​SOLE PROPRIETOR / LLC TAX TIME INSTRUCTIONS

What to submit no later than March 21 (or day after Labor Day, if extended)

Tax Preparation Agreement

​Financial Reports.   After accounts have been reconciled, we need 3 reports saved in an EXCEL workbook (with 3 tabs) from your accounting system:  
  1. Balance Sheet - Previous Year Comparison (12/31/2019 and 12/31/2018) 
  2. Profit & Loss Statement for 1/1/2019 - 12/31/2019.  Be sure to provide foreign sourced (non-USA) revenue.
  3. General Ledger report of all transactions by account (Last fiscal year 1/1/2019 to 12/31/2019)

Note:  run these reports on a cash basis (unless required to file on an accrual basis).  We have easy instructions on how to run these, so if in doubt, send our TaxTeam a request!
  • If you cannot extract these reports, then upload your .QBM modular / portable file to your folder, and send us a separate Service Request to TaxTeam@accountabilityservices.com with your user name & password.  Do not upload an Accountant’s copy!
  • If we have online access to your accounting system, we will log in to secure the Excel reports upon receipt of your executed Tax Preparation Agreement.
  • If you do not use QuickBooks, provide information in Excel, organized in Profit & Loss Statement format
  • If you do not use QuickBooks, provide detailed Fixed Assets purchases for the year

Payroll information.  We need copies of all W-2s generated for each employee, along with the W-3 or Payroll Summary report

Business Home Office information (applicable if a portion of your home is used exclusively for business):
  • Square Footage:  total of ALL sf of your home (if changed from last year)
  • Square Footage:  total of your office only (if changed from last year)
  • List of home expenses:  utilities, repairs, HOA dues, rent, etc.  **NOTE:  If you want to simplify your home office recordkeeping, you may be eligible to take the new flat deduction
Business Vehicle information:
  • Mileage:  total of ALL miles driven for the year
  • Mileage:  total of all miles driven for business only
  • Vehicle year, make, model
  • Vehicle expenses (gas, car washes, insurance, lease payments, interest on loan, maintenance)
  • Invoice for new vehicle purchase showing trade-in value, sales tax paid, purchase price

Do you need to prepare and send your 1099s to your independent contractors / vendors?  We can do that for you.  Please send a request to TaxTeam@accountabilityservices.com and we’ll get that going!

Other Tax Forms and information:
  1. Tax Preparation Agreement
  2. W-2 Forms
  3. Your IP PIN: Identity Protection Personal Number, if IRS sent you one
  4. Copy of your Driver's License (this is a new state-mandated requirement)
  5. 1099 Forms (Ex: 1099-INT, 1099-R, 1099-B, 1099-S, etc.).  These will be included in your year-end Investment statements.  Provide entire package!
  6. For your business, 1099-MISC
  7. From your merchant services companies, 1099-K
  8. Provide crypto currency transaction reports, including income, expenses, and original cost basis.
  9. If you have stock options through your employer:  provide the Realized Gain (Loss) Year End report, or Supplemental Stock Plan Lot Detail report
  10. Pension distributions: explicitly indicate on any 1099-R if it is a distribution from a State or Federal pension
  11. K-1 Forms from estates and trusts
  12. K-1 Forms from S-corporations and partnerships:  If this is the first year we are preparing your tax return, we must receive your basis schedules.  You or your former CPA should have this information.
  13. ​K-1 packages from Trusts, Publicly Traded Partnerships, etc.  Please provide the complete package including the cover letter from the partnership; compliance for these K-1s is complex --and expensive for you, as the taxpayer.
  14. All foreign income from foreign financial institutions, corporations, self-employment, etc.
  15. Form 1095-Health Insurance from Employer or Marketplace (not needed if covered by Medicare)
  16. Form 1098-Mortgage Interest 
  17. Real Estate Taxes paid
  18. Form 5498 related to your tax-free IRA, SEP retirement, or Health Savings Account (HSA) contributions
  19. Copy of your Auto License Renewal Form showing RTA (Seattle area) tax paid for autos
  20. Proof of quarterly estimated tax payments you made specifically for tax year 2019.  We need either (1) copy of the EFTPS / IRS report, or (2) copies of cancelled checks.  DO NOT include taxes applied from last year’s tax return.  We need all dates and individual amounts paid each date.
  21. If you expect a refund, send us your checking account Bank Name, Routing #, Account #
  22. If you expect to pay and want the IRS to auto-deduct your tax from your checking account, send us your checking account Bank Name, Routing #, Account #
  23. Let us know if you are interested in having us calculate your maximum allowable retirement (IRA, SEP, or Roth contributions)
  24. Cost basis for Sales of Securities.  If you had > 10 sales for the year, please download the transactions into an Excel worksheet.  Click here to request a Securities template.
  25. Charitable donations (separately list cash from non-cash).  Please provide receipts for (1) auctions, (2) vehicle donations, and (3) stock donations.  Otherwise, we do not need your receipts.  For cash gifts, send us a total.  Be sure to include your 2019 total funding to a Donor Advised Fund.  For non-cash gifts, Goodwill provides an easy to follow guide.  Non-cash gifts require date of donation, fair market value, name of charity, and descriptions.
  26. Please provide a report or provide a list or amount of any Qualified Charitable Donations (QCDs) made from your IRA
  27. Form 1098-T: University or College educational expenses – if box 1 is blank, submit proof of payment
  28. Form 1098-E: Student Loan Interest paid (in your name)
  29. Form 1099-Q: Payments made from a Qualified Educational Program (e.g., 529 plan)
  30. If you bought a vehicle or made significant home improvements, or built a home in 2019, provide sales tax amounts on materials only (without labor)
  31. HSA contribution and distribution tax forms (Form 5498-SA and Form 1099-SA) 
  32. Health insurance premiums (including long term care)
  33. Net out-of-pocket medical costs.  We do not need your receipts; please provide only your totals for (1) Prescription medicines and drugs, (2) Doctors, dentists, nurses, (3) Hospitals, outpatient centers, nursing homes.  Also send us your medical-miles driven.
  34. Dependent care statements with EIN and address of provider
  35. ​If you had a household employee (nanny, driver, aide, et al), provide copies of W-2s and all www.care.com/homepay paperwork
  36. Rental income + expenses for each property (QuickBooks Profit & Loss Statement and Balance Sheet).  **ALSO: please specifically tell us if you spent 250 or more hours working in your rental last year.  The definition includes: advertising, negotiating/executing leases, verifying tenant applications, collecting rent, daily operation, management, repair, purchasing materials, supervising employees and independent contractors.​**
  37. Did your Rental business make any payments in 2019 to vendors that would require you to file Form(s) 1099? (e.g., landscapers, painters, maintenance, web developers, attorneys).  If ‘Yes,’ did you or will you file all required Forms 1099? 
  38. How many days was each property rented?  How many days did you use the property for personal use? 
  39. Closing Disclosure or Settlement statements for all properties, purchased, sold, or rented for the first time in 2019
  40. For properties sold: Form 1099-S, original purchase price, list with costs of improvements
  41. Foreign Bank Account information and interest earned on those accounts.  Failure to disclose can result in a $10,000 penalty!  Click here to request a Foreign Bank Accounts turnaround worksheet.
  42. Gifts greater than $15,000 total to any one person during the year
  43. Any other tax forms and/or miscellaneous deductions 
  44. Let us know if your marital status changed, new child, moved, etc.
  45. If you are a new client, if you haven't yet done so, please provide a full copy of last year’s tax return with all schedules, and dates of birth for all family members.

