Attention Entrepreneurs: Why You Need a Tax Professional in Your Corner 

From saving millions to avoiding unnecessary rush during tax season, businesses have several reasons to reach out and engage tax professionals.

Tax professionals are financial experts who have specialized training in tax laws.

Here are important reasons why entrepreneurs should have a tax professional in their corner.

 

Tax professionals could help you to make savings

Many entrepreneurs may be okay preparing their business taxes of have a bookkeeper do their tax returns. However, tax professionals go the extra mile and attend to the unique tax needs for your company. This could translate to saving loads of cash.

Bookkeepers provide a great service and tax professionals rely on them for excellent presentation of the business’ finances. They’ll even handle your income taxes during the tax season. However, specialized tax professionals take the business’ tax matters a notch higher. They devote their time and expertise to understanding tax issues such as income taxes, property taxes, personal property and other regulations. This gives them a rich background enabling them to identify and maximize tax deductions for your business.

The more deductions for which you qualify, the lower your business taxes, and the more cash you can put back into the company.

 

Tax season won’t be a rush

Without a doubt, tax season takes a lot of time and resources. Especially if you insist on doing it by yourself. You’ll spend precious time and resources researching, organizing, and filing the business’ taxes. This can be frustrating since you know very well that you would have spent that time and effort in generating more business. Also, since you spend so much time on filing the business taxes, you probably did your return at the last minute.

Wouldn’t it be more productive, and reassuring, to let an expert in business taxes do it?

Tax professionals can handle all the IRD issues while you focus on building the company. They will save you time and resources. But most of all, tax season won’t be a mad rush to beat the deadline.

 

You’ll be updated on changes to tax-related legislation and how you can take advantage of them 

There are many guidelines and regulations about how small and medium businesses should handle business taxes. These guidelines and regulations keep changing and the IRD regularly broadcasts these updates. Understandably, many entrepreneurs are often preoccupied with other business matters to keep abreast with such updates. But that’s where tax professionals come in.

 

Currently, the world is dealing with COVID-19 pandemic. The government has issued several tax guidelines to support businesses. As Richard Ashby of Gilligan Shepard puts it, “One key message is for all businesses to be aware of exactly what support is out there, to assist them through these trying times.

Whether it be early communication with Inland Revenue to take advantage of the various financial relief measures available (tax debt instalment arrangements, financial hardship write-offs, small business cash flow loans, new tax loss carry-back rules), taking advantage of new corporate debt hibernation rules, working with their financial institutions to obtain 6 month repayment holidays or low-interest loans under the Government-backed loan scheme, or reaching out for the additional free business advisory services that have now been made available.

A tax professional in your corner is an excellent way to stay up-to-date and maximize on all these.

 

Tax professionals help you to handle IRD issues professionally.

Even if you can file your business tax returns by yourself, are you completely confident that you did it correctly? Are you prepared to handle correspondences or queries that may arise from the IRD?

In most cases, the answers to these questions will be “no.” Any contact from the IRD should be an immediate signal that you need a tax professional in your corners. Besides, you’ll probably be caught up with other aspects of the business to give a suitable response.

Having tax professionals on your side will help you to handle tax queries from the IRD professionally. It goes a long way in keeping you in IRD’s ‘good books’.

 

Sound business advice 

When you have a tax professional in your corner, you can expect the above benefits in your business. But tax professionals aren’t limited to issues on business taxes alone. They are well-versed with other important financial concerns. For instance, they help in tax planning, which should be part of your day-to-day business, and make the business more tax efficient.

Firms such as Gilligan Shepard have gone a step further and made it easy for you to access all-round advice. Richard says, “We have a special section of our website dedicated to COVID-19 related advice and have to date prepared a number of Zoom panel advice sessions covering a number of COVID-19 related issues such as the new tax relief measures, corporate insolvency, tenant/landlord lease implications and we will cover both the 2020 Budget and workplace psychology themes. We are certainly happy to take calls or enquiries from anyone needing assistance during this period.”

 

Take note of this opportunity and reach out to a tax professional.

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