​SOLE PROPRIETOR / LLC TAX TIME INSTRUCTIONS

What to submit no later than March 21 (or September 12, if extended)

Tax Preparation Agreement

​Financial Reports.   After accounts have been reconciled, we need three reports saved in an EXCEL workbook (3 tabs) from your accounting system:  

A.      Balance Sheet - Previous Year Comparison (12/31/2017 and 12/31/2016) Excel

B.      Profit & Loss Statement for 1/1/2017 - 12/31/2017 Excel

C.      General Ledger report of all transactions by account (Last fiscal year 1/1/2017 to 12/31/2017) Excel

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. W-2 Forms
  2. Your IP PIN: Identity Protection Personal Number, if IRS sent you one
  3. Send us a list of any Unreimbursed Employee Expenses, if applicable
  4. 1099 Forms (Ex: 1099-INT, 1099-R, 1099-B, 1099-S, etc.).  Some of these will be included in your year-end Investment statements​
  5. ​If you have stock options through your employer:  provide the Realized Gain (Loss) Year End report, or Supplemental Stock Plan Lot Detail report
  6. Pension distributions: explicitly indicate on any 1099-R if it is a distribution from a State or Federal pension
  7. K-1 Forms from estates, corporations, partnerships
  8. Foreign income
  9. Form 1095-Health Insurance (not needed if covered by Medicare)
  10. Form 1098-Mortgage Interest 
  11. Real Estate Taxes paid
  12. Form 5498 related to your IRAs or SEP retirement accounts
  13. Copy of your Auto License Renewal Form showing RTA (Seattle area) tax paid for autos
  14. Proof of quarterly estimated tax payments you made specifically for tax year 2017.  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.​
  15. If you expect a refund, send us your checking account Bank Name, Routing #, Account #.
  16. 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 #.
  17. Cost basis for Sales of Securities.  If you had > 10 sales for the year, please download the transactions into an Excel worksheet.  Request a template from TaxTeam@accountabilityservices.com if you need one.
  18. Charitable donations (separately list cash from non-cash) – we do not need your receipts.  For cash gifts, send us a total.  For non-cash gifts, Goodwill provides an easy to follow guide.  Non-cash gifts require date of donation and descriptions.
  19. Form 1098-T: University or College educational expenses – if box 1 is blank, submit proof of payment
  20. Form 1098: Student Loan Interest paid (in your name)
  21. If you bought a vehicle or made significant home improvements, or built a home in 2017, provide sales tax amounts on materials only (without labor)
  22. Retirement contributions, HSA contributions, health insurance premiums (including long term care), out-of-pocket medical costs
  23. Dependent care statements with EIN and address of provider
  24. ​If you had a household employee (nanny, driver, aide, et al), provide copies of W-2s and all Care.com (HomePay) paperwork​
  25. Rental income + expenses for each property (QuickBooks Profit & Loss Statement and Balance Sheet)
  26. Did your business [this includes Rental businesses] make any payments in 2017 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? 
  27. How many days was each property rented?  How many days did you use the property for personal use? 
  28. Closing Disclosure or Settlement​ statements for all properties, purchased, sold, or rented for the first time in 2017
  29. For properties sold: Form 1099-S, original purchase price, list with costs of improvements
  30. Foreign Bank Account information and interest earned on those foreign accounts
  31. If you own a business, send us your forecasted / estimated 2018 profit so we can calculate your 2018 Tax Reform tax savings and estimated tax payments.
  32. Gifts greater than $14,000 total to any one person during the year
  33. Any other tax forms and/or miscellaneous deductions 
  34. Let us know if your marital status changed, new child, etc.
  35. If you are a new client, 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 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 2017 (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.  You will be transferred immediately to your portal.

It’s quick and easy to upload your documents:

·         Go to the Documents tab

·         Click the + Upload Files button

·         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 can 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
  • 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