Admit that staying on top of your tax responsibilities year over year is challenging and that you need help. Use your tax professional as your crutch in this area and they’ll be happy to create a strategy for working with you to stay on top of your tax filings each year. – See our checklist for choosing a Tax Preparer here for guidance in choosing the right expert for your needs.
Give your tax professional you are entrusting to help you with your tax matters, authorization to handle your tax matters by signing a power of attorney. This form allows your tax professional to call the IRS when necessary to resolve tax matters covered by your authorization. If you’d like to entrust a relative or close friend to discuss your tax matters with your tax expert, you are able to provide a written release of information form. Talk to your tax professional about obtaining a 7216 disclosure letter.
Work with your tax professionals to find effective methods to staying organized. There are great apps and online resources that offer scanning and other ways to get organized that your tax professional may be aware of. The task of keeping up with your financial data can be given to your tax professional and/or bookkeeper. In most cases, the cost of outsourcing this task is far less than the amount of taxes you’ll pay for missed deductions or not being able to prove expenses under a tax audit.
Working with a tax professional who you can trust is imperative. You must have an environment in which you can share your mistakes, no matter how bad or embarrassing they may be, and know they will seek to help you and not judge you.
Work with your tax professional to have an arrangement to keep you on track with your taxes. This agreement could include you sending them copies of your estimated tax payments, following up with the IRS to ensure they’ve received your payments, find out if the IRS has filed any liens or levies, and any other assistance you may need to avoid tax problems in the future. This helps you avoid having any approved IRS payment plan revoked due to a missed payment or other voidable action you could end up taking inadvertently.
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