Today we’d like to introduce you to Theresa Lacey.
Hi Theresa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story begins with my step-father’s tax business, “Herb’s Taxes.” He was a retired Naval Captain who worked as a financial advisor and he started his tax business in the early 1970’s. Fast forward to 2010 when I began working with my parents in the tax business. I earned my “Enrolled Agent” designation and I began building my own tax business while working with my parents in their tax business. Eventually, my parents retired and I took over the tax preparation for most of Herb’s clients, while I continued to build my business.
I operated my tax business under my name until 2022, at which point I reorganized the business as NOVA Tax Lady LLC. We were located in Northern Virginia at that point, which is why I chose to use NOVA in the name. In 2025, my main office relocated to an area that is closer to central Virginia, so now I choose to look at “NOVA” as a star, instead of the geographical location, and I have kept the name.
NOVA Tax Lady LLC now includes two additional EAs and we like to think of ourselves as “Three EAs, One team” servicing our clients. I am particularly proud that the company continues to be family-owned and operated. My daughter, Samantha Yates, is one of the EAs with NOVA Tax Lady LLC now, as is my step-mother, Starla Lacey. Samantha and I work through the Spotsylvania, VA office and Starla has a home office in Tennessee. With technology, we have found that our physical location does not matter. We work electronically through a secure client portal with most of our clients, and others will often use a secure mail service to get their tax documents to us. It is reassuring to know that we have a team so our clients will have continuity in their tax servicing, even if something horrible happens to one of us.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been mostly a smooth road as far as our work goes. Tax season is ALWAYS stressful and that is just the nature of the industry. Basically, everyone has January – April 15th to get their tax filing done, or put on extension. And since most of us do not start receiving our tax documents until February, it is really only 3 and 1/2 month window and there are simply not enough licensed tax preparers. So, when a prospective client reaches out to us, they are usually desperate to find a new preparer they can trust. I am proud to say that NOVA Tax Lady LLC has an excellent reputation in the services we provide (you can read the reviews at www.novataxlady.com), so the prospective clients are usually very eager to work with us and it is hard to say “no.” So to accomodate the demand, we try to develop improvements to our processes to streamline the work so we can continue to say “yes” to new clients.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about NOVA Tax Lady LLC?
At NOVA Tax Lady LLC, we specialize in the preparation and filing of tax returns for individuals, estates and trusts, and small businesses. As part of that process, we also provide guidance to our clients for improving their tax position, when appropriate. We also provide tax planning services, tax resolution services, and other consultation services related to tax matters.
We offer our clients 30 minutes of free consultation time each year, so we can usually tackle additional tax planning or consultation matters for our clients with no additional fees. Sometimes, the consultation work exceeds that time and we will bill accordingly. We pride ourselves on providing excellent service at a very reasonable cost.
I am also now offering Beneficiary Planning Services, after seeing so many clients having to deal with estate or trust issues that could have been avoided. This is not a legal service but an administrative service, helping clients to proper title their assets to avoid probate, saving a lot of time, fees and aggravation after a person’s passing.
We take pride in the quality of work we do and the level of customer service we provide. We generally respond to emails or telephone messages within 24 hours, even at the height of tax season and we are always happy to answer any client questions.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Like everyone else, I enjoy the things that money can buy, but having a successful business is not just about the money. The ability to control my schedule and therefore, my level of stress, is a huge part of defining success for me. Having clients who truly appreciate us and our efforts to provide exceptional service is huge when measuring success. Being able to ensure that we only work with people who are “nice” is definitely part of my definition of success. But mostly, it is the peace of mind I feel in knowing that our family business can sustain us and give us all the comfort of feeling secure in our future.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.novataxlady.com
- Facebook: Samantha will have to tell you this.
