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Want To Hire A CPA Firm? 3 Signs To Watch Out For

Hiring a CPA can be a great way to have your taxes done quickly and in an organized fashion. When you choose the right CPA firm, you can feel good that your tax returns have been completed thoroughly and submitted prior to IRS or state tax guidelines. However, there are issues that you need to consider to prevent yourself from choosing the wrong CPA.

Get References Ahead of Time

You should always ask for references before you decide to work with a specific CPA. This includes asking the CPA directly as well as asking your own friends or contacts for recommendations. A good accountant will be glad to provide these upon request and should have several satisfied customers who would be willing to talk to you.

Be Clear About How Much You Are Paying

You need to know how you are paying ahead of time to ensure that you are paying market rates and to ensure that any rate quoted is within your budget. It is also a good idea to get your rate in writing to ensure that there are no surprises when the bill comes due after your taxes have been completed. To increase your odds of getting the best value for your money, don’t be afraid to shop around until you are comfortable with both the CPA and the rate that he or she charges.

Your CPA Isn’t Running the Business

Make sure that you don’t hand over your books and all the financial decisions at the same time. While your CPA should be able to make calculations and make suggestions from time to time, this is still your company. If you don’t at least keep an eye on what your accountant is doing, you could open yourself up to fraud or other negative consequences.

Finding a good CPA can make it easier to manage your finances and keep your company in the black. However, it may take time and patience on your part to find someone who meets both your needs and your budget. If you are in the market for a great CPA in Las Vegas, get in touch with Larry L. Bertsch, CPA today.

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3 Red Flags That Could Get Your Small Business Audited

red flags that could get your small business audited

There’s nothing more traumatizing for a business owner than to have their small business audited. Running a small business can be challenging enough, but can become more stressful with the IRS auditing you. While the prospect of an IRS audit may be scary, you can lower your odds of being audited by avoiding certain actions that the government considers to be red flags. Our expert CPA’s highlight a few red flags that could lead your small business to get some unwanted attention from the IRS?

1. Your Business Isn’t Making a Profit

If your company doesn’t make a profit in at least two out of every five years, the government may consider your business to be a hobby. While you should take every deduction that you are entitled to, be aware that your audit risk increases with each year, you spend in the red. Make sure that you keep good records to justify your losses.

2. You Claim 100 Percent Business Use of a Vehicle

Typically, a business owner will use his or her personal vehicle for business trips or to travel to business lunches. However, the IRS knows that some people will try to claim that their personal vehicle is solely used for business, which is unlikely. As with anything tax related, you should keep good records to justify the miles and other expenses that you write off related to the business use of your vehicle.

3. Cash Businesses Get Extra Scrutiny

Restaurants, car washes and other companies that do a lot of cash transactions could be in for extra scrutiny from the government. This is because it is easier to hide money or otherwise fail to report it come tax time. While it may be tempting to shelter some of your money elsewhere or simply not tell the IRS about it, it could lead to fines and penalties later that could negate any potential gain.

How Does a CPA Help?

A CPA can help you organize your receipts, invoices, and liabilities into a coherent set of records. When the IRS comes calling, you can refer to these records to show that you have been complying with tax laws and are engaging in legal tax avoidance as opposed to tax evasion. Having clean books can also help when applying for a loan, asking for outside investment or when you attempt to sell your business.

There is no surefire way to know whether or not your company will get audited in a given year. Fortunately, the overall audit rate is around 1 percent, which means that your odds of dealing with the government in any given year are low. However, if you are facing an audit or simply want to get better organized, give Larry L. Bertsch, CPA a call today.

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The Tax Season Survival Guide: 9 Tips You Need to Know

Tax season is quickly arriving, looming over the heads of business owners as they search through piles of paperwork that is required to file their taxes for the year.

This often means a daunting task of documenting deductions and preparing for the possibility of a massive property tax bill come spring. Your pulse may be racing a little faster with the thought of legalities that accompany expense reports, legitimate expenditures, and quarterly taxes.

Frequently, there are innocuous errors that could be lurking in your file cabinets which may threaten your company’s longevity. Here are some tips for making it through the 2016 tax season, hitch free.

