Jellison CPA is all about minimizing stress. So we took a few minutes to outline a few helpful hints to prepare for tax season.
Keep Great Records – Make sure to keep records of anything that could have a tax impact. Save those emailed documents or scanned paper documents.
Separate Your Business & Personal Finances – To simplify tax season, separate your personal finances from your business finances. You MUST have separate accounts, keeps costs separate & maintain separate income statements & balance sheets.
Hire a Dedicated Bookkeeper – Whether Jellison CPA or an in-house bookkeeper, make sure someone is 100% on top of the books at all times.
Start with the End in Mind – Know exactly what you need to walk into your CPA’s office. Take the time to enter transactions & organize the paper trail little by little, so at the end of year, you can walk into your CPA’s office with everything ready. Just a few minutes every day will save hours & days as tax time approaches.
Ask Jellison CPA for a planning session – if you can sit down with your CPA, you can discuss how to improve your tax situation in the coming year. You can also discuss what strategies they would recommend for making tax preparations easier.
Don’t do Everything Yourself – Focus on the areas where you can be the expert and hire others to help you in the other areas (taxes, accounting, legal, financial planning).
Make a Game of being Organized – when all the “pieces” are collected reward yourself with something fun. Chocolate and Coffee are big motivators in our office.