The Secrets Behind Tax Season

April, 13 2014

dm newsletterThat’s it! Tuesday is the last day to file your taxes. If you haven’t filed or asked for an extension, then e-mail me immediately for help.

This year, we have filed hundreds, if not thousands, of tax returns for our clients. As bookkeepers, who happen to be Certified Public Accountants, we work on books year round, but the months of January through April are usually a blur. The beginning of the year through mid-April is usually the height of “tax season”. Just like a news reporter might take you behind the scenes of filming a movie, I’m going to share with you some of the secrets behind tax season.

Tax season is the playoffs of any sport. It’s the mid-terms or finals of school. It’s the time of year that accountants drink a little more coffee and get a lot less sleep. But it’s also the time of year that those of us who love numbers, love.

Most of our tax clients are also our bookkeeping clients; shhh, this is secret number one. This means we are reconciling books, sending out invoices, paying bills and keeping track of a client’s records year round. In this case, we can do dozens of returns a day.

Being a client’s bookkeeper also means we already know what deductions you could or should be taking, how much should be listed on your W-2, and if your W-9’s are all out the door, way before tax season.

For tax clients who don’t do their bookkeeping with us, we are still able to keep track of it all, through a system of checks and balances that we have in place to track the progress of a return. The system includes: an itemized list of all possible deductions that can be taken, what paperwork a client is missing, returns that need signatures and the progress of a return.

Most clients are afraid to call us during the busy season because they don’t want to take the attention away from their taxes or they just assume we’re super busy. Okay, so we are, but we always want to hear from you! Elena Reichenberger is on our staff to answer each and every call and make sure your bookkeeper or tax preparer gets back to you in a timely manner. We are also big fans of e-mail because we can see that and reply any time of day.

Our number one secret to getting through the busy tax season is that if you choose our team, we will work year round for you, so actually doing your taxes is the easy part.

Tax season is finally over for most taxpayers on April 15th, but to be honest, we deal with taxes year round and wouldn’t have it any other way. So if you don’t want to stress over the process of filing your own tax return next year, call or e-mail us now, and ask us to help you survive the madness that is tax time.

Here’s to a great week!