Business owners need to be acutely aware of the tax laws in their area before starting the company. This means knowing if there are any local taxes or permit fees that need to be paid in addition to any relevant state and federal taxes. In addition to knowing what taxes need to be paid, it is also important to understand what deductions a business may be entitled to. With so much to keep track of, is it worthwhile to hire a tax consultant for your business?
Do You Understand Your Tax Obligations?
If you don’t understand which tax forms that you need to fill out or when they are due, it may be a good idea to hire someone who does. The same is true if you don’t know how to withhold payroll taxes or when or how they need to be deposited. Although a missed payment may not seem like a big deal to you, it is a big deal to the government. A missed tax payment could result in a large fine or even the end of the business itself.
Do You Have Time to Do Your Taxes?
A business owner is a busy person who has to deal with employee issues, finding customers and striking deals with investors. With so much to do running the business, there may not be enough time to go through the books and file timely tax returns. According to The Shealy Group, “Having a third-party who can do this for you may make it easier to organize your files and send the proper forms to the government on time. If your company is ever audited, a tax consultant may be able to handle the audit process for you as well.”
Do You Trust Someone Else Doing Your Company’s Taxes?
Just because someone claims to be a tax expert doesn’t mean that he or she knows more about tax laws than you do. If you hire someone else to do your taxes or have a say in how your returns are filed, you should make sure that you trust this person to help you. Otherwise, you may be better off going with a computer software program that can autopopulate relevant forms and make sure that the figures are correct. It is important to remember that you are responsible for any tax returns that you send to a government agency even if you are not the one who fills out or sends in the tax return.
What Is the Cost of the Consultant’s Services?
As with anything else related to your business, you want to make sure that tax consultant services are going to be worth the money. In some cases, paying an accountant or human tax consultant could actually save your company money even if it costs more than a software program. This is because your tax consultant may know about deductions or other tax credits that could reduce your company’s tax bill by thousands of dollars per year.
Knowing whether or not to hire a tax consultant depends on a variety of factors unique to your business. If your company can find a trustworthy consultant who charges a fair price, it may be worth doing. If not, it may be better for a business owner to do his or her own taxes to save time and money until the business can support hiring another person to work with.
