Ken Blake
CPA

What can your business clients do to assist in preparation of tax returns?

Well generally the more organized the client is the better it is to prepare their return. When an accountant is keeping their own books maybe using a program like Quicken, QuickBooks or maybe Peachtree those programs are pretty good in categorizing income and expenses. And so what you what ideally from an accountant's stand point is a client that has properly recorded their expenses and had made an honest attempt to classify them in the manner in which they should be classified. I as an accountant can then take a look and see if some of the expenses can be reclassified or shifted in some way that allows better tax breaks to be taken. The other side of it too is to make sure that if things come up in the clients personal life that may have some impact on their personal taxes that should be brought to the accountants attention as soon as possible to the accountant can make a determination of can this type of activity be structured such that it runs through the business or is it better left as a personal item. Because business and personal sometimes get intertwined especially small businesses and keeping your accountant in the loop to help with that is a sure way of saving money on income taxes.