Don't Ignore the Fact That It's Time You Hired an Accountant
Posted on: 26 July 2016
You are often legally allowed to prepare your own tax returns, either for yourself or for your business, and doing this on your own might save you the cost of hiring an accountant. However, hiring an accountant to handle your returns can also mean saving on the cost of overlooking certain deductions, and the possibility of penalties and fees you might face from mistakes you make on your returns. Unfortunately many people overlook signs that it's time they hired an accountant to prepare their returns; note a few of them here so you can ensure that you don't make this same mistake and always have your taxes prepared properly.
You always owe a huge tax bill
If you own a profitable business then you may have a large tax bill you face every year, but in other cases, you probably shouldn't have overly large tax bills every single year. Even persons who are self-employed usually have enough deductions they can claim so that their tax bill is manageable. If you own property and have a mortgage or pay interest on any type of loan, you may be overlooking certain deductions related to that property and those loans. You might also be overlooking deductions for moving, hospital bills, and the like. Whatever it is that you might be overlooking, it's good to have an accountant review your taxes when you own those big bills so you can see if you might get some relief from those costs every year.
You can't balance your own checkbook
If you struggle with numbers and accounting for your everyday finances, this is a sure sign that you shouldn't be handling your own tax returns. Being overdrawn at the bank might mean a small fee, but overlooking certain tax codes or preparing your taxes improperly can mean even steeper penalties, which you could avoid by having an accountant handle taxes for you. If your checkbook is never balanced and you can't seem to keep track of simple finances, don't try to tackle the larger job of filing your taxes every year.
Your returns seem unusually large
While you want to see qualified accountants if you owe a big tax bill, you might also consider if you seem to get an unusually large return every year, or if your tax bill seems very small for someone self-employed or who owns a business. You may be taking deductions that are not allowed or claiming too much for certain deductions, or overlooking certain types of taxes you should be paying in these cases.
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