With an overwhelming number of tax credits out there, it can be hard to pick the ones your business is eligible for out of the crowd. Whose job is it to find these credits - yours or your accountant’s?

If you’ve read our other articles, you may fully expect us to answer that we’ll do the heavy lifting here for you. After all, a major reason to work with a monthly accounting service is to let an accountant take the bookkeeping and tax work off your plate. 

However, even the most perfect accountant we can imagine wouldn’t have a complete success rate in obtaining every tax credit you’re eligible for. You should always keep an ear out for business tax credits just in case. After all, a claimed tax credit is a directly-lowered tax liability.

A quality accountant should, however, have a decent understanding of some of their most-claimed tax credits and know your eligibility. They might not have this same awareness when it comes to the specific or rare ones, but they can still check your eligibility for them if you ask! At CSI Accounting & Payroll, we’ve been helping our clients claim tax credits in this manner for over 50 years.

Here, we discuss the top six credits we believe you should ask your accountant to see if you qualify for.

What makes you want to do your own business accounting? If your answer is along the lines of, “I want to save money”, you may be surprised to hear that many small business owners worry about their finances even after they’ve reached a comfortable level of growth. That can mean they also see avoiding expenses as a safer option than making an investment. This is not true for every situation.

When you outsource accounting, it’s an extremely valuable investment. Plus, it costs much less than hiring an accountant - or any employee - to do it in-house. Consider the costs of hiring and onboarding, providing a salary and benefits, subscribing to a bookkeeping software, and maybe even working with an annual tax accountant as well.

At CSI Accounting & Payroll, we’ve spoken with thousands of small business owners over the past several decades, so we know what commonly drives people to want to do their own accounting. Here, we go over:

• The value of accounting
• Doing your own business accounting
• What your time is worth

We all want to find ways to save money. Besides being human, that’s one thing that you have in common with most people in the world.

Many business owners associate tax season with paying a large tax bill from the government - so how can you cut the bill down? One way to reduce what you owe in taxes is to take advantage of all of your tax deductions.

If you’re researching tax deductions yourself, then you’re not getting enough value out of your accountant. You shouldn’t have to reach out with questions and be billed by the minute. If your accountant doesn’t take the time to explain tax strategies to you, then they aren’t implementing tax strategies. Not to mention, an annual tax accountant can’t properly assist with tax planning since they don’t meet with you year-round.

At CSI Accounting & Payroll, we’ve helped small business owners legally minimize their tax liability for more than 50 years. We know what we’re talking about! We also know some of the common questions about tax deductions, such as:

• What are tax deductions?
• What is tax-deductible?
• What is not tax-deductible?

We all have different skills. Organizing (in any aspect of our lives) comes naturally to some people, while many others struggle. 

Organization is important when it comes to accounting. That’s why small business owners who work with annual tax accountants put so much effort into correctly categorizing their receipts before their yearly appointment.

CSI Accounting & Payroll has helped thousands of small business owners with their taxes over the course of more than 50 years. In this article, we’ll detail our expertise in organizing your receipts on your own - unless you work with a monthly accountant and already get everything broken down for you!

In this day and age, it’s not unusual to file your own taxes. However, business taxes can be significantly more complicated than personal taxes. If you hear that a business owner is doing their own taxes, it’s safe to assume they’re only handling the personal end - especially if they own a corporation or partnership. 

The situation is a bit different for sole proprietorships because the business taxes are included in the owner’s personal tax forms. Sole proprietors often feel that if they’re already planning to handle their personal taxes, they might as well take a stab at the business side too!

CSI Accounting & Payroll has been filing business and personal taxes for more than 50 years, so we know the things that sole proprietors commonly want to know about when filing their taxes:

• What documents are needed to file sole proprietor taxes
• What forms are used to file sole proprietor taxes
• The top missed items for sole proprietorship taxes

How often do you purchase something without knowing how much it costs? For most people, the answer is probably “never” - or at least “not often.” Costs are always on the rise due to inflation, so you need to at least have a ballpark idea of what you’re signing up for before making any commitments.

When you work with an annual tax accountant, it’s pretty likely that you won’t know how much money to set aside for your taxes. CSI Accounting & Payroll believes that you should. That’s why we’ve been helping small business owners understand the ins and outs of taxes for more than 50 years.

Here, we take a look at the two factors that make up the “cost of taxes”:

• Your tax liability (what you might owe back to the government)
• The fee that your accountant charges to file your taxes

For about half of people, having a deadline means getting the task done right away so you can get back to your usual activities. For the other half of people, it means you can continue to focus on your usual activities right now - especially if they're piling up on you - until it's almost time for the task to be due.

Let's be honest though - we all procrastinate sometimes. That even includes some accountants falling behind on filing taxes. If you're only meeting with an annual tax accountant, you probably aren't being treated as a priority. This can result in missing important due dates and being penalized for it - and it's much more common than you'd think. When was the last time you felt like you had good communication with your accountant?     

After talking with thousands of small business owners, we've noticed that many feel that their annual tax accountant doesn't have time for them. They often ask us:

• What happens if my taxes get filed late?
• What happens if I get an extension?
• What do I need to know about government payment plans?

If you manage a small retail store, you know that it’s critical to keep good records. However, between cash flow, inventory, payroll, and many other things you may find important to monitor for your store, it can be challenging to keep track of your operations. This is especially true if you are managing them on your own.

CSI Accounting & Payroll has worked with many retail stores over the past few decades, so we know what good retail store accounting should look like. These five retail accounting tips will help you:

• Get insight into the cost of your operations
• Make the most of your next tax season
• Clarify if you’re making or losing money
• Highlight future opportunities to enhance your business

Who likes to owe money back in taxes? At face level, the answer is nobody. As you start your journey as a small business owner, you want to hold onto as much revenue as possible. Taxes can seem like an abyss of the unknown - or even the enemy.

However, owing business taxes can be indicative of some good things. The real obstacle is figuring out how to strategically minimize what you owe over time. Consider how a monthly accountant can help reduce your long-term tax liability.

For over 50 years, CSI Accounting & Payroll has worked with small business owners to close books, create financial statements, and offer expert advice each month to minimize what is owed in taxes - even if it means paying a little more this year for the sake of saving a lot more next year.

Other business owners who talked to us about tax strategy wanted to know:

• How can owing taxes be a good thing?
• How can I pay more this year to save more next year?
• How can a monthly accountant help me reach my tax goals?

Hold on. You just got your business’s tax return, and something doesn’t look right. Is the amount not what you were expecting… like, at all? In extreme situations, this is a punch to the gut. How do you right this wrong? Look into getting your tax return amended.

If you work with an accountant, they should have the expertise to help you. At CSI Accounting & Payroll, we’ve been working with small business taxes for over 50 years. We know exactly how to amend your tax return and would love to assist you, even if you were not previously a client of ours!

Other small business owners who have asked us to amend their tax returns wanted to know:

• What are the reasons why someone would want a business tax return amended?
• What is the process of amending a business tax return?
• How long does it take to amend a business tax return?
• How much does it cost to get a business tax return amended?