Most businesses aren’t aware of this, but unless your income and tax filing status continually stay the same year on year, your tax status is always changing. Every year companies try and fail to do their own numbers, ending up with fines and penalties from the IRS simply by shoddy paperwork. The question of whether you should be bringing on a pro to help you out with your taxes or gritting your teeth and ploughing through them yourself is something that you should be asking yourself every single year – not just once.

Below we’ve outlined when it’s better to do your taxes yourself and when it’s best to ask for help from a company like Cook CPA. For the most part, small businesses are torn between wanting to save their money and wanting to get their taxes right!

calculator

Image Source

Do It Yourself:

  • If you are the kind of person who loves math, accounting and all things to do with numbers, you may have everything you need to file without help. Most people who are all for the numbers already enjoy keeping track of their spends and their receipts. They already know the ins and outs of their business from the people that they pay to the amount spent on suppliers.
  • If your income in your business hasn’t changed, then there’s no need to bring someone on to do what you already know how to do.
  • When you understand tax laws in business, you can feel comfortable doing the tax process yourself. The tax jargon alone is like thick mud for most people: impossible to wade through! If you do read through it and understand it, feel free to get through your taxes yourself.

stamp

Image Source

Hire The Pros:

  • Most people prefer to hire the professionals to do their business taxes for them; that extra pair of eyes can make a massive difference to the entire success of the process. If you can’t quite get the hang of the numbers by yourself, then bringing on a professional company to go over the numbers for you will be money well spent for you. If you get it done right with help the first time around, you can save yourself an awful lot of money as time goes on.
  • When you’ve started a brand new business and this is your first tax year, you need someone to come in and dot the i’s and cross the t’s for you so that you can see how the process runs. There’s no way you would climb to the highest diving board without learning to swim, so don’t jump into the deep end with your taxes without the help.
  • When your business income changes, you need someone who’s going to know how to manage the changes alongside the changes in the tax laws. They are your advocate when it comes to your taxes and they are there to help and make things easy for you.

Ultimately, it’s going to be your decision. Spend your cash on the help at the start and you could avoid the fines later on!