Backed up Bookkeeping – 5 Tips on Managing Your Accounting

As any business owner will tell you, there are simply not enough hours in the day, and life as a business owner can be described as ‘busy’ at best.

If you’re running your own business, in Los Angeles, or Orange County, regardless of how large or small your company is, you simply must ensure that you have your books and accounts in order. The IRS doesn’t care about how busy you are, they don’t care about years of backed up bookkeeping, financial worries, or anything else, they simply care about you filing your accurate business tax return annually and paying what you owe.

If you’re busy running a business and, you know, actually trying to have a personal life in the process, you’ll dread tax season as there is mountains of paperwork to sort though, hours upon hours of work involved, and then, for all of your troubles, you get to hand over a large portion of your profits to the IRS. Hooray.

It’s far from ideal, but it’s the way the world turns and if you’re struggling to get your books, records and accounts in order, this article is for you.

Get a free evaluation today 1-877-788-2937.

We serve different industries, such as non-profit, tax exempt organizations, health & wellness, medical doctors, dentists, pharmacies and medical equipment rentals, we also help professionals, such as lawyers, attorneys, insurance agents, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, we also help contractors, HVAC, plumbers, painters, electricians, truckers, trucking, delivery and other construction businesses, we also help restaurant owners, franchises, franchisors and specialty stores.

Here are several tips on managing your accounting.

Keep your records organized

When it comes to years of messy backed up bookkeeping, the best way to avoid your books becoming backed up and unorganized is to keep everything organized throughout the year.

Whether or not you work in a cluttered environment or a super tidy one, it’s vital that you keep all of your records and documents organized by category.

Invest in a simple filing cabinet or folder and keep receipts, invoices, bank statements, and any other relevant records and documents organized so that you can find them when you need to. It may seem like a bit of extra hassle at the time, but taking a few extra minutes to store important records and documents in a filing system instead of at the back of a cluttered desk drawer will make life so much easier in the long run.

When tax season does come around, if everything is organized you can find what you need much quicker and much easier.

Always stick to tax deadlines

One of the easiest ways to avoid backed up bookkeeping issues is to simply go ahead and stick to tax deadlines.

As negative as the IRS’ reputation is, it has to be said that they give Los Angeles, or Orange County business owners and taxpayers more than enough prior notice to get their accounting books in order, so there really is no excuse for missing a tax deadline.

Not only that, but in reality, you shouldn’t miss tax deadlines anyway because if you file late, pay late, or fail to file at all, you’ll be penalized and fined in a whole variety of different ways. The last thing you’ll want will be for the IRS to place a levy on your bank account or your assets because you aren’t paying what you owe.

When the time comes for you to file and submit your tax return and pay your taxes, make sure you aren’t late.

Get a free evaluation today 1-877-788-2937.

Make sure you keep business and personal finances separate

One common mistake that people make when it comes to backed up bookkeeping and troubles with their tax returns is failing to keep their personal and business finances separate.

Instead of you having your earnings being paid into a personal bank account, and you paying for things for the business out of the same account, go ahead and set up a business bank account instead.

Having a bank and or credit card account just for your business will make filing your tax return and keeping your books and records in order a whole lot easier and quicker.

If you want to figure out how much you spent on your business last month, if you have to sift through bank statement after bank statement, deciphering what was on groceries and takeout for use at home and what was spent on toner for the printers at work, you’ll quickly lose the will to live.

If you keep them separate, though, finding this kind of info out will be much quicker and much easier.

Log any expenses relevant to your business

Legally, you are entitled to claim back a percentage of your expenses on your tax return, so be sure to go ahead and log any expenses which are relevant to your business, no matter how large or small they are.

It doesn’t matter whether you’ve had to purchase 20 new laptops for your employees, or if you’ve simply bought a new notepad and pen, if you’ve paid for it and it is for your business, keep the receipt, make a note of what it is, and be sure to claim it back as an expense.

Hire a professional accountant to do it for you

Finally, the best way to deal with backed up bookkeeping issues and any other issues relating to your rax return are to go ahead and hire a professional serving in Los Angeles, or Orange County to do it for you.

Okay, we don’t work for free out of the goodness of our hearts, but our fees are very reasonable, and when you consider the fact that we do 99.9% of the work for you, it is well worth it.

Not only will an accountant file your tax return for you, they’ll also help you to organize your books, offer tax advice and help, and they will even help you to save more money too.

Remember, these are professionals who know what’s legal and what isn’t, and they know exactly what you can claim as an expense, how to offset expenses, how to save money, which documents you should keep, and a whole lot more besides.

Not only do our tax professionals and bookkeepers do the vast majority of the hard work for you, we also offer you peace of mind because you know that not only will your books be in order and your tax returns filed correctly, you know they’ll be on time as well.

Get a free evaluation today 1-877-788-2937.

We serve different industries, such as non-profit, tax exempt organizations, health & wellness, medical doctors, dentists, pharmacies and medical equipment rentals, we also help professionals, such as lawyers, attorneys, insurance agents, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, we also help contractors, HVAC, plumbers, painters, electricians, truckers, trucking, delivery and other construction businesses, we also help restaurant owners, franchises, franchisors and specialty stores.

The tax & accounting firm of Mike Habib, EA in Whittier California provides back year small business tax, bookkeeping and accounting services for business clients throughout Southern California including Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs, Downey, Pico Rivera, Montebello, Hacienda Heights, La Habra Heights, West Covina, La Habra, Brea, Fullerton, Yorba Linda, Cerritos, La Mirada, Lakewood, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Long Beach, Compton, Torrance, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and throughout Los Angeles County, Orange County, Corona, San Bernardino County, Riverside County, the Inland Empire, the San Fernando Valley and the San Gabriel Valley.

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