2017 Year End Preparation

Another great milestone…

Hang on, you’re almost there; it’s nearly time to celebrate another successful milestone in your business! Tax season is just around the corner and now is the time to give tribute to all the hard work you’ve done by “getting those little ducklings in a row” (…and by that we mean starting on your year end tax checklist.) For many, this means: making sure payroll is accurate, employee information and forms are filled out, unemployment insurance rates are reviewed, inventory is counted, profit loss reports are run, and business receipts get put in the right category. Tax season always looks a bit different for everyone, so it’s important to stay in communication with your CPA, Accountant or the Governmental Websites to make sure your on the right track. Here are a few things you may want to pay attention to…

Decide on employee tax withholdings

It’s important to know for both you and your employee, specific income tax rates. This future decision will greatly effect how your business will do financially, the financial future (and happiness) of your employee, and will keep you on the legal high ground, if by chance you were to be audited.

Pay any outstanding debt

You want to bring in the new business year without any monetary surprises. This means getting current with things like rent space, the electric bill, or any overhead payments for instance, with vendors or contractors. 1099-MISC forms also need to go out to your contractors by January 31st. W-9 forms are also a possibility here, so check with your CPA.

Sum up quarterly estimated tax payments

These tend to change annually so it’s a good idea to know exactly what your business paid this year, in order to make a good and healthy estimate of what you might end up owing the following year. Even if it’s just an estimate, any additional surprises won’t likely be a problem.

Check your balance

After all outgoing and incoming expenses are accounted for, get an idea of how much money your business might afford to expand with for the coming year. Perhaps you want to move your funds into a different but related business account, in which case other goals like purchasing new equipment or acquiring another business vehicle would have to wait.

Run profit and loss reports

Running the Profit and Loss report should give you a very clear idea of how your business did, meaning how much was made for the year, what the business took a loss on (gas for instance or food) and what your possible outlook for the coming year will be. This is also the fun part, when you get to be creative and begin imagining next year’s business possibilities.  

Depending on the type of business you have, the end of year tax list could be anywhere from fairly simple to quite extensive. If you could use a interested and dedicated CPA team, check out the rest of thedigitalCPA website…We’re ready when you are!

~Have a wonderful Christmas!