Page 7 - Florida Sentinel 5-7-21

Feature
Tax And Financial Services Company Working To Help The Community
BY MONIQUE STAMPS Sentinel Staff Writer
Natalie Jean-Baptiste
is the sole proprietor of JBI Tax Services LLC. The com- pany does tax preparation and notary services (including traveling notary.)
Jean-Baptiste is also a li- censed realtor, and her busi- ness offers a variety of services including closings and assis- tance with other real estate transactions.
Jean-Baptiste was born and raised in Tampa, graduat- ing from Armwood High School. She received her AA degree from HCC, her bache- lor’s degree from the Univer- sity of Phoenix, and her MBA from Strayer University.
She is currently in the Navy Reserves and was in the U.S. Navy for 18 years. She joined right after 9/11. When she returned from Afghanistan in 2019 and was no longer active duty, she got her real estate license.
When the pandemic hit, she knew that people in the community needed help with their taxes. All the changes that occurred with the pan- demic, stimulus checks and unemployment benefits made doing taxes more complicated.
Jean-Baptiste also felt that the larger tax service companies were expensive. That, coupled with the fact that people were not comfort- able waiting in lines or with a crowd of people, pushed her to come up with an alterna- tive.
Jean-Baptiste wanted to create a safe, secure method for her clients to file their taxes. She has facilitated and incorporated virtual tax filing methods to keep clients com- fortable if they do not want to do business in person.
She has a free app and her website (Jbitaxservice.com) offers secure protection for all documents and SecureID backed by Experian.
Her emphasis on security reflects her desire to help and build her community and pro- tect them.
Jean-Baptiste considers
NATALIE JEAN- BAPTISTE Military veteran works
to help community
herself lucky to have survived the pandemic unscathed. Con- sidering that, she wants to em- power and rebuild parts of the community devastated by un- employment by employing people within the community that have the talent to help people with taxes and other fi- nancial necessities.
She wants to expand within the community and train people for next tax sea- son. Expanding her business will also bring affordable tax preparation to people that have paid steep prices in the past.
For businesses in the com- munity, Jean-Baptiste wants to share the tax breaks and credits that smaller busi- nesses may not be aware of. Many large companies pay small tax bills, and she wants Black businesses to be able to take advantage of those tax credits as well.
Jean-Baptiste is bub- bling with ideas to assist sen- iors as well. She is considering many different programs to assist the elderly with or with- out the older person having to know technology.
In her spare time, she is the proud mother to three daughters and one grand- daughter. She also runs fre- quently with her dog.
Jean-Baptiste states, “I grew up poor and in the proj- ects. Anything is possible when we work together. 2020 was a bad year, but believe that someone cares about you. I care about you.”
FRIDAY, MAY 7, 2021 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDA PAGE 7-A