers in accounting.

Keeping up on new tax law changes annually has always been part of the game. In addition to constant exposure to alerts from many tax organizations and governmental units, they are always pursuing continuing professional education courses. As an Enrolled Agent, Steve is required to complete an average of 24 hours each year.   

Unfortunately, there are very few opportunities to relax or wind-down at all during tax season. From January through April, it is pretty much work as many hours as you can and still try to get a few hours of sleep. They try to average 70 to 80-hour work weeks during tax season, so it becomes a 7 day a week job. Kind of like bears, they emerge in the spring when the weather gets better!

Mary Kay’s hobbies revolve around family and being a gourmet cook. She grew up in a family of 10 children so their extended family is huge. Steve’s favorite activity is distance running. He has completed over 400 races including about 40 full marathons and a dozen or so ultra-marathons ranging from 31 to 62 miles. (Sometimes not the easiest hobby to train for during winters in Cook County.) He also tries to not to overly indulge in Mary Kay’s gourmet cooking! They both also enjoy spending as much time ATVing as they can.

Steve and Mary Kay’s son, daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters live in Watertown, MN. They try to see them as often as we can, although the distance is sometimes a hindrance.  In addition, Steve and Mary Kay have three cats that they consider family.  They moved a new modular house to their Tom Lake site a year ago. Their existing cabin became their business office. Their commute to work involves a nice walk across the yard to work every day!

They offer competitive rates and would like to remind anyone thinking of payroll services that the first day of a new quarter, especially the first of a new year, is always the best time to start with a new payroll company.

For more information on their services, please visit their website to learn more or to contact them:  https://cctaxmn.com/


 The Fleace home on Tom Lake near Hovland.  Submitted photo

 

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