Top Five Things To Look For When Hiring Small Business Tax Accountants

Taxation is unquestionably one of any organization’s most critical yet challenging aspects. Because of the legalities involved, paying attention to the details is even more critical. It requires one to compile and record financial transactions before filing for taxes.

Accountants can alleviate the administrative burden of running a business. These professionals can be trusted with confidential data and legal compliance, allowing owners more time to focus on following their passion – their craft.

However, before hiring an accounting specialist, take a look at the list of the top five things to look for in a small business tax accountant.

1. Competitive prices
The lowest quote may cost you the most! You do not want anyone who charges you a lot for average services, but at the same time, those who charge more nominal fees may not be professionals. Beware of those tax preparers who usually start by completing taxes for their family and friends, then decide to charge for their time without taking any professional courses or keeping up to date on changes to the Tax Act and government-sponsored programs. Usually, if the CRA requests an audit, the information is hard to support and sometimes uses typical “ballpark” figures rather than exact amounts backed up by receipts. In some situations, the money you saved could cost you five times more due to the CRA’s penalty and interest rates CRA will assign for the liberations taken.

2. Experience
You shouldn’t hire an accountant just because of their title. You wouldn’t get a knee surgeon to work on your heart, would you? Therefore, you should work with a tax specialist who regularly works with businesses and provides guidance to lowering your tax obligations. This is done with a primary focus on keeping more money in your business and your family.

3. Knows the expenses that you can claim
You don’t know what you don’t know! There are many items that business owners can expense that often haven’t been claimed. An example is a Private Health Spending Plan (PHSP) that allows a corporation to pay 100% of medical prescriptions, vision, dental, and paramedical expenses through their business. We explore many more advantages to ensure that your business consistently lowers its tax payable.

4. Utilizes bookkeeping and digital record-keeping
This is probably the most crucial part of the business. Each invoice you create and receipt that you expense is necessary to support your records at tax time. Most companies rely on “the shoebox” approach to saving their receipts and pulling them together at their year-end. Mileage tracking for vehicles is another area that often gets forgotten. For receipts, we recommend and recommend using the HubDoc app, which takes pictures of your receipts for immediate storage. This will then OCR your receipts and push them to a corporate bookkeeping program like “QuickBooks Online” or “XERO,” saving on manual bookkeeping inputs and eliminating the potential for keyboard errors. Data views and reports then become more frequent and reliable, resulting in real-time business metrics thus giving you the ability to make quicker decisions.

5. Combines your corporate tax with your personal taxes
Are life events a consideration? Tax strategies may change depending on whether you’re single, married with spousal income, married with children, purchasing a home, purchasing an investment property, or taking care of disabled children or adult family members. Having these discussions is important, as they help determine what strategies can reduce your tax liability and further benefit you.

If you’re looking for a small business tax accountant in Calgary, Alberta, reach out to April Tax Solutions (Canada) Inc. We help service-based companies, consultants and coaches, MLM reps and online sales, startups, and early-stage companies. We serve clients all over Alberta and British Columbia, including Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Canmore, Banff, Medicine Hat, Kelowna, Penticton, and Vancouver.

To learn more about the tax services and business solutions we offer, please click here. To get in touch with us, please click here.