7 Reasons You Should Hire a Professional for Your Books & Taxes
Running a business is a wild ride, am I right?
Signing clients, doing your marketing, getting on sales calls, serving clients… the list goes on. And on top of that, you’ve got to make sure the books are balanced and the taxes are taken care of so you don’t get into trouble with the government!
It can be a lot to handle – which is why having a trained bookkeeper or tax specialist to help you out can be a real game-changer for your business.
Not convinced? I have SEVEN great reasons why you should hire a financial professional to handle your books and taxes.
1. Avoid Getting into Trouble with IRS
Let’s face it – most entrepreneurs didn’t go to school to become business owners. Perhaps they got tired of their 9-5 job, or they fell into entrepreneurship by accident or necessity. Maybe they simply followed their passion to do something they loved.
Whatever their reason for becoming an entrepreneur, it’s unlikely that they have formal training in managing the finances of their business. For example, most of my clients simply learned what they needed as they went along and handled their bookkeeping, taxes, and accounting the best they could as a solopreneur.
Now, taking a DIY approach to your books and taxes is perfectly fine when you’re just starting out!
However, as your business grows, your systems and processes get more complex. You have to think about things like managing payments from different platforms, handling different merchants, or conducting business across state lines or internationally, and different rules and regulations can come into play.
A lot of entrepreneurs don’t know what they don’t know. That’s where hiring a professional can be valuable. They can take care of the financial aspects of your business and guarantee that your books and taxes are always accurate and well-maintained. They also have the expertise and know-how to ensure you avoid any trouble from the IRS that can arise when you DIY your books! Want to save yourself a lot of headaches down the road? Hire a professional for your books and taxes!
2. Save (A Lot of) Money
Have you ever filed your taxes and then realized: Dang, I could have included my new computer/Medicare premium/charitable donation/car repair as a deduction to lower my final tax bill? Well, that’s what a financial professional like a tax specialist could have helped you with!
The IRS lists hundreds of deductions business owners like you can claim. Not taking advantage of all of these deductions which apply to you is costing you money. If you are DIY-ing your books or taxes, you risk missing deductions and write-offs. In fact, I’ve helped hundreds of business owners save thousands of dollars simply by helping them apply all the relevant deductions – and that could be YOU!
What’s more – when you work with a tax specialist, we can even help you with tax planning throughout the year. Through careful planning, we can minimize your tax liabilities and maximize your tax breaks and credits to reduce your total tax bill and save you money!
3. Get Back Your Time
Do you love Quickbooks? I do, but I know not a lot of my clients share my feelings! And I don’t blame them. Quickbooks is an amazing piece of software to manage your books and taxes, but it can be complicated, tricky to master, and has a steep learning curve!
Mastering Quickbooks to handle your own bookkeeping and accounting requires a significant time investment (we’re talking dozens of hours!), but you’re a busy business owner with a million things on your to-do list! When you hire a professional to navigate the complexities of Quickbooks (or any other accounting software you use), you will get back so much time you won’t know if you should start a whole other business!
4. Reduce Your Stress
If the thought of having to file your taxes makes you want to book a flight to the Bahamas so you can pretend the IRS doesn’t exist, you’re not alone. Taxes are stressful! Keeping your books organized is a pain! Sorting through thousands of receipts is about as fun as going grocery shopping with wailing twin toddlers in tow (although… I’d rather sort through the receipts).
For most entrepreneurs, keeping the books up-to-date, tracking expenses, reporting taxes, and anything accounting-related can be a real chore. So they end up putting everything off till the last minute and have to do a wild scramble at tax time.
Why not reduce your stress by hiring a financial professional for your books and taxes? They’ll do most of the boring, tedious work so you don’t have to, and you’ll avoid tearing up your office looking for an invoice when it’s time to file your taxes. Having a financial professional as part of your team (even in a small capacity!) can lay a stable foundation for you to build a successful, thriving business – without the stress!
5. Take a Proactive Approach to Your Finances
If you want someone who can:
- See things in your business finances you wouldn’t necessarily notice
- Point out your financial blind spots
- Highlight important things in your business you need to be aware of (that you might not know about)
- Help you get better opportunities like loans or financing for a house
Then you should hire a professional to help you with your books and taxes.
Bookkeepers, accountants, tax specialists, and CFOs have a wealth of industry expertise and knowledge about the inner workings of financial institutions and instruments. By hiring one of them in your business, you can adopt a proactive approach to your business finances and ensure that you stay on top of your books and taxes all year round.
As a self-employed person, outsourcing your books and taxes to financial pros can also come in handy if you are planning to buy a house, apply for a loan, or get financing in other ways. For example, some business owners who tried to apply for Small Business Administration (SBA) loans designed for COVID-19 relief like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) were unable to secure funding because their books were not in order and they couldn’t provide the necessary documents required. A financial professional can also guide you through complex loan application processes or provide advice on navigating complicated paperwork and bureaucracy.
6. Get Financial Advice on Call
Ever had a question about your business finances – and spent hours Googling or sifting through conflicting and contradictory advice from “experts” in Facebook groups trying to find the answer? With a financial professional on your team, you’ll never have to worry about that again.
When you work with a professional on your books and taxes, they have the opportunity to understand your particular business and specific circumstances. They can offer tailored advice based on your situation, needs, and goals. A highly skilled financial pro would even be able to offer insights into your business you can use to guide your next steps – whether that’s hiring a new VA, renting office space, or investing in new systems. Whenever you need financial advice, you can call on them to make the right decisions for you and your business.
7. Make an Investment You Get a Quick Return On
What if you thought of hiring a professional to do your books and taxes as an investment rather than an expense? Sure, you’ll have to spend a few hundred bucks on a bookkeeper or an accountant but think about all the benefits you get from this investment!
They help you avoid costly mistakes like miscalculating the taxes you owe or mixing personal and business assets. They streamline the tax preparation, filing, and reporting processes so you don’t have to worry about a thing in tax season. They save you time, energy, and mental capacity in doing your own books so you can focus on your business – serving your clients, taking opportunities, and doing what lights you up.
Any way you look at it, hiring a professional for your books and taxes is an excellent investment for the savvy business owner who is ready to grow and scale a thriving business.
If you are ready to outsource your books and let a professional take care of your tax headaches for you, we would love to support you. At Exceptional Tax Services, we offer a full range of bookkeeping and tax services. Take a proactive approach to your finances – book your free consultation call with us today!
