Taxes in Seattle

It’s almost that time. The end of the year is here! You know what most people do at the end of the tax year, nothing. They don’t clean up their bookkeeping, they don’t get ready for next year, they just take it easy.

Then around February or March they start thinking about their taxes, but when they start calling accountants, they find out that they’re going to have to file an extension. While this is perfectly legal, there are a few very important points that must be considered in the strategy.

One item is self-employment tax which more often than not people have not been paying throughout the year as required but instead they wait until time to file their taxes and then they incur penalties for not sending in their estimated payments.

Another important consideration is whether you actually are going to benefit by looking at your financial figures now rather than waiting until March or April. Any good CFO will want to see the numbers as soon as possible, and generally monthly if not weekly.

of course, most small businesses don’t have a chief financial officer so they usually are barely looking at the bookkeeping in most companies. I admit some people do look at their financials regularly but they are in the minority.

Unless you’re looking at your financial figures, you have no idea what your target goal should be and whether those goals should be around sales or operations.

and finally there’s the early discounts that accountants offer for people who have their stuff put together before January 31. So if you wait, it will delay your insight into your business, it will create stress and worry, and you will likely have forgotten or missed some of the important details which might have maximized your deductions and minimize your tax. it will cost you more money than it otherwise should, and you’ll start the year off behind and under the gun.

I know it’s a pain in the rear to think about these things or deal with them right now with all the other things you have going on, that’s why you should call me..

I offer a free phone consultation identifying what you need to do for the accounting department inyour business to run better, and for the part I can help with, I also tell you what it would cost, what I would need, and how long it would take for me to get your books cleaned up and current and keep them that way.

Call me at 206 794 3864 or go to the book appointment link on our website.