QuickBooks Tip: Plan Ahead for Tax Season with Intuit’s Year-End Guide
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As 2016 looms closer and the holiday lights grow brighter, our focus may shift from financial reporting to just one more piece of turkey, ham, or potato latke. But now is also the time to dig into year-end planning and smooth the way for preparation of your 2015 income tax returns. Thankfully, Intuit is helping see past the tinsel by offering a Year-End accounting guide within QuickBooks Desktop.
Using the Year-End Guide
To get to the guide, you need to have your company file open in QuickBooks. Then go to HELP →YEAR-END GUIDE.
After you open the guide, you’ll see the Year-End Guide Checklist.
Each year-end task is listed with a link to a related help page. And while the list may seem overwhelming, remember your Kaufman Rossin team is here to help. The following are some important year-end tasks:
- Consider whether prior year-end adjustments have been posted.
Your accountant may have proposed adjusting journal entries during the process of closing out last year’s books. Ensure that you’ve received a copy of any recommended changes, understood the proposed adjustments, and if in agreement, had them correctly posted to your QuickBooks file.
- Reconcile all bank and credit card accounts.
Reconciling accounts is an important part of maintaining the integrity of your books. You may have started the year strong, reconciling each month immediately after it closed. But, if you’ve fallen behind, now is the time to catch-up! Preparing timely reconciliations can help identify lost or stale dated checks, detect bank errors, uncover fraudulent transactions, and understand how much cash you have available to spend.
- Set a closing date password.
Once you’ve reconciled the year’s transactions, you’ll want to ensure that access to this time period is restricted. You can reach the “close books” function by going to COMPANY → SET CLOSING DATE. From here you can specify a unique password that users will need to enter if they attempt to change a prior period transaction. This safeguard is highly recommended to avoid inadvertent and unnecessary changes to closed periods which can become especially cumbersome if your tax professional has already begun working with the data to prepare your income tax returns.
Getting a head start on tax season
Keep in mind, not every step in this guide may be applicable to your business. But the task list is a good reminder to be thinking about the year-end planning process. Let Intuit and your Kaufman Rossin team help you prepare for the tax filing season and minimize your holiday stress!
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me or another member of Kaufman Rossin’s entrepreneurial services team.
