Tax preparer Rod Nackerman has sat at a lot of tables in a half century.
While the longtime Orion Township resident usually sets up calculator and briefcase on the tables in homes–thus the name of his company, Tabletop Tax Service–he has also done taxes at places like truck weigh stations and in the backrooms of beauty salons.
He also did taxes for the now-closed Wagon Wheel Bar in downtown Lake Orion where a .44 pistol shared room on the table with the tools of his tax trade.
‘I’d be doing the taxes on one side of the table, and a gun was on the other,? he said.
But despite any danger, Nackerman continues to bring his tax preparing services to the customer’s home or place of business after all these years.
Now almost 79, Nackerman still offers the same at-home services he always has. Not even a slight stroke in 2005 could slow him down.
Since then, he’s partnered up with a young accountant, Jenny Hodge, who gives him a hand during tax season.
Together, they head out to various tables all over the area.
‘That’s where we do the work, on the table,? Nackerman said.
He said he has around 100 clients in Orion, about 200 more clients in areas like Clarkston, Bloomfield Hills, Waterford and just about every other place in Oakland County.
What keeps him going?
‘I enjoy meeting the people. Some are friends for many, many years,? he said.
Nackerman said he’s been doing taxes for some people for 40 years.
‘I’ve always enjoyed doing it,? he said.
Nackerman has plied other trades while preparing taxes, including working as a milkman.
Born on Beaver Island in northern Michigan, where he grew up in a house with no electricity, he said the only job to get was on fishing boats.
The sea-sick Nackerman, whose father was the postmaster on the island, didn’t take to the profession and instead joined the Air Force, where he was a crew chief on a bomber.
He eventually moved to the Pontiac area, where he learned the tax trade on the GI Bill at the Pontiac Business School.
From 1955 to 1960. Nackerman was a milkman in Birmingham and Southfield.
‘I loved that job,? he said.
The father of five also started doing taxes.
‘I almost always had to work two jobs,? Nackerman said.
As the need for milkmen began to wane, Nackerman started at General Motors, where he become a plant foreman in Pontiac.
He moved his family to Orion Township in the 1970s, bringing his zeal for doing taxes with him to the area.
‘I did all the taxes by hand,? he said. ‘Seven appointments a day.?
Now, with help from Hodge, Nackerman is still at it, though they are beginning to use more computer technology.
They go to two classes every year for tax updates.
‘We cover every change,? he said. ‘With the new president, there are going to be a lot of new changes.?
But in fifty years, Nackerman said he’s dealt with a lot of them.