Salt Lake City Bookkeeping Blog

Be proactive – start planning for taxes now.

Before the holidays hit, before the snow flies, before the busiest time of the year, you want to start your tax planning.

Take the time to think about your 2014 taxes. Failure to plan and implement can cost you big time.

Your time and your money are at stake. Leaning into the process and meeting it head on will reward you both in terms of less effort and likely less taxes to pay.

This past winter I was taking a class with 29 other small business owners.

I was having a conversation before class in early April with a CPA and one of our classmates walked up and said,

"I bet you guys are psyched for taxes to be done."

We both said yes and kind of laughed. Then we started talking again and mentioned to each other how accounting never really slows down.

Just because tax season is over doesn't mean that accountants suddenly have nothing to do.

For many businesses their bookkeeping causes a lot of pain.  However, when handled correctly there are many pains that proper bookkeeping can remedy.  Common reasons that bookkeeping causes pain are: it is intimidating, people don't like it, and it's often way behind because it gets pushed to the back burner.  A solid bookkeeping system that is handled properly can solve many of the common pains below. 

With the tax deadline rapidly approaching and it's time to finalize your taxes.  

I was talking with my CPA a few weeks ago and he had a client ask him: when does it make sense to stop making more money?

We both laughed and of course my CPA's answer to his client was spot on... never.  He said until the tax rate is 100% you should never stop trying to make more money, which makes sense to me.  

I signed and mailed my tax payments this past Saturday, it definitely hurt.  However, paying taxes is something to be proud of; it means you are doing well.  

Today, I felt it appropriate to share a few random thoughts about taxes.

Today's blog article is a guest post from Sarah Grey who works in marketing at TaxBanter which provides effective professional tax training to businesses of all sizes throughout Australia.  

When Sarah has any free time she enjoys shopping, swimming and taking her dog for a walk.

The main benefit of being trained in taxation and how it applies to you is pretty simple; it will make your life easier.  

It might seem like it’s not worth your while or that your business dollars would be better spent elsewhere but this is a misconception.  

It will always be worth your while to understand how taxes work because you will always have to pay them. 

You bookkeeping can actually make a difference in the success of your small business.  Many small business owners fall behind on bookkeeping because they loathe it.  Bookkeeping is an inconsequential task to many business owners until they need it.  Many businesses will put their bookkeeping on the back burner until a situation arises when they need it.  Examples of when you may need access to updated bookkeeping records include filing your taxes, applying for a loan or trying to raise investor capital for your business.  When one of these situations comes up a small business owner quickly learns the importance of keeping an accurate and updated bookkeeping system.  Your business bookkeeping does matter and here are four ways your bookkeeping can actually make a difference.

With the fourth quarter upon us, now is time to start thinking about year-end.  You need to get serious about finalizing your bookkeeping before year-end and getting ready for tax season.  I am a firm believer that the phrase year-end bookkeeping should not exist.  It is easy for me to say because I run a bookkeeping service.  However, if you wait until year-end passes to attend to your bookkeeping then you are doing yourself and your business a disservice.  Without updated bookkeeping and accurate financial reporting you are literally running your business blind.  Another problem with putting your bookkeeping off until you start a new fiscal year is you can't do much from a tax planning point of view.  So before year-end passes make sure to attend to these 5 critical bookkeeping tasks.    

Meet With Your CPA For A Tax Consultation Before Year-end

I put this first on my list for a reason; it is by far the most important task.  Too many business owners don't take the critical step of meeting with their CPA before year-end; its mind boggling to me.  If you are waiting until a new fiscal year to review your estimated tax liability with your CPA you are making a huge mistake.  There are several reasons you need to meet with your CPA before the close of each year, but at least two major reasons why I make this recommendation.  First, you can't make nearly as many tax advantageous moves after year-end compared to beforehand.  Secondly, if you are going to have to pay taxes wouldn't you like to know your approximate tax liability with as much notice as possible?