A few years ago I embarked on a quest. I was noticing that a lot of my clients were requesting electronic copies of their tax returns. I would have my assistant scan the returns and email them to the clients. One day it hit me, why are we making our lives harder when all we have to do is just go paperless to begin with? So I made it my mission to make my office paperless. This year is the first year that we began delivering our tax returns electronically instead of by paper. There has been little or no resistance to our going paperless. In fact most of our clients love it.
If you use a professional to prepare your return, that preparer is required to file your return electronically. In fact the Internal Revenue Service boasts that 100 million tax returns will be filed electronically this year. That number is 70 percent of all filed returns will be electronic. Frankly, efile is quicker, and points out problems with a return right away instead of waiting until the IRS processes the return. This changes the landscape of tax preparation by letting taxpayers know about problems within 24 hours of sending the returns electronically.
Reporting agencies like mortgage companies, brokerage firms, and payroll companies are getting into the act by offering their tax reporting statements electronically. All you have to do now is download the forms, and email them to your tax preparer, or use the forms to prepare your return yourself. It is like a dream. Since my office has gone digital I have noticed quite a few of my clients getting in on the act by sending documentation to my office in digital format.
Not only does paperless delivery make filing returns a breeze, it also makes locating your documents easier in case of an audit. Instead of looking for documentation you have it all in a location digitally. As for storage, I am really found of a cloud service called Drop Box. It allows me to keep my clients information in a place where only them and my office can locate the documents. I keep everything there for them, until they are removed by the client.
It is time to go paperless. Once you do it, you will never look back.
For more information visit www.smalleynco.com
If you have any questions you can email Craig W. Smalley E.A.
Author of the books: It Starts With an Idea – Tax Tips for Small Businesses, The Ultimate Real Estate Investor Tax Guide, The Complete Guide to the New Tax Law – American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, Everything You Wanted to Know about the IRS – Audits, Appeals and Collections, Tax Avoidance is Legal! The Complete Guide to Individual Income Tax, The Complete Guide to the Affordable Care Act’s Tax Provisions, The Complete Guide to Retirement Plans for Small Businesses, The Complete Guide to Estate, Gift and Trust Taxation, The Complete Guide to Hiring an Accountant, The Complete Guide to Subchapter S-Corporations,, and Free Money. All available exclusively on Kindle
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