Why 21% of Small Businesses File Their Taxes Offline

Recent polls suggest that roughly 21-percent of small business owners are doing their taxes themselves, without an accountant. They are also not using available online tax preparation software. For a business, with multiple pages of itemizations, this can be a recipe for disaster.

Higher Rate of Audit

Anytime that figures are completed on your own, and without the help of a professional, it is likely that you will be subject to an audit. This is mostly due to incomplete itemizations, missed credits or whole sections of missing information.

Greater Risk for Mistakes

There is a greater risk associated with filing your own small business taxes. Transferring numbers, forgetting a receipt or miscalculating an expense can throw the entire return off. Not to mention, you are already overworked and tired, mistakes are bound to happen.

Not Using Advanced Technology

Many small business owners are still keeping files of papers and boxes of paper receipts for tax purposes. Technology exists that can create a paperless system. Of course, you could still store documents in physical paper form, but consider scanning receipts into a cloud network and categorizing them for tax time. This will make your expenses easier to sort and calculate. It will also create efficiency and save time.

Businesses have to be meticulous when keeping records and should use the assistance of an accountant to prepare their taxes. Tax software programs and simple accounting software available to use throughout the year make filing taxes easy for small businesses. Using technology actually can create accurate shortcuts for humans.

Image credit: John Morgan