Whether you’re going to attempt your taxes on your own or turn the burden over to a professional, there are three extremely helpful QuickBooks reports that can make tax season that much easier for your business. These reports—and the categories within them—get the job done more quickly and efficiently, and can ultimately save you both time and money.
Profit & Loss
A profit and loss statement—also known as an income statement, operating statement or statement of financial performance—details your business’s revenue during a given period of time; this includes costs and expenses charged against that revenue. Ultimately, the profit and loss statement shows you whether your company made a profit or operated at a loss throughout the year.
Because this statement is critical when it comes to making business decisions, it’s important to start with this report—it will act as a snapshot of your company’s financials for the entire year.
Run this report:
Go to reports → Profit & Loss Standard → Company & Financials → Enter “Last Fiscal Year” for the time period
If you’re using a tax professional, print a copy of this for review.
Income Tax Summary
The income tax summary report is very similar to the profit and loss report. In order to get accurate, detailed information, it’s important to run both.
By showing the amount QuickBooks tracked for each line on the tax form your company files with the government, this report can help you gather data for your federal income tax forms and help you check to make sure all of your accounts (supplies, printing, etc.) are assigned to the correct tax lines in your chart of accounts. If you need to, you can change any of these assignments.
This report is particularly important because when you import your data into a tax preparation program and come across unassigned accounts on your Income Tax Summary, you can go back into your QuickBooks Chart of Accounts and accurately correct.
Run this report:
Go to reports → Accountant & Taxes → Income Tax Summary → Select “Last Tax Year” as the date
Again, print a copy of this for your tax professional to review.
1099 Summary
This report summarizes the cash outflows to each vendor for whom your company files a 1099-MISC form. By running this report, you will be able to see if you have vendors or subcontractors that need 1099s from you; it’s required that you send 1099s to individuals (anyone not incorporated) to whom you paid more than $600 last year.
Run this report:
Go to reports → Vendors & Payables → 1099 Summary
If your summary report comes up blank, you might not have enabled your vendor settings in QuickBooks.
Remember to print this report for your tax professional.
Did you know: our experts can handle any and all of your tax concerns? For a FREE tax consultation, call today! (631) 921-6894.
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