Year-End Tax Prep 6 Ways to Help Your CPA
December is a busy month! From the holidays to year-end planning and tax prep, there is a lot going on. At Brannen CPA Services, we strive to help our clients thrive - both individuals and businesses. We’re able to provide superior service when we work in partnership with our clients. In this article we share 6 ways you can help the team at Brannen CPA Services facilitate your year-end tax prep.
Organize Your Documents
Start collecting all your financial documents, receipts, and records in one place, these may include:
W-2s
1099s
Receipts
Expense Records
Business Owners - you can get organized with the following actions:
Reconcile books
Finalize financials
Review payroll
Whether you’re a business owner or working with us for your individual tax filing, when you have your documents organized, you are in a good position to work with our team successfully. Also, it will give you an overall sense of your financial health and make you aware of any questions you may have for us.
Use Tools
There are a variety of financial tools out there for individuals and businesses to stay on top of their financial situation. Do some research to find what tools would help you most, for example there are apps to track your expenses and create a digital tax folder that you can share directly with our office. If you have questions, please give our office a call!
Prep Early
To ensure a smooth process, we recommend sending the majority of your tax documents as early as possible. Please contact our office if you need instructions for using our secure online ShareSafe portal. Start uploading your documents as soon as they're ready—this helps us streamline communication and reduces time spent tracking down missing items. When we work together we work smarter!
Make Tax-Saving Moves
December 31st is the deadline for making retirement contributions to your 401(k). When you max out your retirement contributions, as well as contributions to your Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), you put yourself in a position to save on your taxes, which is always a smart move! The limit for 401(k) retirement contributions in 2024 is:
$23,000
$30,500 (if you are over 50)
Communicate Changes
If you’ve moved, received a raise, had a baby or changed jobs, this may impact your tax filing. Get ahead of the game and inform the Brannen CPA Services team about any major live events you experienced in 2024. If you have questions about what qualifies, please give our office a call - communication is the key to superior service!
Stay Informed About Deadlines
There are several important tax deadlines that come up throughout the year which correspond to busy seasons in our office. We do our best to provide our clients with cutting-edge best practices and in order to do that we need clients to be mindful of deadlines so we can work together efficiently. Here are some important upcoming deadlines to add to your calendar:
December 2024
12/31/24 Deadlines
Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) for individuals 73 and over.
Retirement Contributions to your traditional or Roth 401(k). See the limits above.
Charitable donations to reduce your 2024 taxable income.
2025
1/15/25 Deadline
4th Quarter 2024 estimated income tax payment due.
1/29/25 Deadline
2024 tax filing season begins - this is when the IRS begins processing 2024 tax returns.
1/31/25 Deadline
Employer deadline for sending out W-2 forms.
Deadline for mailing out 1099’s to contractors.
3/17/25 Deadline
2024 Partnership and S Corporation income tax return due date.
4/15/25 Deadlines
2024 Individual income tax return due date.
1st Quarter 2025 estimated income tax payment due.
If you have questions about deadlines, you can always call our office.
As 2024 comes to a close, we want to thank you for being our clients. At Brannen CPA Services we are here to help you rediscover your strength in numbers. Here’s to another great year working together!