Tax season can be a dreaded time of year for entrepreneurs. Most of us are not tax experts and rely heavily on professional advice – as we should!  To help simply the process and reduce stress, I use the below checklist as a guide to compile the necessary information required by my accountant. As each business is different, it is not a comprehensive list however does provide a good starting point for your accountant, who can quickly review and advise what further information they’ll require to complete your tax return. Happy Tax Season!

General

• Confirmation Corporate Annual Reports and Minute Book are up to date
• Grant access to bookkeeping software or provide manual accounting records
• Advise of any changes or events in business operations that occurred the past fiscal year.

Banking

• Reconciliations for each bank account, including lines of credit, loans, credit cards and petty cash accounts (Reconciling accounts involves comparing transactions in your accounting records to your actual bank statements to make sure they match, and you have supporting receipts for each transaction)
• Account statements including receipts, cancelled cheques and detailed notes for each transaction for the fiscal year, including the month following year-end

Accounts Payable

• Listing of all amounts owed to vendors or suppliers for goods or services received that have not yet been paid for
• Copies of employee benefits invoices

Accounts Receivable

• Listing of Accounts Receivables (outstanding invoices that have not yet been paid)
• List of bad debts or doubtful accounts (long term outstanding invoices or invoices you have little or no expectation of collecting on)
• List of Progress Invoices (incremental invoices issued over the course of a larger contract)

 Inventories/Work in Progress

• Inventory List for in stock products, including description, cost, and quantity (include raw materials on hand and any work currently in progress that has not yet been invoiced)
• List of purchased goods, for which you have not yet received an invoice (note the value and whether you have recorded it on the books)

Investments

• Provide monthly statements for each investment account
• Provide confirmation of any realized gains or losses over the fiscal year

Property and Equipment

• Receipts for any purchases of items such as computers, vehicles, software, or equipment
• Finance contracts or Leases
• Advise if any equipment has been sold or disposed of

Tax Notices

• Notice of Assessment from previous tax year
• Employee Payroll Remittances
• GST, PST and Workman’s Board instalments or filings
• Confirmation of any instalments paid or government filings for corporate taxes

Insurance

• Insurance policies noting annual dues for all equipment, vehicles, buildings, and general business operations

Business Use of Personal Vehicle

• Provide total km/year
• Provide total km driven for business use
• Purchase price of vehicle
• Amounts for repairs and maintenance, insurance, fuel, and loan payments including interest paid

Business Use of Home Office

• Provide total square footage of home
• Provide total square footage of home office
• Provide amounts for repairs and maintenance, insurance, rent, mortgage payment including interest paid, property taxes, and utilities