Are you Ready for Tax Season?

29 Jan 2025 Are you Ready for Tax Season?

Authored by Alexander Zacher, CPA

Last month, a family member approached me with tax questions at a family gathering. I love answering questions like these—it’s one of the reasons I enjoy my profession. It also serves as a reminder that tax season is upon us. Are you ready?

As you start receiving tax documents—everything from brokerage statements and W2s to 1099s and more—it’s time to start thinking about how to get organized.

If you like your method of gathering information, then keep using it! But check out our tips to see if we can make your tax season even more straightforward.

If you have a business (Partnerships and S Corporations) that files a separate return, start here; if not, skip to the individual section. If you have a C Corporation, use the business guide below, but know the deadline is 4/15/2025.

Business Returns (Deadline 3/17/2025): Steps to Organize Your Business Tax Documents

There are many options for putting this information together for your business. Before we start, you need to work with your tax advisor to make this easier and better.

1. Prepare a profit & loss statement. This is simply gathering your income & expenses into one place. For some of our clients, this means updating & reconciling their QuickBooks (if you’re not part of our bookkeeping service), another bookkeeping software, a spreadsheet, or even a notebook. If it’s not in QuickBooks but rather some spreadsheet or hard copy, then upload this into the portal.
2. Upload your December bank statements for each business checking & savings account.
3. Upload your January credit card statement for each business credit card.
4. Upload your December loan statement for any business loans.
5. Any additional tax documents you usually provide, changes in ownership, or essential updates.

You can protect all your confidential information by uploading it to our portal. Providing this basic information right from the start will save you time searching for it and reduce delays in preparing your return.

Individual Returns (Deadline 4/15/2025): How to Gather Your Tax Documents with Ease

Many of you noticed we are now using TaxCaddy to help gather personal tax return information. This software will help you know what you need to gather each year and can automatically connect to your brokerage accounts.

You should have received an email stating that your Questionnaire is ready (if you’re new to Haynie & Company, you will receive an invite to connect and then the Questionnaire).

Here are your steps to a smoother tax gathering season:

1. Connect to TaxCaddy and Sign In.
2. Fill out the Questionnaire. Based on your answers, the software will provide additional requested documents to complete your return.
3. Review the requested items and start uploading these documents. As you upload the documents, you can match the document to the requested document, which will mark the document as provided.
4. You can also connect your brokerage accounts, which will automatically pull these tax statements for you each year! In TaxCaddy, click on the user menu in the upper right corner, click smart links, and then follow the additional prompts to add the link.

As mentioned, if you have a different method, like mailing us your documents, uploading documents into the portal (canopy), or emailing, no worries! Do what works best for you. TaxCaddy or the client portal (canopy) will secure your information.

As we leverage this technology, we know it will make your life easier, improve your experience, and simplify the information-gathering process.

We recognize that technology can have a learning curve. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any issues or questions. We are here to help you every step of the way and make this tax season as smooth as possible.

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