Year-End Letter and Checklist for Businesses

Dear My CPA Guy client:

It is tough to believe another year has come to an end, and another tax filing season is almost upon us. Tax season is a difficult but fun part of our year as we get to see you and catch up on how things are going in your life.

We want to provide a year-end checklist of information to gather and deliver to us. In addition, I want to include a reminder that a major concern of ours is the new Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) reporting requirements for 2024 for which we have written a detailed memo on our Resources page. Filing is now open on the FinCEN website.

One area of increased tax exposure comes from doing business on the Internet. If

you are selling goods or services out of state over the internet, or if you have employees

working out of state, you may need to file sales tax and/or income tax returns in those

states. This is not something we normally prepare unless you tell us about out-of-state

activity, so if this is going on in your business, please speak with us so we can help you.

Please review the below checklist to prepare for the upcoming tax season.

Below are the annual payroll reporting requirements we need information on before filing W2s in January (if we don’t already have this information):

  • Employee personal use of company vehicles (https://www.irsvideos.gov/Business/FilingPayingTaxes/EmployerProvidedVehicles)
  • Employer-paid health insurance for employees for W-2 purposes
    • Employer paid health insurance for more than 2% owners of an S-Corporation for W-2 (deducted as self-employed health insurance on the personal tax return)
  • Employer-paid health savings account deposits for W-2 purposes
  • Employer-paid childcare expenses for W-2 purposes
  • Employer-paid education plans and term life insurance for W-2 purposes
  • Employer contributions to employee pension plans

File Update Information:

1. __ Has there been a change in ownership this year? If so, please provide new owner identification information, dates, and percentages.

2. __ Have you opened or closed any locations this year?

3. __ Please provide your email address and phone number to your tax preparer to input into our software so we can quickly contact you about important matters. You will be automatically added to our email list which is how we notify clients of important updates and tax-savings tips.

Standard year-end information needed for 2023:

1. __ Copies of any new bank loans obtained during the year and associated asset purchase documents

2. __ Copies of any new leases signed during the year

3. __ List by date, amount, and individual of any new investments made into the company this year by the owners

4. __ Copies of any federal and/or state tax correspondence received during the year,

5. __ Copies of any equipment purchase invoices over $2,500

6. __ Loan payoffs, by loan number, of all business loans on December 31

7. __ Copies of your year-end bank reconciliation(s) and January and December bank statements (unless we do your accounting and already have that)

8. __ 12/31/23 Year End Balances of:

  • Accounts Receivable $___________
  • Cost of Inventory on Hand $________
  • Accounts Payable $ ______________
  • Unpaid Payroll liabilities for December $__________
  • Unpaid Sales tax for December $_____________
  • Unpaid wages earned through 12/31/23 $__________

9. __ Year-end summary of business activity – backup, online access, or hard copy

(Accounting software back-up, trial balance, etc.),

10. __ Sales breakdown by state if applicable (Call us to determine)

11. __ Copies of annual form 940 and 2023 W-2s and W3 (unless we are your payroll provider)

12. __ All Forms 1099-K, 1099-NEC and 1099-Misc

13. __ All 1098 interest statements for business loans

14. __ Loan statements showing all payments made for the year (to determine penalties, if any)

We have a year-end individual tax client letter on the resource page with a checklist for you if needed.

Every year we are reminded how much we are truly grateful for your business and how much we enjoy working with you. We are here to help you and look forward to seeing you again this tax season.

Our mission is to provide total peace of mind as the friendliest and most trustworthy CPA firm. Please give us a call or send us an email with any questions so we can help you.

THANK YOU again from everyone here at My CPA Guy. We wish you an incredible 2024 full of the Lord’s blessings and favor on your life.

Sincerely,

Nathan Ziegler & the Team