It’s tax season, and as your tax forms begin to pile into your mailbox it can seem overwhelming to process all these tax documents by yourself. At Lucia CPA, we want to make this a painless tax season for you. Today, we’d like to share with you our top 5 tax season tips to help you understand your taxes and get them filed on time.
Get Organized, Stay Organized this Tax Season
Businesses – As a business owner, you may already have a system in place to track your income and monthly expenses. We recommend our clients use QuickBooks Online, but there are alternative options like Excel or physical pen and paper. Whichever method you prefer, just do it! Staying on top of your finances is key to a stress-free tax season every year, not just this year. By recording your finances, you give yourself an opportunity to adjust your roadmap and plan out your taxes.
Personal – Filing as an individual does not have to be stressful if you have a secure place to store your tax documents and tax-deductible receipts throughout the year. These items include:
- Charitable Receipts
- Property Tax and DMV Payments
- Dates and Amounts of Estimated Tax Payments
- Refunds/EIP Payments/Advanced Child Tax Payments
- IRS or FTB Letters Received (extremely important!)
- Closing Statements for Property Purchases or Sales
- In January – W-2/1099s and other tax documents
Bring All Your Tax Documents to Lucia & Co. CPAs
Bring these items with you when you visit Lucia CPA to prepare your taxes. Remember, any document that says IMPORTANT, 1099, or the word ‘tax’ anywhere, we need it! Don’t forget to bring all the pages of forms sent to you, not just ones with numbers on them.
Review Organizer Received and Complete if Possible
When filing your taxes with Lucia & Co. CPAs, we’ll provide you a tax organizer. For starters, review your personal information such as contact info, dependents, etc. and inform us if there have been any changes. Answer the questionnaire that follows to alert your tax preparer of any life, income or deduction changes.
The organizer will also list all your documents submitted in the previous year and additional space to write in items that do not have an associated ‘tax document’ such as rental income and expenses. This helps ensure nothing was missed during the preparation stage and avoid re-runs and possible amendments or missed deductions. After all, we do call it an organizer 😊
Submit Early or Bring All of the
Above to Your Tax Appointment
The sooner you compile your tax documents and information together, the better. At Lucia CPA, we appreciate the early bird who drops by with all the necessary items. It not only reduces our stress during tax season, but we can also help you maximize your return and get your tax refund as soon as possible.
Missing a document when you stop by our office? No problem!
Respond Quickly to Questions and Requests for Additional Documents
Our team will follow up with you through email and ask you some questions or ask for those additional documents concerning your taxes. Reply with any necessary information in as few emails as possible. It reduces any chance of your information getting lost among thousands of emails. Do NOT call us to provide any amounts. Email us, fax or provide a handwritten sheet of paper. This is to ensure no information is misinterpreted or wrongly recorded.
Respond to any emails we send you as soon as possible. Putting it off to the side will increase the chances of lost information, miscommunication, forgotten conversations, etc. This can also lead to a late or last-minute filing. Speaking of last-minute…
Last Minute Preparation Does No One Any Good
CPAs are very busy during tax season. When you prepare your taxes last minute, your tax preparer won’t have as much time to ensure quality control and come up with strategies to reduce your taxes. When submitting your taxes down the stretch, know that you aren’t the only one! There are literally hundreds of returns to finish in the final few weeks of tax season, and while we do our very best to ensure all tax returns are filed on time, sometimes its better to ask for an extension rather than rush through the process.
Deadlines this Tax Season
This year, taxes for most business entities are due on March 15th and for individuals are due on April 18th. Those deadlines creep up fast, so make sure you’re getting your taxes filed by those deadlines.
If you know you won’t have your tax documents ready in time or something else is holding you up from filing, file for an extension. Extensions allow for more time to file, but not time to pay. Any taxes you owe are due by the initial deadlines else you’ll end up facing costly penalties. It doesn’t hurt to file for a tax extension, as it has no effect on your audit risk. A tax extension will not increase your audit risk, but it won’t take you out of the audit pool either.
Last but not least, don’t marry a CPA or have your family prepare your taxes. Freebees get last priority 😊
At Lucia & Co. CPAs, our mission this tax season is to make tax filing a painless process for all of our clients. When your tax documents start coming in through the mail, give our team a call to schedule an appointment so we can sit down with you and discuss your taxes. We are looking forward to seeing you!
