Operating a family business can be difficult, but four generations of one Midwest City family have made it work.

Reed’s Tax Service, the oldest business in Midwest City and arguably one of the oldest in Eastern Oklahoma County, was started by Owen Compton in 1943. Compton, an Internal Revenue Service agent at the time, came to Midwest City from Frederick, OK, and was joined by his son-in-law Marion Reed.

The next two generations brought Eddie Reed, who served as Midwest City’s mayor for 16 years, and his son, Sean. As a result, Reed’s Tax Service has been operating continuously for the past 68 years.

As in most family businesses, disagreements have occurred, but there’s always been a resolution.

“We’ve been extremely blessed,” Sean Reed said. “Although we ‘ve had differences of opinion, we respect each other enough to work things out, and you don’t take it home. You let it go when you walk out the door.”

Eddie Reed acknowledges operating a small company for almost seven decades is a major feat.

“It is hard to run a family business. You realize there is always some kind of controversy and you have done your best to develop a good rapport with everyone,” he said.

Growing up Apparently, Eddie and Sean Reed never realized they could do something other than tax returns.

“We literally grew up in the business,” Eddie Reed said. I was making copies and handing out returns to people when I was in high school.”

His son did the same. “I didn’t know I had a choice,” Sean Reed joked. “I thought I wanted to be a cop so I got my degree in criminal justice. Now, I foresee myself doing this until I retire. It’s mentally stimulating, and it’s not the same with every client.”

However, he initially took another path and became a finance director for a local car dealership. He also worked in the mortgage industry before joining his father in 2009 at the tax service.

But it’s not just Eddie and Sean who are in the business. Eddie’s wife, Julie, started working for her future father-in-law when she was 16.

National competition

Over the years, Reed’s Tax Service has been forced to compete with national firms such as H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt.

“We try to keep our fees competitive,” said Eddie Reed. “We are cheaper than most national companies. We don’t have any big advertising budget and we have the idea that we want our clients to come back to us every year.”

Sean Reed said the company’s solid reputation is a major plus, especially among retired accountants who refer their clients to the Reeds.

“There was one accountant who retired and he sent letters to his customers recommending they go to Reed’s. I think people know we will treat them right. If you go to one of the big firms, you’re among the masses trying to give information to someone you’ve never seen before. Here you will see the same accountant year after year,” he said.

Some clients, including those in the military who are sent overseas, still use the Reeds despite being thousands of miles

away. They also have other clients who have remained loyal since the tax service opened decades ago.

“We have some clients from Frederick, most of them farmers, who are in their 80s and 90s,” Sean Reed said. “We also have military clients stationed in Israel, Japan and Germany who send us their stuff and we do their taxes. We might not see them for 10 years, but we do their taxes every year.

Internet challenge

Among the obstacles Reed’s has faced is the Internet and the $49 tax software available to anyone with a computer. Still, the Reeds have an answer to that hurdle.

“You will spend four hours of your time and then we’ll see you back here next year,” Sean Reed said, with a smile. “We’re finding out the Internet, while it can benefit some people who are tax savvy, has not been the big problem we antici pated

it would be. While the competition is there, we believe we offer good service and reasonable prices.”

But the Internet and national competition haven’t been the only challenges for the Reeds.

The IRS’ 72,000-page tax code has been a nightmare to fully understand at times, the Reeds said. Among the issues that created problems was the first-time home buyer program, earned income credit and Oklahoma’s use tax.

“You have to verify a lot of information with all of those,” Sean Reed said.

In years past, the tax code allowed people to deduct from their taxes the amount paid in cigarette and alcohol taxes.

“Back then, everybody smoker and drinker,” Eddie Reed said. “The government did away with that a long time ago.”

Computers arrive

The introduction of computers to the tax service created a smoother operation.

“Computers have really helped because you do the research on the tax code, and it’s there,” Sean Reed said. “Computers really streamlined this business. It made things quicker, more professional and more accurate.

Prior to computers, taxes were figured by hand and with desk calculators, which when first introduced, cost about $500.

“When the first calculators came out, I jumped on it,” Eddie Reed recalled.

Sean Reed took the same basic steps when computers came on the scene.

“I pushed my dad to get one,” he said. [email protected]