It’s December. For most people, that simply means the holiday season is in full swing. For accountants, it also means that tax season is right around the corner, and the time has come to start preparing for the busiest 3 months of the year. It’s important that you take the time to prepare yourself and your office now, before you have more W-2s on your desk than you know what to do with. So, for all you accountants out there, here is a list of things to get done while you still have the time to do so.
Schedule Tax Planning Meetings
A lot of your clients are likely simple returns that don’t take a lot of time and effort on your part. However, you probably have several other clients who are a bit more complex. Whether they have businesses to account for or a large number of investments, it can be worth the time to schedule a tax planning meeting with these kinds of clients.
These meetings will allow you to go over numbers with your clients so that they know how much they can expect to pay when they file their taxes, but it can also save some time on your part. You can hammer out any potential problems now instead of being caught off guard in the middle of tax season, and you’ll have a general idea of what to expect when it comes time to file your clients’ taxes.
Purge Old Files
As you know, the SEC and FINRA have very strict guidelines on the retention of tax-related documents and other documents that contain clients’ financial information. Now is the time to go through these files and purge old documents that have expired and no longer need to be retained. Of course, this task is much easier to do if you have an electronic filing system, rather than going through all of your filing cabinets and shredding those documents by hand. But whichever way you have to do it, make sure you get it done before those W-2s start showing up.
Take Time Off
In the middle of preparing for tax season, it’s important that you remember to take time off so that you don’t burn out before April 15th. Once tax season gets into full swing, you won’t have much time for yourself and your family until the deadline passes, so you need to remember to take some time off, enjoy the holidays, and relax a little while you can.
Upgrade Your Software
In today’s accounting world, you likely rely on software of one kind or another to get your job done more quickly and efficiently and to keep you organized while you do it. Whatever software you rely on in your office, now is the time to upgrade it and clean up your databases, if necessary.
It is also a good time to assess whether or not your current software and systems are meeting your company’s needs. Do they do all of the things that you need them to do? Is the software reliable and accessible? If your software is lacking in anything, it is worth your time to look into other options before the busy tax season begins. It will give you the time to thoroughly research what’s out there and fully implement the new software so that you are familiar with it when the time comes to start using it.
If you’re looking for a document management software that will keep you organized, save you time, and work seamlessly with your existing tax software, then fill out the form on this page for a free demo of eFileCabinet. We can help you prepare so that this tax season is your easiest, most profitable one yet.