If you are a small business owner, you need to consider various factors when you are preparing for your tax return. Yes, you can hire a small business tax professional, who will offer you services and financial advice, but there are certain actions that you need to take care of yourself. In this blog, you can read about the steps that you can follow to prepare for the tax season and have better finances this year:
The First Thing That You Should Do Is Organize All The Important Tax Document: Before you meet a professional tax preparer, you need to get all your essential documents ready. It should include a complete trial balance, records of major asset purchases and agreements, a copy of the previous year’s tax return, mileage logs, documentation of federal or state tax payments that you have made, and any payment made through your credit card or account that was not recorded in your company’s record. You should also provide details of every loan or advance that was made between you and the company, make sure to include if there were any distributions from the equity owner, and do not forget to add the annual payroll record.
Make Sure That Your Accounting And Bookkeeping Are Updated: Whether your business has seen an increase in profit this year or a decrease, you need to make sure that your accounting and bookkeeping are updated. Ensure that you keep yourself updated since the last time you filed a tax return. Keeping yourself up-to-date with all your business accounting will give you an idea of how much profit or loss your company has had in the entire year.
Tax Projection: You can also check what is going to be your tax liability and to do this, you should check your business income and expenses. Doing a tax projection will give you an idea about how much you will have to pay to your local tax collector and the state. This will also give you an insight into whether your business can qualify for any programs or tax credits. Doing a tax projection is a good idea, as it will help you get an overview of your tax return, and what you can possibly do.
Review The Payroll: You should keep a tab of your payroll, you must understand everything about the payroll. You can startreviewing the payroll to gain a better understanding. To make this process easier for you and everyone involved, you should make sure that all your employees complete the W4 form withholdings. Your small business tax preparer will go through your Annual payroll record, so when you get it ready, you should have a look at it as well.
Hire A Tax Professional: If you are a small business owner and you are your own accountant, you should consider hiring an expert tax preparer. Tax law can be complex, and it can be difficult to properly file your taxes. If you fail to file your tax properly, you could end up with tax liens or levies. To avoid certain issues, it is best to leave this job to the experts who are aware of the tax law and can perform the task effectively.
Make Sure To File End Of Year Tax Forms: You should also consider filing your end-of-year tax forms related to your business and your employees. File the W2 form, which shows the wages your business has paid to the employees and the taxes that are withheld from these wages. And if you hire contract workers, you should also submit the 1096 form. If you pay taxes to social security, medicare, and other programs, file form 941. You should also file form 940 which covers the Federal Unemployment Tax for the taxes you pay for unemployment compensation. And if your business provides health insurance to the employees, file the form 1095c.
Here are some Tax Prep tips for small businesses that they can follow for the 2021 tax season.