Whatever the time of year, taxes are never far from the thoughts of most small business owners, and planning and preparing for them is an all year affair. Many small companies use tax professionals to assist them with their taxes, not only for convenience, but for ensuring that their returns are timely and correct, and if you don’t yet have one, perhaps you should?
What is a tax professional?
Tax advisors, preparers and planners are regulated by the IRS and may include attorneys, CPA’s and enrolled agents, and several other types of registered tax return professionals.
What exactly do they do and how might your small business benefit from one?
A tax professional can assist you with your business taxes, before, during and after tax preparation:
- How a tax pro can help before you prepare your taxes
Tax planning involves meeting with your tax professional at strategic times in the year – such as every quarter – to discuss the ways in which you can legally minimize your taxes; avoiding paying them, rather than evading. With their in depth and up-to-date knowledge of tax laws and regulations, they are able to give you sound strategic advice on how to navigate the laws to lower your tax bill.
- How a tax pro can help during tax preparation
Preparing your business tax return and your personal one is usually the job of your tax professional, and if you pay business taxes through your personal tax return, then it’s helpful that the same person helps you to prepare them both to coordinate tax savings. A good example of this would be if a loss on your small business taxes (through Schedule C) was applied to your personal tax bill to lower them overall. Lower business income means lower self-employment taxes, which you are obliged to pay personally along with your income taxes.
- How a tax pro can help after tax preparation
Even if your tax return has been filed by your tax professional, they may still have work to do if you’ve been selected for an audit. Your tax pro will be able to assist you in the event of an audit and may also be able to represent you before the IRS during an audit.
As you can see, there are multiple ways in which a small business can benefit from using the services of a tax professional, and here are just a few of them:
- They can save you money at tax time
- They will ensure that your taxes are recorded and filed to meet all IRS deadlines
- Their understanding of tax laws means that you’ll always be compliant
- Your tax professional will pull out all the necessary records, saving you a lot of time
- Should you get audited by the IRS, they will be there to help you
The truth is that anyone can help you to prepare your small business tax returns, whether they are qualified to do so, or not, but with a professional who is registered and can provide you with proof of their experience and qualifications, you are given much greater assurances that your tax return will meet all legal requirements and will be accurate and timely.