If you haven't yet turned in your tax data...
you have until March 15th to show us all your cards,
and this newsletter is geared for you!
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Complete tax data is a matched set!
At The Business Guides, we prepare and file your corporate, partnership, and personal returns together. As spelled out in your engagement letter, we require complete personal data AND data for ALL your business entities to be in our office or in your online portal before we review it for completeness.
Only after we "match up" your personal and business data do we begin to prepare your tax returns. This enables us to sync the returns of the business and the business owner(s) for maximum tax efficiency, as numbers on one return flow to the other,
Our deadline to submit data for filing by the April 15th IRS deadline is Wed., March 15th, so there's still time to show us ALL your cards and submit a matched set!
If Wednesday seems too soon, we've added a June 15th data deadline for "summer filing" by July 21st, and we are waiving our extension processing fee. Read on for more details.
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Extension fee waiver if you submit by June 15th
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Tax Year 2022 deadlines for submitting your complete data to The Business Guides are:
- March 15 ~ for Spring Filing by April 18: If complete data for all your returns is received between now and March 15th.
- June 15 ~ for Summer Filing by July 21: If complete data for all your returns is received between March 16th and June 15th.
NOTE: Normally we charge a $50 fee per return if your complete tax data is received after our March 15th deadline (and if you are not on an all-inclusive fixed price agreement). As we test our new Summer Filing data deadline, we will waive this $50 extension processing fee if your complete data is received by June 15th.
- August 15 ~ for Extension Filing by Sept. 15: Final data deadline for corporations, partnerships, and their owners.
- Sept. 15 ~ for Extension Filing by Oct. 15: Final data deadline for sole proprietors and everyone else.
If you give our summer deadline a try or aim for the IRS extension deadlines in the fall, be aware that the IRS expects your taxes to be paid in full on April 18th, even if we file an extension for you. If you expect to owe taxes, we recommend making a best-guess payment of the balance due by April 18th. If you are expecting a refund, this is not an issue.
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AM I DONE?
You're probably wondering: When should I tell The Business Guides that I'm DONE submitting all my tax data, so they can check it for completeness and -- if it is indeed complete -- get me into the tax preparation queue?
To shed light on this important question facing our clients every tax season, we have designed this simple quiz. Play along and see how you score!
TRUE OR FALSE?
- "I'm DONE, but I'm waiting for my K-1 / 1099 / final investment statement."
FALSE. Wait until you receive all your tax forms, submit them, then tell us you're DONE. It's actually not helpful to reach out to let us know you are "DONE except for one thing."
- "I'm DONE, but my bookkeeper says she will upload the QuickBooks back-up file on Monday."
TRUE. This is an acceptable DONE, although it's up to you to ensure your bookkeeper meets our March 15th deadline so your data set is considered "on time." We will not remind or reach out to your bookkeeper to request your file. Best practice: Wait until you have confirmed all data is submitted before telling us you're DONE.
- "I'm DONE, but I'm still making changes in my QuickBooks Online account for the tax year in question."
FALSE. This is rarely stated, but occasionally encountered. This activity will cause you to miss out on legitimate deductions and an accurate tax return, since we take your "DONE" as the signal to log into your QBO and run bookkeeping reports for the tax prep team. If you need more time to complete your books, you're not DONE.
- "Hi, Kim - I'm DONE."
CONFUSING. When we prepare both your business and my personal return, we need to know which data set is complete. Is it one set of data, or both sets of data? A simple way to clarify this is: "I'm DONE uploading both my business and personal data." Or: "I'm DONE submitting my business data, but I'm still working on my personal data and will email you separately to let you know when I'm DONE with that." We need a "DONE" confirmation for each of your tax return data sets. We can easily see this in SmartVault, when you upload a DONE file to each of your completed vaults.
We could go on, but we hope you get the picture. We get so much incoming tax data this time of year (February - March) that we have to focus our staff resources on matched data sets that truly are complete.
Once you've told us you're DONE (read on to learn how), then HELP US HELP YOU by watching your email once you have submitted data in order to respond promptly and fully to our requests for more information or clarifications. Thank you!!
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How to tell us you're DONE
Choose one.
PREFERRED METHOD - SmartVault: Upload a file (any file!) to the completed vault in SmartVault and rename it DONE or Done (capitalization doesn't matter). Rename the file using the ellipses dots at right. We need to see separate DONE confirmations in your business and personal vaults, but they do not need to be simultaneous. Two vaults = two DONEs, please.
ALTERNATIVE METHOD: Email info@thebusinessguides.com ONLY ONCE to let us know you are DONE submitting ALL your data -- your individual household AND your business data. It is helpful it you choose one lane for submission: either SmartVault or ShareFile or paper.
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Our explainer video is here!
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Dive into using SmartVault this tax season! Our Education Director Shelly made you this 23-minute video to explain how to activate, log in, navigate, upload and more.
It's never too late to get started with SmartVault. Even if you submitted your data another way, you can use it for secure delivery of your completed tax returns, and transmittal of your signed signature pages for filing.
The menu has time-stamp links so you can jump around to topics that interest you, like "forgot your password" or "tips for uploading QuickBooks files." (Scroll down to the description under the linked video.)
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Sample time-stamps on Shelly's SmartVault Explainer Video
START: Activating your SmartVault (SV) account for the first time
4:07 If you forgot your password
6:07 Navigation from the dashboard: start with "View Files & Folders"
7:35 Granting vault access to other collaborators (spouse, bookkeeper, business partner)
12:54 2 ways to upload your tax data: open the folder on your device or drag and drop
16:05 Business Checklist - common errors to avoid
18:50 Tip for uploading QuickBooks backup files
22:35 SV on your mobile device (phone or tablet)
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If you're just getting starting, start with our
2022 Individual Questionnaire
This year the annual Individual Questionnaire is an interactive online form!
We suggest you complete the Questionnaire FIRST. The questions will prompt you for the tax forms you need to collect.
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Point your phone's camera at this QR code to be taken to our Questionnaire, or CLICK HERE. |
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