What We Do

Tax Planning & Preparation

Pillars of our tax services

Compliance: Expert on-time preparation of local, state, and federal returns for you and your business.

Strategy: Strategic tax planning sessions with your SmartBooks tax advisor to optimize your tax strategy.

Consult: Expert support and consulting from your SmartBooks tax team are available as needed throughout the year.

Whether your business is an LLC, S-Corp, or C-Corp, we’ll help you:

• Comply with and leverage changing federal, state, and local tax laws
• Manage cash-basis tax liabilities against accrual-basis management accounting
• Determine appropriate taxation of employee benefits provided to business owners
• Take advantage of year-end tax management opportunities
• Manage income, sales, and use tax liabilities across multiple jurisdictions based on your business’s nexus
• Manage cash availability to cover tax liabilities

Sales Tax Compliance

Sales tax is one of the most complex and intricate areas of tax. Did you know that in the United States, there are over 10,000 taxing jurisdictions that levy some form of sales and use tax!? When you work with SmartBooks to manage your sales tax, you will find that we take a strategic and deliberate approach to your sales tax compliance. Each new engagement starts with a four-phase approach

Phase 1: Analysis

We will use this as an opportunity to develop an understanding of the products being sold, who the products are being sold to, how the products are delivered to the end user, in which taxing jurisdictions these sales are being made and any gather any other relevant pieces of information to help determine the applicability of tax in each jurisdiction. 

Phase 2: Consulting

Once the initial analysis of data is complete, we will review each state and local taxing authority to ensure nexus has in fact been reached, when nexus was reached, and the potential liability for each taxing jurisdiction. We will advise you on potential voluntary disclosure options and/or potential exposure to penalties and interest in each taxing jurisdiction. Depending on the potential exposure, we may find it necessary to contact the state and local taxing authorities on your behalf to determine if a settlement can be made and how to proceed with that process.

Phase 3: Implementation

Once our options and recommendations have been presented to you, SmartBooks will take all necessary actions to automate the sales tax filing process and to get you back into compliance with any taxing jurisdictions where you may be behind on taxes. This stage will also include state registrations where applicable.

Phase 4: Maintenance

Based on our findings, we will present you with a plan going forward to monitor state nexus, reconcile and file all necessary tax returns on either a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis as directed by the taxing authority, and register in new taxing jurisdictions as necessary.

Business Formation

Great, you want to start a business! We love working with new business owners….but now what? If you are ready to get started, we can guide you through the steps to ensure your business is set up correctly, and in the most tax-efficient manner possible for you. We will guide you through structuring, filing, and registering with the state, the taxes that need to be filed, and even advise on what you might need and, in some cases, don’t need as you begin your new endeavor. 

Structure

Business structure can be confusing and if not done correctly can lead to inefficient tax strategies. We will help you determine whether you should be a Corporation, S Corporation, LLC, Partnership, Trust, or one of the many other structures that may be specific to your unique situation. We can then take it further depending on your goals and aspirations to help you set up additional entities to maximize tax savings and make it easier in the future to add additional entities.

Employer Identification Number or EIN

Once you know how you want your business to be set up, we can help you obtain the necessary federal and state tax ID numbers that you will need in order to register your business for the appropriate tax types. We can also work with your payroll company to assist them with obtaining state tax ID numbers necessary for registering for payroll tax withholding.

Registration

Now that you have your tax ID numbers it’s time to make it all legal. We can help you register with each Secretary of State and in some cases, we can even help you maintain your annual report filings to ensure you stay in compliance with your state government.

Once you’ve set up your foundation for your business, we can advise you on the items you will need to actually run your business. This might include:

The Other Stuff

• Which bank accounts to setup
• If you use QuickBooks Online we can provide you with a brief overview to get you familiar with and help you set up your initial chart of accounts
• What you need to do to make sure you stay in compliance with your payroll
• How much and how often you should pay yourself
• Tax strategies you can start using now to save on taxes in the future

IRS and State Representation

Getting THAT letter in the mail is never fun. We can help you understand any tax notices that you receive and offer advice on the best way to respond. In some cases, we can even respond for you either by calling on your behalf or writing a letter and mailing it in. It’s not always clear how to respond but with over 20 years of experience, we know just what the taxing authorities are looking for to make any interaction as painless as possible.

Although it doesn’t happen often, taxpayers can still be audited. This can be stressful and confusing, to say the least. We will work with you to make sure you understand what the audit is for, why you are being audited, and help you navigate the audit to completion. We can work with the IRS or state revenue agents on your behalf to provide the necessary information, answer any questions, and try to come to a quick resolution with as little impact on you as possible.

Reasonable Compensation Analysis

Did you know that as an S-Corp or C-Corp owner, the IRS requires that you pay yourself a fair and reasonable salary? Unfortunately, the IRS does not define what a reasonable salary is. A doctor that runs their own practice will likely have a much different reasonable salary than a personal trainer at a gym. Furthermore, by just guessing at this number, you could be leaving thousands of dollars on the table. 

We can perform a reasonable compensation analysis that not only gives you the most accurate number for what you should be paying yourself, but provides you with a defensible position if you were to ever be questioned by the IRS. By using the latest job statistics, taking into account all the different hats you wear as a business owner, and using your location down to the county that you live in, we can provide you with a report that gives you the most accurate salary that’s unique to you.

Why Companies Like Yours Choose To Partner with SmartBooks Tax & Advisory?

Simply put, your tax advisor should be an asset not a liability. As a business owner, you’re looking to partner with someone who cares about seeing you succeed. We don’t look at you as just another tax return, we look at you as a business partner. When you succeed, we succeed.