It may be hard to believe, but the new tax season is right around the corner. Yes—you have to file your taxes every year! So, with the holidays behind you and the tax season quickly approaching, now is the time to take a serious look at your individual or business taxes, inside and out. Not only will this reduce the stress come April, but it will also ensure you don’t run into major bumps on your way down the financial road. With that in mind, if you are planning to hire a CPA for tax services in Jamestown, ND, then start preparing now!
Here are a few early tax preparation tips to help you get your finances in order prior to the tax season.
Organization is key
It’s understandable how the holidays could get in the way of your tax planning. But if you are organized all year long, then your end-of-year tax preparations should be a breeze—and therefore, a smooth job for your accountant. Are you not as organized as you thought? Don’t stress. Even though you weren’t all ready on the last day of December, you can start getting all the necessary paperwork together now. That includes everything related to your personal or business accounting, like formatting all invoices, organizing the year’s expenses and making sure payroll is all recorded properly.
Complete necessary W9s
As a small business owner, you may have hired independent contractors to do work for you. Whether the contractor was hired for a one-time gig or remained working for you throughout the year, a W9 should have been issued at the start of their job. You can still issue one after you initially brought them on deck, which you especially need to do if the individual was paid $600 or more in the one-year period. Why is a complete W9 important? It’s so the contractor can be issued the 1099 form they need to report their income from providing services to your business.
Have all tax records complete, including employee payroll and independent contractor pay, so your CPA will be able to help with your tax prep and final filing without running into snags.
Schedule your appointment ASAP
There’s no easier way for you to instill your own fear like waiting until the last minute to book an accountant for tax services in Jamestown, ND. To make matters worse, you may need to schedule two different appointments—one for tax prep, another for filing—but your regular CPA is already completely booked. If you haven’t already scheduled a tax meeting, do it now, even if you are not 100 percent ready with all your financial records. Just set a date and be ready by then.
In short, although you have an accountant for yearly tax services in Jamestown, ND, you still need to make sure they can prep your taxes without any problems and in a timely fashion. Get organized, have all your tax related paperwork in order and schedule your tax prep and filing meetings with Craig S. Hanson, CPA today!