If your first instinct post-filing your taxes is to take a moment to sit back and relax, you’re in good company. After all, the pressure of filing taxes is anxiety-inducing for nearly everyone, especially small business owners. Moreover, a lot of people tend to find tax season especially jarring because they haven’t done much preparation throughout the year, opting to cram all of their prep into a couple of months. This is why it’s a good idea to get organized and stay organized, not just throughout the tax season, but all year round. Staying organized is especially important for small business owners, as they face more responsibilities during filing season.
Staying organized is a lot easier said than done, and if you’re not sure how to improve your organization, you’re not alone. Lots of us struggle with organization in addition to procrastination, creating a deadly combination that leads to lots of avoidable issues. In this blog, we’ll outline 5 different tips to help improve your organizational skills as they relate to your business’s finances, preparing you for a smoother tax filing process come next season.
Tip #1: Conduct a Thorough Assessment of Your Financial Strategy
Before we can move on to the solution, we have to know what the problems are. The immediately post-tax season is a good place to start because the entire process is fresh on your mind. You can begin conducting an assessment by determining which aspects of the tax filing process you find to be the most difficult. Do you struggle to keep track of all necessary financial documents, causing you to spend a lot of excess time backtracking? Or maybe you tend to get lazy after extended periods of filling out forms, causing you to make a lot of careless errors. By highlighting the tasks, you struggle with, you can then start to find ways to handle them better.
When conducting this overview, you should also make note of the areas where you excel. Do you find you do your best work when collaborating with other people? Is there a way that you can better divide the workload based on people’s skills? Once you assess your strengths and weaknesses, you can work towards making changes that will aid in your origination.
Tip #2- Conduct Routine Financial Checkups Throughout the Year
A lot of people wait until tax season approaches before they bust out their books and start getting serious about finances. While this strategy isn’t advisable for most filers, it can be particularly dangerous for small business accountant Charlotte NC. As a small business, you are going to be responsible for more paperwork and taxes than an individual filer. Therefore, you should definitely consider holding financial review sessions at a metric that makes sense for you. How often these sessions occur will depend on your business’s unique circumstances, however, a monthly meeting is a good place to start. During this review, you can assess what’s working, and what isn’t, and get an overall picture of that month’s income and expenses. Essentially, the time you invest now will ultimately save you time in the future, especially during tax season. Staying on top of your finances is much easier than playing catch-up. By conducting reviews, you’ll have a better idea of where you stand financially, which can be a lifesaver during tax season.
Tip #3- Simplify Your Approach
Nowadays there are tons of different programs and applications available to us, especially regarding taxes, bookkeeping, and finances. While software can be extremely helpful in keeping track of our financial records, utilizing too much of it can cause confusion. The more programs you use, the harder it’ll ultimately become to keep track of things. The best way to avoid overextending your reach is to find what works and keep it simple. Rather than spread out your information across multiple platforms, stick to a select few that you feel comfortable and familiar with. Just because a program is being advertised as “the best” doesn’t automatically mean it’s the best for you.
Determine what programs you’re going to use, whether that’s online, or using physical copies of important documents, and stick to it. A combination of online and physical can work too, as long as you structure it in a user-friendly way that’s organized and easy to track.
Tip #4 Research Ahead of Time
Don’t wait until days before your deadline to start researching write-offs or checking up on new tax policies. If you try and research all of this information days before your deadline, you’re likely to rush the process and miss out on important information. Especially when it comes to write-offs and deductions. As a small business, you are likely eligible for significant write-offs, some of which are going to be industry specific. Do yourself a favor and get organized ahead of time, by starting to look into these matters several months before your deadline. This gives you the proper time to research and ensure you’re up-to-date and aware of any new rules or regulations. It will also give you time to consult a professional if you have any questions, which leads us to the fifth and final tip.
Tip #5 Don’t be Afraid to Enlist Professional Help
If you’re starting to buckle under the pressures of getting and staying organized, you can hire a professional to take on those responsibilities. A tax services Charlotte NC professional can help you with all sorts of financial issues you have, taking care of them for you, and doing all the organizational heavy lifting. Sometimes it’s easier to just relinquish your responsibilities and have someone else take care of them. Why not if you know it will benefit your business and keep you from struggling come tax season? A professional can also help you with all sorts of financial tasks, beyond just tax prep, giving you peace of mind and the ability to focus your attention elsewhere. Working with a professional can also help you learn more about financial literacy, improving your understanding which can translate back into your business (and beyond!).
At McGrant Tax And Bookkeeping, we are here to help answer all your questions as your primary bookkeeper in Charlotte NC. Please feel free to contact us today at any of our two locations or visit our website https://mcgranttax.com and book an online or physical appointment.
This post is to be used for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, business, or tax advice. Each person should consult his or her own attorney, business advisor, or tax advisor with respect to matters referenced in this post. McGrant Tax and Bookkeeping assumes no liability for actions taken in reliance upon the information contained herein.
