Preparing for Tax Time

This year I’m going to be different. I’m going to be organised and prepared and will most definitely NOT leave my tax until the last minute. And, I’m here to inspire you to get organised too! I know it’s only the beginning of May and the End of Financial Year is not until the end of next month so, by all means, let this fester in your inbox until July but, don’t say you haven’t been warned.

To make 2019 the year you’re tax-time ready, here are a few things you can do right now to prepare your business and ease the stress later.

Catch up on your paperwork – this alone would probably take me from now until tax time so it’s something I’m going to get started right away. It’s time to go through your receipts, travel logs and business itineraries and make sure everything is as it should be. The more you can prepare now, the less heartache you cause yourself (or your accountant) at the end of June.

It’s probably worth noting at this point that the following items are considered a deduction:

– advertising / sponsorship

– bad debts

– borrowed money

– business travel

– car expenses

– insurance

– repairs, replacement, maintenance

– tax management costs

Consider your spending – and believe it or not, I’m actually encouraging you to make the purchase, rather than to abstain. If you know you have a big asset purchase you need to be making soon, it may be time to bring it forward, into the current financial year, as long as your assets total to less than $20,000.

Get in sync – book that appointment with your accountant so, if nothing else, you have the date scheduled for you to work towards. While you’re booking it in, double-check how they’d like to receive all your paperwork. If you can send everything through in the right format to the right software, you’re reducing a whole lot of hours that need to be spent by your accountant sifting through your information that they could be spending saving your business money.

What do you think, is this the year you’re going to be tax-prepared? Get a jump-start on your 2019 EOFY by working through these simple tasks now and let me know how you go!

Shannon Wood, Managing Director S8 Expert Recruitment Solutions. I have over 14 years recruitment experience specialising in the animal health industry across the ANZ region. Areas of expertise include sales and marketing, technical roles (Quality Assurance, Quality Control & Regulatory Affairs) and operational & financial positions. I work extensively in the veterinary, ruminant, monogastric, aquaculture and the pet specialty industries and I look forward to the next 14 years.