Nine Tips for Surviving the 2016 Tax Season

While the busy season is often frightening to many business owners, there are numerous ways you can ensure that you will survive and even thrive as the deadline bestows upon us. As you begin preparing for this busy time, there are a few essential tips and revelations that can make the process a smooth one.

1. Know Your Deadlines

As Tax Day sneaks up on us, most taxpayers believe that this is the hard deadline date for all taxes to be paid in full. This is when tax season trickery can be hard to decipher.
Self-employed individuals are required to pay quarterly taxes including Social Security, Medicare, and Income Tax. If these are not paid on time, it could mean more monetary fees in the future.

2. Get an Early Start

When it comes to completing your taxes, procrastination can be your worst enemy. Get a jump start on your taxes by gathering your documents as early as the end of January. This action will provide you with more than enough time to meet the IRS tax deadline. You will also eliminate the sleepless nights that are associated with unfinished taxes.

3. Set Up a Tax Schedule

The tax planning process is rarely straightforward. Most people find that the process can be a drawn out. Planning a schedule just as one would a project could be especially useful in keeping the preparation process on track. Here is a good example of a possible tax schedule for 2016.

  • January 28 – February 5 – Gather your tax documents.
  • February 7 – 10 – Categorize the documents and put them in order.
  • February 15 – Take your documents to your Las Vegas Business CPA.

The magic of getting anything accomplished is putting it in writing. Creating a schedule provides you with a tangible organization tool that can keep you on task.

4. Organize Your Documents

There are approximately 4 months between the New Year and the deadline for your taxes. This is plenty of time to gather all of the pertinent documentation to provide to your Las Vegas Certified Public Business Account (CPA).

The easiest way to prepare for your personal and business taxes is to keep all of your information in one location. Separating your expense reports, receipts, proof of income, donations, and any other pertinent information within the same area will help keep it organized throughout the year. It is also a good practice to keep these documents filed and stored away for years to come in the unfortunate event that you are audited by the IRS.

Documentation that your CPA will need from you are:

  • Financial statements that detail cash flow, balance sheet, and income
  • Vehicle log
  • Capital asset activity

If you are not sure about additional documents, you will need, contact your Las Vegas CPA to get more accurate information. By having this documentation readily available, you will expedite the tax preparation process.

5. Keep Separate Business and Personal Expenses

The IRS has strict rules about commingled business and personal accounts. It is essential to develop a strategy to keep your personal accounts and credit cards separate from business accounts. At the very minimum, you should have a separate credit card for expenses related to your business. This will give your Las Vegas CPA a clear idea of how to allocate your expenses on your documents.

6. Set priorities

Everything may appear to be urgent, but setting a priority for deliverables when planning for taxes can save you a lot of stress. Some find it helpful to rank their tax challenges according to what will likely have the greatest impact on their finances.

7. Use Specialized Software Programs

For those who find accounting as one of the most worrisome threats to their business, bookkeeping through easy and cheap software programs can help ease the burden. A few include Freshbooks, which is a cloud-based automated billing and expense-tracking software, Outright, which categorizes expenses into IRS-approved categories, and Shoeboxed, which organizes receipts effortlessly.

8. Discover Hidden Deductibles

There is a wealth of opportunity that lies in hidden deductibles that can help lower your overall tax liability. Multiple items are eligible for deductions depending on what they are being used for and how they pertain to your business. These include your car, employees’ salaries, retirement plans, business insurance, work furniture, travel expenses, and meals to name a few. A simple research can unravel the endless possibilities.

9. Hire a Las Vegas Tax Advisor

Professional tax advisers can help clarify certain aspects of your deductions and credits to ensure that you are not overpaying on your taxes. These savings outweigh the cost of the service and can limit the total liability of your business, allowing for more potential of investment opportunities and money allocated to your company.

There comes a point in your small business that you have to outsource your stressful tasks. As your business grows, you will need to use in-depth tax strategies that will maximize your deductions. You can also work with an accounting firm to simplify the tax planning process. They can handle much of the complexities and direct your efforts so that you aren’t spinning your wheels unnecessarily.

