There’s so much to do when it comes to running your small business. Hunting up paperwork, although important, isn’t probably at the top of your to do list – except at tax time. Make preparing for this year’s business tax filing a breeze by using our hand checklist. It includes all the items you’ll need to have on hand or provide to your accountant so they can file your taxes and you can get back to running your business.
General Information
- A copy of your last filed tax return
- If this is your first year filing a tax return for the business, we will need the following information for each owner:
- Full name
- SSN or EIN
- Address
- Phone Number
- Ownership percentages
- Info about ownership changes occurring during the year
Documentation
- December bank and credit card statements
- All 1099s received
- Merchant account annual summaries (Amazon, PayPal, Stripe, etc.)
- Statements for outstanding loans (car loans, business loans, loans from owners, etc.) including the balance due at 12/31/2017
- Information on large assets purchase, if not already provided (purchase price, amount financed, date purchased)
Common Business Deductions Not in Bookkeeping
The following items most likely will not show up in your monthly bookkeeping reports, so we would ask you to provide the information at year end if you haven’t already:
- Business miles driven
- Business use of home expenses
Tip: Spend just a few minutes each day gathering the items listed in each section – General Information, Income Items, and Deduction Items. Store all your papers in a manila folder and keep it handy so that if you run across items you can slip them in and then sort later. Also keep a stack of sticky notes or a pad of paper and pen handy so you can to down questions for your accountant as you think of them. Print off the downloadable checklist below and paperclip it to the front of your folder – check off the items as you find them, so you can see your progress.
Download the 2017 Business Taxes Checklist Here
Looking for some help on preparing your personal taxes for filing? We’ve got a handy checklist for that too – you can find it here.
