Taxes and the IRS.

Bill Daggy said some people fear those two words.

Through the tax portion of his business, Daggy Enterprises LLC, however, he has helped people overcome those fears.

“I just noticed you kind of talk to a lot of people and talk through their problems, and they weren’t near as complicated or as bad as they thought,” he said. “I just enjoyed working with people in that way.”

After nearly 20 years of performing tax services for clients, however, he has decided to close that chapter of his life.

He is referring clients to Vanessa DuSablon Tax and Accounting Specialist, and he said quite a few already have made the transition.

“I have worked with her on some of my own taxes that were kind of complicated a couple years ago and found out she was in the business,” Daggy said. “It’s a transition this year. I’ll be doing some taxes. I’ll probably end up telling everybody that I will not be doing them a year from now.”

Daggy said he wants his clients to be happy with where they are going for their tax services, and his recommendation is to DuSablon.

“It means a lot because we had this relationship, but he took it a step further to say, ‘Hey, I trust you with my own things and the business that I’ve built enough to recommend you to officially kind of take over,'” DuSablon said.

“He had any number of places that he could have tried to contact to send on the business,” she said. “A big part of why he was in this business in the first place was to just reach out to people and help them with their problems, and so he would have never wanted to leave them high and dry. I feel honored to be able to fill those shoes, so to speak.”

Daggy’s next chapter consists of traveling and spending valuable time with his children and grandchildren.

“I decided to go ahead and enjoy life a little bit,” he said. “I just enjoyed the people as much as anything. I’ll probably miss that the most.”

Daggy spent the past 10-plus years doing taxes from his Seymour home. Before that, he worked for H and R Block, having received quite a bit of training through that company and taking annual courses through the Purdue Tax School.

“I just enjoyed it,” he said. “One, it’s kind of a ministry for some people, to me anyway, that just fear so much. And then helping people get the least amount of taxes due and not overpay is the other reason. Some people get refunds and some don’t, but you’re able to minimize what they owe, too. It’s a way of helping people, so I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit.”

Daggy grew up on a farm in west central Indiana northwest of Indianapolis. He moved to Seymour in 1990 and worked in agriculture until the mid-1990s when he took on other jobs, including doing taxes.

“I’ve told many people I should have started that as a career when I was younger instead of waiting until now,” he said, laughing. “It has been a fulfilling occupation.”

DuSablon gained experience with taxes and accounting at an early age with her parents, Richard and Sheryl Hampton, being small business owners.

“I was in the stores. I was running numbers with my mom,” she said. “I was right there with her doing all of the taxes and all of the accounting for the business as well as a managerial role for a while.”

DuSablon was a stay-at-home mom for almost a decade until deciding to re-enter the workforce.

In January 2019, she began studying to take the three-part enrolled agent exam.

An enrolled agent is a person who has earned the privilege of representing taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service by either passing the three-part comprehensive IRS test covering individual and business tax returns or through experience as a former IRS employee, according to irs.gov.

Enrolled agent status is the highest credential the IRS awards, the website states. Individuals who obtain this elite status must adhere to ethical standards and complete 72 hours of continuing education courses every three years.

DuSablon took the test in May, July and October 2019.

“I miraculously passed all three first try,” she said. “I guess that usually doesn’t happen. … A lot of people have to take multiple tries at it. It’s a weed-’em-out kind of process, and there’s no shame of having to do these exams more than once.”

She started her own business in January 2020 and has operated out of the building at 222 W. Second St., Seymour.

DuSablon offers full-service payroll and accounting services, including preparing the forms and reports, direct deposit and payroll taxes. She also handles mergers and acquisitions and the questions and negotiations people may have while going through that process.

Plus, she does individual, business, estate and nonprofit taxes and assists clients with the Paycheck Protection Program applications and forgiveness applications.