Happy New Year!The Business Guides team is excited to welcome 2024 as we wrap up 2023 tax planning for our business owners, onboard some amazing new clients, and prepare for the spring tax season.
Flag this info-packed email for future reference and read straight through for all you need to know, or jump from topic to topic:
This past weekend you should have receivedone or more emails from Kim Collier via SmartVault, with the subject line: It's here! Your individual [or business's] 2023 virtual tax packet from The Business Guides.
Follow the detailed instructions in the email to view your virtual tax packet(s) in your SmartVault client portal. It contains:
2023 Cover & Engagement Letter - contains pricing and important updates.
2023 Individual Organizer (for personal returns) - with your prior-year numbers.
“Read Me” PDF - contains helpful tips and links to our online forms.
Can't find yours? Search your inbox for the phrase "virtual tax" and mark these emails "important" and move them to your main inbox. Also add notify@my.smartvault.com to your contact list or address book to ensure you receive SmartVault notifications this tax season.
We will mail out requested paper tax packets (including individual organizers) by the end of January. A paper handling fee will be applied to your tax preparation invoice, unless you're on an all-inclusive fixed-price agreement.
Paper Handling Fee: $50 per return covers mailing out your tax packet, providing a hard copy of your final tax return, and mailing back any paper data you submitted.
For no additional charge, we will accept paper tax data from any of our clients (in the proverbial big envelope), but please choose ONLY ONE submission method – all paper OR all electronic. No mixing and matching!
Pick a data deadline ~ your timing, your choice
We will ask you on the Individual Questionnaire which of the following deadlines you are aiming for to get us YOUR COMPLETE DATA.
As a reminder, we begin to prepare your tax returns once you notify us that you are DONE with data submission for ALL of your tax returns and we confirm that we have ALL of your tax data.
If you typically have to wait on a K-1 or a 1099 from your investment firm (these often arrive after our mid-March deadline), or if you need more time to wrap up last year's books, or if you are traveling this spring, then give yourself grace and choose a later data deadline.
<< If you know NOW that you'll be getting us your data after March 18th, please let us know NOW. >> It's very helpful for planning purposes. It's best to tell us via the required Questionnaire. Or reply to this email or send a "please extend me" email to info@thebusinessguides.com. We have shifted some of our firm's internal deadlines this year to better fit the 2024 calendar. Here are your options.
Spring Data Deadlines:
Jan. 31 ~ HURRY! Early Bird spring filing (only for individuals with no K-1s or investment 1099s ~ rental & sole prop activity OK)
Feb. 15 ~ for filing by Mar. 15 (only for S-Corps, Partnerships, and their owners)
Mar. 18 ~ for filing by Apr. 15 (open for everyone)
Later Data Deadlines:
June 17 ~ summer filing (open for everyone)
Aug. 15 ~ last call for filing by Sep. 16 (the IRS extension deadline for S-Corps and Partnerships)
Sep. 16 ~ last call for filing by Oct. 15 (the IRS extension deadline for everyone else!)
Our 2023 Tax Questionnaire will have a place toward the end for you to indicate your choice. Thank you!
Drum roll, please... There's now ONE and ONLY ONE way to tell us you're DONE submitting all your tax data, so we know to check it in and review it for completeness. It's our new "DONE Notification" online form! Don't email Kim; don't upload a file named "done" into SmartVault. Simply pop over to our website for the links and complete a "DONE Notification" for each tax return we prepare for you. (Note there is one form for individuals and a different one for businesses.)
Our Business Checklist is now an interactive online form, much like the Individual Questionnaire we launched last year. You may save your responses and get a link for you (or someone else) to resume it later. You may forward the link to another user to finish filling out the form. Check out the Checklist! Our website now features a "Tax Season Stuff" menu, where you can find information for our clients organized onto these pages:
2024 Due Dates - IRS filing deadlines & our internal data due dates.
Virtual Office Hours - Schedule & meeting link.
Individual Questionnaire link.
Business Checklist link.
Scanner Apps & PDFs - Turn your phone or pad into a portable document scanner with our favorite apps for both Android and iPhone. Plus requirements for readable PDFs.
Tell Us You're DONE - Links to both of the "DONE Notification" forms.
IRS Payments - Best practices for paying online and estimating your tax liability for a payment with an extension.
F.A.Q - We'll add to this with answers to frequently asked questions this tax season.
On the topic of payments: if you choose to send the IRS a check through the mail, you are responsible for mailing your tax payments to the IRS or any state agencies. We are no longer offering this service, and will instead point you up the hill to the post office two blocks away. We recommend making online payments to the IRS, for speed, security, and ease of tracking. Ask us about making a direct payment from your bank account during e-filing.
Important information about the new FinCEN reporting requirement for all business entities (including single-member LLCs and PLLCs filing as sole proprietorships or holding property) will be emailed to you as a courtesy when you submit your Business Checklist. There are new questions on the Individual Questionnaire about any LLCs you may have registered – answering in the affirmative will trigger this email to be sent. The Business Guides will not prepare these FinCEN reports on behalf of our clients; it is the responsibility of the business owner to see that the filing requirement is met by the deadlines (generally, 90 days for new entities registered after Jan. 1, 2024, and by Dec. 31, 2024 for all pre-existing entities).
