Entrepreneur, were you surprised by your taxes?
Bottom line, your taxes due should never be a surprise!
If you had an ugly tax surprise or maybe your taxes still aren’t filed, consider these three ways to make the tax process much easier in the future:
Keep up with bookkeeping/accounting so your numbers are real — It’s difficult to know how much you should be saving to pay taxes if your numbers aren’t up to date. With a cloud-based accounting system, your business numbers should be current, so you know how your business is doing at any point in time.
Tax planning, especially in the fall — If your tax professional isn’t contacting you for tax planning services during the year, find a new tax professional. Maybe that sounds harsh, but it’s vital for business owners to plan for taxes. Planning during the year gives you opportunities to implement tax saving strategies and gives you time to accumulate the funds for any expected taxes. And, if you’re following #1 above, tax planning is easy because your numbers are current.
Move your tax return to the front of the line — If your tax professional is always putting your tax return on extension, consider that your tax preparer is very busy during tax season. This means the messy books and records often go to the back of the line because those tax returns take more time. You can entice your tax professional to work on your tax return early by submitting your cleaned-up business information in January or early February.
If you’re not sure how to tackle the above, we’re happy to help. Our Business Growth Model keeps your records current, focuses on strategic planning, and includes one-on-one business coaching. To top it off, we’ll even work directly with your tax preparer to make the process super simple. Instead of dreading the tax process, you can relish the peace of knowing everything is going as planned.
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