In 1980 at the age of 15, Neel Roberts, President and Founder of PTC Canada took his first accounting course. During a high school
night course that same year, he completed his first tax return, which opened the world of income taxes to him. He completed all of
the accounting courses he could in high school before entering York University in Toronto to major in Economics.
Roberts used a "customer first" approach learned in previous companies such as FedEx to launch PTC Canada in 1998 and serviced 29
clients the first year. These clients were extremely pleased with the service he had to offer and Roberts decided to keep going.
Roberts had always filed his own tax return on time, and he was a little puzzled at receiving calls after the spring tax season.
He received them as late as the fall even though he stopped advertising in May. He didn't think much about it until the next tax
season.
In 1999 his sales almost tripled and he decided to extend his advertising campaign into the summer. This time he was doing tax
returns as late as October.
With PTC Canada now offering more services, Roberts looked at expanding. In 2001, he decided to go with a high-end tax software
company called "Intuit Greenpoint" which offered E-file, PDF files and a sophisticated database manager. Know as "Profile," the
program dramatically increased PTC Canada’s productivity and service. A client could receive their complete tax return by email,
while it was simultaneously E-filed with CRA, with written confirmation. Profile is the most popular software in the Canadian tax
industry today and has a very good rating with tax pros, the Efile Association of Canada, Tax guru Evelyn Jacks and the CRA.
Profile has a top rated team behind the company and is a quantum leap above other tax industry software.
The ability to file virtually was key to expanding PTC’s services across Canada. This was a real test of PTC Canada’s virtual
business model. Roberts’ goal was to deliver the same level of service PTC Canada developed over the previous five years, without
actually meeting the client—and he accomplished it. It took a few weeks to complete the job, but Roberts was convinced the gateway
to the tax world was now open to him.
By 2004, PTC Canada was servingover 1,000 tax payers and clients all over the world. Roberts’ Hands on approach to working for
the client reflects his work ethic. He hates a pushy approach to doing business and believes in 100% pro-activity when a work
agreement is made.
Roberts’ goal is to take PTC national by 2010 and to serve 10,000 clients at a high-end level. Roberts is very quality-conscious
and loves to impress people with good service.
When Roberts isn’t at the helm of his tax business, he has a variety of interests. He Lives on a ranch just outside of Vulcan,
Alberta, and helps “The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (Calgary) with their monthly star gazing events at the Vulcan Trek
Center. Choose a time and check it out for yourself one day. PTC Canada is a proud sponsor of the Big Sky BBQ events.
At the end of the day, Roberts is always renewing and improving his vision of a world-class tax company.
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