Larry L. Bertch is a Las Vegas CPA who has years of experience completing taxes for small businesses like yours. He consistently takes classes to remain up-to-date on the newest tax changes. For more information about his services, call 702-919-7697 for a free consultation.

This year’s tax season does not have to ruin your first quarter of the year. Following these tips and taking decisive action will make the tax season a breeze.

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5 Reasons to Love Tax Season

love tax season

While some people grumble and complain about tax season, it is actually an excellent time of the year. There are tons of reasons to get excited about going into tax season optimistcally.

Here are the top 5 reasons to think about:

Reason #1: Huge Refunds

From over-payments to tax credits, a lot of people get a surprise when they do their taxes. Not only are they all paid up, but they actually get a refund. That refund helps people turn their finances around and buy themselves something special.

Reason #2: No More Questions

A lot of people stress out all year long, wondering where they stand financially. Most people think they are worse off than they are. Tax season puts those questions to bed once and for all. Once you look at that prepared tax return, you know your exact financial position.

Then, you know if you need to put your nose to the grindstone or if you have some breathing room.

Reasons #3: Easier to Plan for Next Year

Some people own money when they do their taxes, but that can be a blessing as well. When you owe money, you know you need to make an adjustment to the way you pay taxes. You might require your employer to hold out more taxes, or you may need to increase your estimated tax payments.

Now that you know what you need to do, you can fix the problem so you won’t owe taxes next year.

Reason #4: Get Schooled on Savings

Tax credits change from one year to the next, and both businesses and individuals can benefit from these changes. While it can be hard to keep up with the changes throughout the year, it is a cinch to find out exactly what is going on during tax season. Many taxpayers discover credits they missed out on that they can make adjustments for in the following year.

This puts them in a great position to get a big refund the next year.

Reasons #5: Get Organized

Tax season is a great time to finally get organized. A lot of taxpayers feel nervous because their bookkeeping skills leave a lot to be desired, but they can gather everything up and organize it during tax season. Then, they can jump into the new fiscal year organized and ready to go.

This takes a lot of the stress off their shoulders and makes the following tax season even easier.

Get even more excited about tax season by having Larry L. Bertsch, CPA help. This Las Vegas firm works hard to ensure that businesses and individuals get all of the tax credits available, so they have a favorable tax season. Also, Larry L. Bertsch, CPA offers IRS tax audit representation, so people do not have to worry when they go to this firm.

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3 End Of The Year Accounting Tips For Businesses

The holiday season is the busiest time of the year for many business owners. Not only do business owners try to increase their sales, but they also have to complete their end-of-the-year accounting and bookkeeping tasks. Here are 3 accounting tips to keep you on par for an audit-free tax season.

 

3 Accounting Tips For Your Business To End The Year

 

Bring Your Books Up-To-Date

You need to have a good understanding of your business’s financial status in order to prepare for tax season. You may have to spend some extra time making sure that your books are up-to-date. You will also need to give your accountant plenty of time to create the necessary reports. Additionally, you should go over the reports with your accountant.

Going over the reports with your accountant will allow both of you to see where the business is financially. It will also be easier for your accountant to prepare the tax return.

 

Review The Books

After the books are up-to-date, you and your accountant will need to assess the financial health of your business. Examine the profit and loss sheets in order to find tax strategies that can benefit your business. This includes things such as making contributions to a retirement plan, deferring income and making purchases.

You may also want to examine the pros and cons of your current accounting system. You may find an accounting application that is better for your business. Additionally, now is a great time to review your choice of business entity and retirement plan.

 

Close The Books

After you have updated your books and looked at your current situation, you can close the books and start making preparations for next year. You should also clean up your electronic and physical bookkeeping files. You will need to manage and clean old bank accounts, expense account, old customer accounts and inactive vendor accounts.

Furthermore, now is a great time to start making a budget for next year. Before you create a budget, you should look at last year’s finances. If you start identifying potential expenditures and estimated monthly income early, then you will be able to pinpoint potential issues that may arise.

If you are looking for an accountant, then Larry L. Bertsch, CPA can help.

Larry L. Bertsch, CPA & Associates, LLP

265 E Warm Springs Rd, #104, Las Vegas, NV 89119

Phone: (702) 471-7223