If you're a small business owner, you should have a highly trained professional prepare and file your taxes on your behalf. Here's why you should file your taxes with a certified public accountant.
Get All of the Deductions You're Entitled To
Business owners tend to have complex tax situations because they need to file both business and individual taxes. Additionally, running a business may entitle you to many deductions or credits that non-business-owners don't receive. Any deductions you can use will reduce your taxable income, and any credits you qualify for will lower your overall tax burden.
A certified public accountant has the expertise necessary to analyze your situation and make sure you get every available deduction and credit. A CPA will be familiar with both common business costs and ones that are more specific to your industry. For example, they'll know if a writer can claim books as a legitimate business expense and deduction.
Tax preparers who aren't CPAs and computer programs can help you access some deductions, but they can't provide the same level of guidance that a CPA is able to.
For instance, a CPA will be better able to advise you on if an expense truly qualifies for a business-related deduction or not. Sometimes it's not clear whether a meal or a hotel room is a business or personal expense.
Spend Less Time Preparing Taxes
When you have a professional certified public accountant prepare your taxes, you can spend less time on them. You'll still have to gather a few papers, such as major receipts, but most of the essential information can be sent directly to the CPA from your bookkeeper or accounting software. Everything else will be taken care of by the CPA.
By reducing how much time you spend on your business's taxes, you can better utilize your own time to develop your business. Whether you train employees, make sales calls, or analyze potential markets, those efforts will grow your business more than preparing taxes yourself will.
Have Assistance During an Audit
Should your business be audited, the certified public accountant you hire can represent you and your business during the audit. This is often included as a standard service with any tax return that a CPA prepares.
Having support during an audit can reduce the stress of the auditing process and can let you continue to run your business as the audit proceeds.
If you're a business owner and you don't have an accountant, you might want to consider hiring one. Accountants help business owners by handling the books, filing tax forms and managing the costs of the business. They also offer guidance to concerning important business matters. We aren't accountants, but we do have an understanding of the importance of their duties.
We've interviewed accounting professionals and they've answered all our questions about their job description and explained how their services can benefit business owners. We've compiled all this information into articles that we've posted on this site. We hope that you will read them to learn how an accountant can benefit your business.