Be Kind to Your Tax Professional - Part 3 - BOOKKEEPING!

 One more time.....

Bookkeeping, sure it is boring. And repetitive. 

AND CRITICAL........

to accurate financial statements

to accurate tax returns (required by law)

to accurate analytics

to accurate billing

to lenders

etc.

Be Kind to Your Tax Professional - Part 2 - Business Returns

Business returns depend on a clean trial balance, in order to produce a clean income calculation and a clean balance sheet. Business returns can be easy for tax professionals or can be a nightmare.

The owner of the business determines which it will be.

About bookkeeping, which is usually a boring topic - but a critical topic.

The IRS requires accurate bookkeeping and accurate filings, and your tax professional should do likewise.

Not every bookkeeping and record keeping scheme is perfect, but you should strive for close.

 Also, accurate and useful analytics are only possible when the bookkeeping and accounting system is accurate.

Don't think much about analytics?  You should be.

Presenting your tax professional with clean accu.rate accounting records will save you money, save you grief, and has the potential to improve your managment

Be Kind to Your Tax Professional - Part 1

 Be kind to your tax professional.

Pros must work through high volumes of complex data and then apply a massive amount of data via complex statutes and regulatory law, and get it all on the proper forms and explain it to the client. 

And work with the IRS. 

All under time pressure.

What can clients do to help?

Answer phone calls and emails promptly

Keep all of your documents together and in good order

Do not try to take deductions your pro says are not deductible

Do not follow tax advice from Tik-Tok or Instagram

Keep appointments

Pay estimates taxes when scheduled

Try to avoid surprises  (if you have major transaction/s during the year which alter your tax profile let the pro know early - buy a business, sell a business, start a business, sell a large amount of investments, sell your house, marriage, baby,  get divorced, death in family, etc.) 

Be patient

 by Tom Ealey, CPA

(c) Plain English Publishing 2026

It Is Not Easy

 The One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) tax provisions ar easy to turn into slogans but very difficult to put into records and forms.

The overtime and tip provisions are very very complicated. VERY complicated.

Worse in tandem with your tax professionals to get it right, because amendments are complicated and expensive.

It .... Is.....Not.....Easy

Tis the Season

 ...... to close your books and prepare your document files for your tax preparer (CPA, EA, lawyer, qualified preparer).

You have a legal obligation to file correct tax returns, and it is difficult for the preparer (and expensive for you) when the preparer has to decipher a bookkeeping mess.

Beyond that, sloppy bookkeeping does not allow for accurate business analytics.

If 2025 is a mess, clean it up and make a resolution to do better in 2026.

Be Prepared

 Prepare for the worst, enjoy yourself when it does not happen.

Being an old Boy Scout I live the motto "Be Prepared."

Basic tenants of risk management:

The more valuable the people/property in your care, the more intense the risk management practices.

The greater the likely risks, the more intense the risk management practices.

(We are always stunned when businesses on flood plains do not prepare for, ...... floods.)

 

Basics of Risk Management

 Repost

The basics of risk management, first post

*  list all possible risks to your organization  (weather, accidents, regulatory, fire,  misconduct, etc.)

* assign probabilities to those risks, in other words, which are the most likely occur to your business, in your location, with your product, with your workforce

* take steps to prevent the risks, take steps to minimize the risks, take steps to         insure the risks