Concord company helps immigrant families wade through tax code


When John Wani was visiting his old friends and roommates in 2015, he asked them what they thought of starting a tax preparation firm.

His friends, Francois Ruvera and wife, Bijoux Bahati, agreed to the idea, and Foresight Tax Services was born right there in the living room of their Manchester apartment.

"We all saw that there was a demand," Wani said to help immigrants with their US taxes. Wani and the others said they had "seen predatory tax practices against refugees and new immigrants, as well as many misunderstandings about all of the tax laws. So if we start we can do everything right here. "

Wani and Ruvera had strong business backgrounds. Wani is a graduate of Southern New Hampshire University's Business School with a bachelor's degree in business administration and has experience in finance with the South Sudan Community of New Hampshire, a non-profit organization. Ruvera holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Champlain College, a degree in finance from SNHU and a master's degree in business administration with a major in accounting.

Foresight now operates in Concord and Buffalo, New York. They chose Concord because they had connections with the refugee community here and Bahati worked with refugee children in the school district. Ruvera is serving as CEO and President of the company, Wani as CFO and Bahati as Chief Marketing Officer.

"Our mission is to help immigrants understand tax laws," said Ruvera. Foresight provides tax preparation services as well as bookkeeping services for small businesses, and while they are specifically aimed at the immigrant population, they will do business with anyone who needs their services, according to Ruvera.

In addition to their financial backgrounds, all three Foresight founders speak multiple languages ​​- a helpful tool to serve a diverse immigrant population. Wani, who is originally from South Sudan and lived in Cairo, Egypt, speaks Arabic and Moru. Ruvera from the Democratic Republic of the Congo speaks Kiswahili, Kirundi, Kinyarwanda, Kinyanja and French. And Bahati, also from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, speaks Kiswahili and Kimbembe.

"We saw a lot of demand, especially in the tax area," said Ruvera.

Wani recalled 40 people showing up at their first unofficial location, their kitchen table. Now Ruvera said that together they serve over 150 clients in the Concord and Buffalo areas and prepare taxes for people in all 50 states.

For this special tax season, the Foresight team is preparing to help clients with the impact of the COVID-19 stimulus package passed earlier this year, which includes an expanded child tax credit and an expanded earned income tax credit.

Bahati said Foresight wants to make an extra effort to educate customers about the effects of these changes and their benefits because if someone gets their taxes wrong, they could miss out on the benefits on offer.

Ruvera added that they do this all the time, especially to help parents find financial help for their children. "We're seeing the child being affected because his parents didn't get their taxes right," he said. Foresight's goal is to help people prevent this from happening.

"We're helping people see how your finances, if not put together right, can really affect your life and that of your children," said Bahati.

In addition, the Foresight team tries to help scammers and scammers to take advantage of their lack of tax knowledge.

"People assume they have no options and think that the deceitful practitioners they go to are the only options," said Bahati. "Our job is to be available to people, give them tips and advice on how to identify someone who isn't in the best interest and make sure they're doing everything right."

Falling victim to fraud disproportionately affects immigrant and refugee communities, Bahati added.

"When people get into financial trouble, it doesn't mean good for a new family just trying to get through the trauma of war and everything else," Bahati said. Another goal of Foresight is to do everything possible to help new immigrants and integrate them into the community.

For more information on Foresight Tax Services, please visit their website.



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https://businessservicesnews.ca/2021/04/25/concord-company-helps-immigrant-families-wade-through-tax-code/

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