Believe it or not, tax season is right around the corner. As a business owner, it can be a daunting task to get your receipts, forms and other documents in order before tax time. We’ve rounded up the steps to take for you to start preparing now for the upcoming tax season.
Know Which Tax Return Your Filing
Tax filing is not one-size-fits-all. Are you a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation or S corp? You will need to know which one you are filing to ensure your taxes are filed properly. This also determines your tax filing deadline. Partnerships and S corps are March 15 and sole proprietorships, single-member LLCs and multi-member LLCs are April 15.
Find a Bookkeeper
Bookkeepers like Profit Meadow Bookkeeping are designed to help businesses get and stay on track with their finances. Bookkeepers help save you time by relieving you from stressing over your company’s finances. They also provide insight to help you discover how much you are actually making and help you proactively prepare for tax season. Lastly, they help to get you the best deductions.
Select a Tax Preparer
Find a tax preparer if you don’t have a bookkeeper. You can ask for suggestions from friends and family. Be cognizant of the fees they may charge for their services as fees can vary. The sooner you find a tax preparer the better chance you have of getting an appointment that suits your schedule. If you want until the last minute, many tax preparers will be booked up.
Make Your Appointment
If you wait too long to schedule a tax appointment you run the risk of it not happening before the filing deadline. You could miss out on lowering your tax bill and if you anticipate a refund, it will take longer to receive. Schedule your appointment ahead of time to ensure your return is completed on time.
Gather Your Documents
When using a bookkeeper, we help keep track of your documents. This is essential come tax time. Think of all the employees and businesses you work with. You will need forms from every one of them and depending on the size of your business, this can be a lot! Your organization of your documents can also help lower your service fees because of it taking less time for your tax preparer to process your taxes.
These five steps can help get you started as tax season slowly begins to arrive. Ready to take the next step with a bookkeeper to take taxes off your hands? We offer a FREE review of your books that can be done here.