Foreign Companies - if you personally own 10%+ stock in a foreign company, please also provide:
  1. Foreign entity comparative Balance Sheet (in Excel) translated to English and USD*
  2. Foreign entity Profit & Loss Statement (in Excel) translated to English and USD*
  3. Copy of the foreign tax return(s), translated to English
  4. Exchange rate utilized
  5. Summary of all intercompany transactions by type
  6. Description of all intercompany transactions and methods utilized to determine amounts
  7. List of all payments paid to shareholders (dates, amounts, payee) along with GL account name(s)
  8. Let us know where manufacturing or services occur?  In US?  Or in the foreign country?
  9. Bank Information for which you have signatory authority:
         Name of Bank(s)
         Address(es)
         Highest balance in 2019 (USD)
         Account Number(s)
* We can perform the exchange rate conversions for you.  We like to give our clients cost savings opportunities for things they can do themselves.
​ 

How do I submit my documents?

You have several options for submitting your tax documents.


Option #1:  Digitally

To protect your confidentiality and to give you a handy way to share documents and files safely, you may upload your tax records to your client portal.  Unlike email, this method of file-sharing and storage is highly secure and password-protected.

We request you upload PDF, Word or Excel files.  We request you avoid uploading JPG (photos) files as those take much more time for us to retrieve and readability is difficult.  Using JPG files will add cost to your preparation.​

To access your portal, login under Client Access at www.accountabilityservices.com.  Go to Client Portal > Login.

It’s quick and easy to upload your documents:
  • Go to the Tax Year > Source Documents folder
  • Click the + Upload Files button.  You can also Drag files, or Browse files
  • Navigate to your files on your hard drive and Upload

Once you have uploaded ALL of your tax documents to your client portal, please notify us!  Send an email to TaxTeam@accountabilityservices.com.  At that point, we will know we have everything from you and we can start.
 

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Please DO NOT send files to us via email.  We cannot guarantee either the security or the confidentiality of any files you transmit via email.

Option #2:  We will access your system

If we have online access to your accounting system, we will log in to secure the financial reports upon receipt of your executed Tax Preparation Agreement.

Option #3:  Drop-off, Mail or Fax

You can always deliver your documents and information to us via traditional, hard-copy ways.


Events or Situations that will drive UP the cost of your tax return
  • Lack of bookkeeping or poor bookkeeping (messy books), resulting in inaccurate or unintelligible financial statements
  • Rental property
  • K-1s from Publicly Traded Partnerships
  • Sale of other property
  • Correcting mistakes made if you previously self-prepared
  • Form 3115 for changes in accounting method (examples:  Missed Depreciation or going from Accrual to Cash, etc.)
  • Form 8824 for deferred gains on like-kind-exchanges (example: exchanging one rental for another, etc.)
  • Forms 5471 and 5472 for those owning stock in foreign privately-held corporations
  • Forms 114 and 8938 for disclosure of foreign bank accounts and asset reporting