4 Tax Related Mistakes: Outsourced Bookkeeping Can Help

21 Jun 4 Tax Related Mistakes: Outsourced Bookkeeping Can Help

Let’s face it – most people, whether business owners or not, dread dealing with taxes. However, it is something that is unavoidable and needs to be dealt with in a timely manner or you run the risk of serious consequences. Listed below are four very important things to watch for when thinking about taxes, from Dawn Hershik originally written for Supporting Strategies. The bottom line is if you struggle in any of these areas, it’s worth it to seek help from a bookkeeping services pro.

1. Failure to file – Whatever the reason, this is never a good idea. If you haven’t kept your books up-to-date throughout the year, you may feel overwhelmed at the thought of getting everything organized for your tax preparer. Most business owners believe they can handle the bookkeeping work themselves – how hard can it be? Even if the bookkeeping is fairly simple, it’s usually not a priority in the mind of a busy owner. Chances are, after spending 12+ hours a day working on their business, they don’t have the energy or inclination to work on the bookkeeping. By outsourcing the bookkeeping services, everything will be up-to-date and readily available for the tax preparer – saving time and expense.
2. Not Filing for an Extension – If you don’t have everything ready to file your taxes by the normal deadline your tax professional can file an extension for you. This will allow you some extra time but don’t wait to get things in order. In most cases, hiring a bookkeeping services company to get your receipts out of the shoebox and into an organized system will be more cost-effective then having your tax preparer do it. If you do have to file an extension get help as soon as you know this is what’s happening. Waiting will keep you in the same spot you’re in now and possibly lead to penalties and more taxes if you miss the extension filing deadline.
3. Waiting Until the New Year to get started – Most people procrastinate about things they don’t enjoy doing and bookkeeping and taxes are high on that list. Waiting to get your books up-to-date in order to have your taxes prepared will cause a domino effect and in some cases more taxes and penalties that can be avoided. Employing a bookkeeping services firm early on will ensure you some peace of mind and you’ll be able to do some intelligent planning before the end of the year that may help you in the next year.
4. Keeping meager records – Of course an outsourced bookkeeping service can help you keep better records, like keeping track of itemized receipts to explain those charges on the credit card statement. A good service will also recommend efficiencies for the business that you may be too busy to research on your own. Having the business run more smoothly and efficiently will save valuable time and money.

Avoiding tax filings will catch up with you eventually so it’s important to stay on top of your record-keeping to ensure you can get this task done on time. That may mean hiring someone to do the bookkeeping for you. Spending money on a bookkeeping service now can save you big money in the long run.

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