By far the biggest cause of tax problems we see is the failure of individuals and small business owners to keep good books and records.

Fortunately, sloppy bookkeeping is one of the easiest and least expensive problems to fix.

You Probably Don’t Need a Full-Time Accountant

Most self-employed individuals cannot afford to hire a full-time accountant to do their books and handle all of their tax and administrative filing requirements.

But the truth is, most self-employed individuals don’t need a full-time bookkeeper.

Outsource Your Bookkeeping and Accounting Functions

The problem is easily solved by hiring an outside accounting firm (with experience in taxes) to handle the monthly bookkeeping, payroll and tax filings.

Accounting firms that do regular accounting work for their clients have systems in place that streamline the process.

This streamlining allows them to keep your books and records in order at very affordable prices.

Usually, depending on the number of transactions (generally checks written, credit card transactions made, and wire transfers made) your business conducts in a typical month, the cost of outsourcing your bookkeeping, accounting and tax compliance functions is under $1,000.00 per month. This includes the preparation and filing of all payroll tax returns, federal and state income tax returns, tangible and intangible property tax returns and corporate annual report filings.

The payments made for this service are 100% tax deductible.

Timely Provided, Accurate Financial Information is the Key to Small Business Success

In addition to helping self-employed individuals and small businesses minimize their tax liabilities and comply with all state and federal tax laws, having your books handled properly allows you to get important and accurate information about your business on a regular and timely basis.

And there are other benefits to the timely, accurate keeping of the books:

1. No longer will you have to guess at how much money you have in the bank.
2. No longer will you have to worry about wasteful spending. And if it does exist, it can be identified and fixed before it gets out of hand.
3. No longer will you have to guess at whether a particular customer, client or job is profitable.

Our Advice

We strongly advise our self-employed clients to consider the outsourcing of their bookkeeping functions.

It is simply one of the most important things a small business can do to ensure it’s survival.