Tax time made Easy!
Easy Process for submitting your tax documents to your Tax Accountant
You know when you look on the Internet and you try and find a good process on how to do your tax returns you do get a lot of hits but it’s more about what you can use as tax deductions in your tax returns and it gives you all the laws and regulations.
What really was of interest to me was finding the easiest way to submit my tax documents to my tax accountant so he could do my tax. He can worry about all the laws and regulations, tax deductions etc.
So he has been doing my tax for years and never once has he let me know that he was happy to have my documents sent electronically to him.
Every year I would get various documents in hard copy and file into a premade folder with tabs and then print out the odd documents that were available electronically. I thought I was pretty clever, because the folder was premade, I had a guide to every document required. I would physically deliver the folder to him and also have to pick it up. I think he also made copies of all my documents for his records.
It was still an onerous and dreaded task! I simply hated doing my tax!
One day there was a tipping point when most of my documents were now electronic and the printer was running out of ink.
I asked him would he be happy if I posted my electronic documents to a shared drive and he said sure, not a problem.
????!!! Pity he didn’t say that about 10 years ago!**!!!!
So now it is a much easier process.
- Create a gDrive Folder
- Assign Permissions (You already have your Tax Accountant’s email presumably)
- Identify all tax documents receipts /invoices
- Post well named tax documents in the folder on an ongoing basis
NOTE: For Hard Copies take a photo then post to your gDrive. Use a standardised naming convention such as Company Amount Receipt or Invoice Date . This will help you eliminate doubling up.
5. Notify you Tax Accountant when all documents are ready/available and give link to location.
I also create a spreadsheet from my downloaded bank statements for that financial year so I don’t miss any payments. The spreadsheet also provides a summary when you filter specific credits/debits. (Well it does for St George Bank, can’t speak for all banks).
Let your tax accountant know that you have done a summary spreadsheet so it makes his job a lot easier and he can feel guilty about how much he’s charging you for his services!
Kerry Boland
