Many business owners stress over gathering receipts, recalculating figures and some even lose sleep over filling out their tax yearly organizer. But did you know, there are five things your CPA really wants to see when you submit your information so that he or she can start to work on your taxes? Let’s take a look…

1. Company Financial Statements

Your company financial statements are the foundational documents comprised of a balance sheet, an income statement and a cash flow statement. If you can, bringing with you a clean trial balance and general ledger are a plus. For tax purposes, the income statement and the trial balance are most used by your accountant as they contain all the activity fo the year along with the ending assets and liabilites. 

2. Automobile Mileage and Expense Log

If you use your own vehicle for business purposes, you can claim a portion of the car’s upkeep expenses as a tax deduction against your business income. The IRS allows you to calculate this one of two ways: either the actual expenses method or the simplified method. The simplified method allows you to apply an IRS-mandated mileage rate to the total business miles driven in the year. For tax year 2015, the standard mileage deduction is $0.575 per mile.

Regardless of which method you elect, you, the taxpayer, are still required to keep track of your business mileage in a vehicle log. This can be as simple as jotting dates, descriptions and miles into a blank notebook, or you can use vehicle log software to keep track of your mileage and automate the deduction. 

Related: Read more from the tax team

3. Home-Office Expenses

When you designate your home office as your sole place of business, or if you regularly meet clients or customers at your home, you can likely claim home-office expenses.

Home-office expenses include a percentage of your utilities, repairs and maintenance, home insurance, and mortgage interest or rent. Your accountant can calculate your home-office deduction by dividing the square footage of your office space by the livable square footage of your house, or by dividing the number of rooms your home office occupies by the total number of rooms in the house. Using either formula, your CPA will multiply your total home expenses by the home-office percentage. Communicate with your accountant before meeting to ensure what you are providing is what he needs.

Like the vehicle deductions, you can also use a simplified method to claim you home-office deduction. The simplified method allows you to deduct $5 per square foot (up to 300 square feet) of the portion of your home used for business. Your accountant will advise the most beneficial route for your tax situation.

4. Mortgage Interest and Property Taxes

Your mortgage company likely issued you a IRS Form 1098 at the end of the year that summarizes your mortgage-interest and property-tax payments throughout the year. Your accountant should ask you for this form to claim the mortgage-interest deduction that is available to homeowners (there are limitations). Your accountant will also refer to this to calculate part of your home-office deduction). If you carry more than one mortgage, be sure to provide Form 1098 for each as you can also potentially deduct interest paid on one other property as a second qualified residence. 

5. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Marketplace Information 

If you obtained health insurance from the ACA marketplace, you accountant would need information regarding coverage and any credit provided. Depending on your situation, any ACA paperwork you received should be gathered and submitted to your CPA to ensure he has the full picture as there are additional reporting requirements related to these. 

Need help? I’m ready to help you not only prepare your taxes, but also gather the needed documents to ensure your tax filing is compliant and timely. Please contact us at info@zinnerco.com or any of our tax professionals at 216-831-0733. We’re ready to start the conversation. 
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