Virtual Office Hours
THIS Thursday, 1:00-2:00 p.m. PT
Got questions about what we need from you to prepare your tax return? Or how to use our suite of technology tools?
Perhaps you'd benefit from a walk-through of SmartVault, our client portal?
Join Shelly during her weekly, drop-in Virtual Office Hours. These are scheduled for most Thursdays during the spring tax season. Drop in when it's convenient for you and get one-on-one guidance.
Drop-In Virtual Office Hours
for The Business Guides' Clients & Bookkeepers
Here are some simple steps to get ready for tax season with The Business Guides.
1. Turn your phone or tablet into a portable document scanner! Download and practice using a mobile scanner app. It's as easy as taking a picture with your device's camera, but it stores the file as a PDF. (We do not accept picture files of your tax documents – uploading photos to SmartVault will cause delays as we contact you to request PDFs instead.)
All of these apps make multi-page PDFs. No more uploading 20 individual files for a 20-page document!
2. Log onto your SmartVault client portal HEREand update your password. Changing your password regularly is a best practice for sites with sensitive information. (If you forgot your password, click "Can’t sign in?" and you’ll receive a password re-set email.)
We strongly suggest enabling Two-Factor Authentication on your SmartVault user account. Then if someone attempts to sign in to your SmartVault portal from an unrecognized device or web browser, SmartVault will send you a verification code. The email address you use to log in to SmartVault is the default verification method. But you can change it to text/SMS or an automated call. View the Two-Factor Authentication set-up instructions for the Portal.
3. Create a designated "2023 Tax" folder and start saving scans of paper tax documents you receive in the mail as well as tax forms you download. Many financial institutions (banks, brokerages) no longer mail paper forms; you have to log in and find them yourself. Watch for emails alerting you they're available, then check the "Tax" sections of your institutional online accounts and download your 1099 forms.
4. Sign up for an IRS account for at least one filer in your household. If you already have an ID.me account, signing in is easy. Each year, we see more and more reasons for our clients to have access to the data the IRS keeps on file about you. We love that you can easily make a same-day payment from within your online account, and view your payment history (very helpful for verifying your estimated tax payments!). Certain IRS notices are stored here as well.
Record Your Odometers
It's not too late to capture odometer readings for the vehicles you drive for business. Ideally these are noted at the very beginning or end of the calendar year, but a January reading will help you estimate "the total mileage for the year" on your vehicle for 2023.
Now's the time to make an odometer-recording reminder for Jan. 1st to recur annually.
You can pick up a handy mileage logbook at our office to keep in your purse or glove compartment.
How to file W-2s & 1099s online
The Business Guides no longer provides paper forms in our office for 1099s, W-2/W-3s, etc. Supply chain issues with the IRS forced us to discontinue this service last year. But we believe once you experience the convenience of an e-filing and e-delivery site, you'll never look back.
1099s
Starting this year – Tax Year 2023 – if you have 10 or more information returns, you must file them electronically. This is the aggregate of all your business's W-2s and 1099s, which is a threshold most of our clients will exceed.
The new IRS Information Returns Intake System (IRIS), launched last year, gives small businesses a "quick, easy, and free" way to prepare, file and distribute any type of 1099 forms. The system also lets you file corrections and request automatic extensions for Forms 1099. You must apply for an IRIS Transmitter Control Code (TCC) – if you're too late for this January, get set up for next January! Learn more about this free service.
Another option is to use an online IRS-authorized e-file provider that charges a couple of dollars per form. We have been using Tax1099.com with ease and success. You can print and mail forms from within the site.
The deadline to file Forms 1099 is January 31st. Generally, unless paid to a corporation (The Business Guides is one!), total payments in a year of at least $600 for rents and services "made during the course of conducting a trade or business" are required to be reported to the IRS and to the payee on Forms 1099.
There are many forms in the 1099 series, such as Form 1099-NEC for non-employee compensation, Form 1099-MISC for rent, and Form 1099-INT for interest. There are stiff penalties for late filings or not filing your 1099s. Please reach out to us if you have questions that this IRS publication can't answer.
W-2s
Did you know that the Social Security Administration has a FREE "W-2 Online" service for small businesses? You can enter up to 50 W-2s and 25 W-2cs and submit them electronically.
For more information, watch this video: How to Use SSA's Free W-2 Online Website.
Now's the time to get set up with SSA Business Services Online(BSO) before W-2s are due to your employees by January 31st. New this year, your BSO User ID and password is no longer valid. You must have a Social Security Online account, Login.gov, or ID.me credential to use BSO services. Learn more about this change.
For fastest response...
A client recently emailed (off to a great start!) with a great question: "How shall I direct my communications with your team this tax season to streamline things as much as possible?"
We love this question! For fastest response – especially February through April, our busiest time of the year – we say:
Email is best, not phone. Put your new question or request IN WRITING. Provide pertinent details, note the timeliness and any looming deadlines, and send to info@thebusinessguides.com -- this goes to the front desk and is triaged to the most available member of our team.
You may think you can explain your question best in a long voice message, but it will have to be transcribed into an email to be sent to our team, and some nuance will inevitably be lost in translation. Your writing it down will also create a helpful email chain for reference.
We asked The Business Guides team: What's your favorite snack for clients to bring us during tax season?
These e-newsletters contain important and timely information for our clients and colleagues that is not replicated in other communications. We appreciate your attention to them!
Here are three of our favorites:
