Seek Out a Small Business Tax Group

If you operate a business, you likely have acquaintances and friends you work with that may be suppliers, customers, consultants, or contractors. If you consider some of them as friends that benefit your business, you should want a small business tax accountant in the mix. Suppliers win when you pay them to provide materials and equipment to your business. Consultants, contractors, and freelancers all derive benefits from doing business with you, and your business benefits as well.

The one business association you may find more of a partner in profits than the others would be a small business accountant and tax group that provides various financially related services. Business taxation should not be just a once-a-year meeting with an accountant where you hand over your records for tax preparation. If you have a separate bookkeeper making entries in ledgers during the year for income and expenses, you now have two entities involved. Having the two functions combined will increase efficiency and accuracy for your returns.

One of the most beneficial services offered by a small business tax accountant can be advice and help in setting up the business with the most beneficial entity structure for both liability protection and business tax advantages. Choosing between a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, or corporate structure is critical to the long-term financial health of the business and financial well being of the owners as well.

A business tax team would also likely offer a suite of services that will prove invaluable over time, including:

• Entity structure – as already mentioned, setting up the business in the right tax structure can make a huge difference financially over time. As a business grows, there can be a need to change the structure, and the help of a small business tax accountant can make the complicated transition efficient and less expensive.
• Tax planning – making tax related decisions at the end of the year will end up costing more money than planning for business decisions. From buying major equipment with depreciation decisions to business investments, the right small business tax accountant can make a difference and save you money.
• Bookkeeping – you can have an employee handling bookkeeping or hire a separate service, but the right accounting group with bookkeeping as one of its services makes the preparation of taxes more accurate and efficient.
• Tax preparation – moving from the bookkeeping process to the preparation of complex business tax returns is going to be far more accurate and possibly save you significant tax dollars if both the record-keeping and tax preparation are combined.
• Audit representation – when your tax accountant is also an appropriately licensed tax preparer, your business will benefit from a constant review of your entire financial process to reduce the likelihood of an audit. It doesn’t mean that the IRS will not have questions or even generate an audit no matter how well the accountant does their job. If there is a problem, an appropriately licensed tax preparer to practice in front of the IRS will be ready to answer questions on your behalf.

Consider these positive points and work with a small business tax accountant group that will offer a suite of services.