thread Re: When do you start your taxes? in Community Corner

When do you start your taxes?

Bronze_Palms — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:45:12 GMT

Everyone's favorite topic, I know!

When do you start your taxes?

Personally, I have an expense sheet that I fill in as the month goes on. It is labeled with the right deductions and categories, then I simply put it into a pivot table at the end of the year and send to my accountant.

Square does a great job of sending out W2s and W3s so I download from there and I am done!

I submitted my stuff to my accountant end of Jan!

Re: When do you start your taxes?

TheRealChipA — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 12:31:43 GMT

Emily,

Taxes for me are an ongoing event all year, too. Since I'm knowledgeable about tax forms, having once designed and programmed finance/tax software for a couple of corporations, we decided that I would save us some money and use TurboTax for Business to prepare our three LLC returns. Then, I send those to our CPA who reviews them, provides feedback, and lets me know when they are ready to file. I created a spreadsheet that maps my account software's Chart of Accounts to the appropriate TurboTax lines so all I have to do in January is enter those numbers and make sure everything balances and passes error checks. Yay.

Lately, the biggest hurdle has been the various taxing authorities. It takes them forever, anymore, to finalize tax returns. But, I'd rather be waiting on them than behind the eight-ball trying to play catch-up. Life is much calmer at tax time because I am doing it all year, behind the scenes, with my spreadsheets. 😏

Re: When do you start your taxes?

DinaLRosenberg — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 13:31:14 GMT

We pay for an accountant on retainer monthly so the biz is ongoing & taken care of.

As for my personal I'm getting it together this week..

Re: When do you start your taxes?

brown17 — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 16:01:14 GMT

I use to be on top of them doing them myself, then I made the mistake of handing them over to an accountant when I formed an llc who did not file correctly. It's been an ongoing mess. I reached out to other accountants who seem to not want anything to do with fixing the past taxes. So I am working on them myself now and hope to have everything fixed and filed soon! I never have been behind on taxes till this mess and it is taking space in my head.

Re: When do you start your taxes?

doc_choc — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 12:04:58 GMT

We do ours continually as we progress through the FY, and get them to a state where our accountant can then finish it up. We find its always best to keep on top of them every month.

Re: When do you start your taxes?

CareyJo — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 17:13:38 GMT

I WISH it was that easy! We own four LLC's as partnerships. I stopped doing our own taxes years ago. Our CPA has saved us so much! Everything goes in QB and then I just send her the files and copies of things that aren't in QB. She does the rest!

Re: When do you start your taxes?

CareyJo — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 17:14:12 GMT

I update continuously. Sometimes doing a month is too long to wait!

Re: When do you start your taxes?

CareyJo — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 17:15:48 GMT

Not sure how you're using the term "accountant" but that is most likely the problem. You need a CPA. Accountants are not CPA's. They are glorified bookkeepers and do the daily work. Some of them can file taxes but they don't know the laws or ways to save you money. You might need to find a professional to review all of your documents and file amendments.