Stop Fearing the IRS: 3 Strategies to Help
As business owners, we all have one thing in common: we have to pay our taxes.
At Prominence, we know from working with hundreds of clients that opening notices and letters from the IRS can be really scary - especially if you don’t understand exactly what it’s trying to tell you. In today’s blog post, we’re going to share three simple steps you can start implementing today to make sure you have nothing to worry about the next time you find an IRS envelope among your mail.
Tip #1: Respond to all your notices in a timely manner.
What often happens when you ignore your IRS notices the first time around is that the IRS will do something more drastic to grab your attention. In some cases, this can include taking the money you owe them straight out of your bank account without even asking.
If you’ve ever found yourself in this situation, there is no need to panic: there are still several countermeasures we can take on your behalf as tax professionals. For example, we can get power of attorney, call up the IRS, and ask them to return your funds. We’re going to let them know that you’ve hired a professional to take care of deadlines for you and negotiate on your behalf.
However, to avoid this situation from happening all together, you’ll want to make sure that you’re letting us know about your notices right away - don’t shove them away into a forgotten desk drawer! The best way to face challenges with the IRS is head on - and that’s exactly what we’re here to help you do at Prominence Business & Wealth Management.
Tip #2: Document EVERYTHING
As much as we all dread IRS audits, they certainly do happen once in a while, and you want to make sure you are absolutely prepared for one. If the IRS ever questions something you wrote off as a business expense, you’ll want to have ample proof that that expense was directly related to the operations of your business.
Here are a few daily habits you can start implementing today:
-Keep screenshots of your receipts in an organized virtual storage space.
-Take detailed notes of client meetings such as networking dinners and events.
-Store client communication emails in organized folders.
The last thing you want happening to you is an IRS audit for which you don’t have the necessary proof to back up your written-off expenses. The more organized and thorough you are with your documentation, the more we can help you out as tax professionals.
Tip #3: Hire a tax professional who knows what they’re doing when it comes to saving you money.
Clients often come to us with the first question of, “How much money does a tax professional cost?” Instead, the question we encourage you to ask is this: “How much money can hiring a tax professional save me?”We’ve seen instances of clients paying $20,000 in extra taxes just because they wanted to hire the cheapest tax professional possible.
As a business owner, you know from experience that when you contract out a service, you get what you pay for: If you want the best tax professionals on the market, they’re going to come with a bigger price tag than you might be used to - but if they’re good, they will also bring in big savings.
At Prominence Business & Wealth Management, we love saving our clients money. When you hire us, you have a team of certified tax professionals, accountants, bookkeepers, and wealth managers working year-round to make sure you get to keep more of the money that you’ve worked so hard to make.
If you’re ready to delegate all things finance in your business to top professionals in the industry, we are here to help: just click the link down below to schedule your free discovery call with us today.
We look forward to meeting you! See you in the next blog post.
Warmly,
The Prominence Team
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