Bara Business Center

NEW 2008 TAX REBATE

NEW 2008 TAX REBATE (Feb. 8, 2008) - Congress and the White House forged a deal yesterday to begin rushing tax rebates of $600 to $1,200 to most tax filers in May. Individual taxpayers will get up to $600 in rebates, working couples $1,200 and those with children an additional $300 per child under the agreement.

Schedule - Tax Season Extended Hours

Tax Season (February 1 through April 15th) Office hours are Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. until last daily appointment (usually 7:00-8:00 p.m.) and on Saturdays 9:00 a.m. until last appointment (usually 3:00-4:00 p.m.). During this ten week period we do not close for any Holidays.

About Us

Arab, Alabama is a small town in Marshall County, nineteen miles south of Huntsville, Alabama on U. S. Highway 231. The town was to be named Arad in honor of it's founding citizen Arad Thompson. In 1886 when the letters for the Post Office arrived from Washington D.C., there was a "B" instead of "D". The citizens put the letters on the Post Office building and changed the name to Arab.

Al LaGrone launched an income tax return preparation business in January 1957 and called it Bara Business Service. Bara Business Service was operated out of his home in Arab, Alabama for the first two years. During the following four years, we shared office space with a Real Estate Office on North Main Street. Mr. LaGrone built and occupied our current office building in April 1962. In 1970 an addition was made to our building, doubling the office space to approximately 10,000 square feet.

Mr. LaGrone retired and sold the practice to Greg Cook (an employee of approximately ten years) in December 1994. The business operated under the name Cook & LaGrone during the transition period. Due to state regulations governing Mr. Cook's CPA license and the use of a fictitious name, LaGrone was dropped from the firm name in March 1998 (two years after the death of our Founder). Mr. Cook completely renovated the building inside and out over the next five years.

Today, Cook & Co. serves clientele in all fifty states and approximately nineteen foreign countries. We have many long standing relationships built on mutual respect and trust.

We offer services in four major categories:

Accounting
Tax
Financial
Technology

Cook & Co. Provides Cell Phone Browser Access to Website!

Cook & Co. is pleased to announce that we have provided for cell phone web browser access to our website utilizing AvantGo. Our clients can have access to the latest tax news and much more.

Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) � How It Affects Filing Season 2008

Updated Dec. 28, 2007

The upcoming tax season is expected to start on time for everyone except for certain taxpayers potentially affected by late enactment of the Alternative Minimum Tax “patch.” Following extensive work in recent weeks, the IRS expects to be able to begin processing returns for the vast majority of taxpayers in mid-January. However, as many as 13.5 million taxpayers using five forms related to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) legislation will have to wait to file tax returns until the IRS completes the reprogramming of its systems for the new law.

IRS has targeted Feb. 11, as the potential starting date for taxpayers to begin submitting the five-related returns affected by the legislation. The February date allows the IRS enough time to update and test its systems to accommodate the changes without major disruptions to other operations related to the tax season.