The tax season is a frustrating and complicated time for business owners. It’s crucial they get their taxes in check. Otherwise, the resulting legal ramifications can potentially derail your business. Therefore, you need a solution that avoids all these dangers. This solution can be found very easily: hire a virtual assistant. If you want to know how a virtual assistant can help you stay organized and on track, carry on reading.
The Where’s, What’s and Why’s Behind Virtual Assistants
Virtual assistants are a modern phenomenon, but do you really know what they are? If you’re reading this article, it’s unlikely you know more than a few basics that you’ve overheard. So, now is the time to get the lowdown on virtual assistants.
Every business relies on assistants and, for decade upon decade, assistants have been loyally turning up to your office to be productive. Some may say that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” but business relies on progression. This progression can make your organization more streamlined, more effective and more profitable. A virtual assistant will tick all three of these boxes and countless more. But how do they differ? And what’s so virtual about them?
Due to the rapid advancement of internet technology in the 21st century, business owners can now take advantage of high-speed internet connections. These can be used to transmit huge amounts of data and create stable, seamless connections to anywhere in the world. This means that, as long as they have an internet connection and a PC, anyone from anywhere in the world can connect to your IT systems. Essentially, it’s as if they are in your office, but taking up zero physical space.
Increasing Your Productivity During Tax Season
If you understand how a virtual assistant can help you stay organized and on track, your tax season should be a doddle. Nonetheless, any good business owner will always scrutinize the impact of any new business decisions.
And, given the relatively recent rise of virtual assistants, businesses are keen to understand what they can deliver. Thankfully, here at Pineapple, we have a lot of experience with virtual assistants. Accordingly, these are the ways a virtual assistant can help you over the tax season:
Organizing financial records:
One of the key things a virtual assistant can do to help during tax season is to help you organize all your financial records. This includes things like collecting and sorting receipts, invoices, and other documents related to your business expenses. These duties can seriously eat into a business owner’s time, but hiring a virtual assistant ensures that it’s taken care of for you. A virtual assistant can also help you input all of this information into your accounting software, to make sure your records are up to date. It’s a time-consuming task, but it’s important to get it right in order to avoid any penalties.
Analyze deductions:
Taxes can be a daunting task, and their impact on your finances can make or break your financial year. Therefore, it's important to make sure you take advantage of all the deductions you’re eligible for. This is where a virtual assistant can step up to the plate. By researching tax laws and regulations, they can quickly identify which deductions apply to your business. For example, they could demonstrate how home office expenses and business travel were eligible for deductions. This saves you, as a business owner, significant time. It also allows you to maximize your deductions while minimizing your tax liability.
Take care of expenses and revenue:
If you want evidence of how a virtual assistant can help you stay organized and on track during your tax prep, look no further than their skills with accounts receivable and accounts payable. Both these areas of finance are intensive when it comes to paperwork, and this is the last thing you need to be dealing with in tax season. Accordingly, bringing a virtual assistant on board can allow you to keep on top of your bookkeeping, while ensuring that your tax preparation schedule stays on course.
Carry out an internal audit:
Thanks to a combination of high-level qualifications and experience, virtual assistants can get to work on internal audits immediately. These are an immense help during tax season and provide you with a fantastic foundation for dealing with your taxes. Documents, for example, are countless when it comes to financial matters, but a quick audit by a virtual assistant can quickly get these in order. It’s also an opportunity to identify potential complications and give you time to rectify these before the tax deadline. Ultimately, an internal audit will reduce your stress and minimize the risk of penalties.
Completing tax forms:
If there’s one thing that all business owners can agree on, it’s that tax forms are a headache they could do without. The sheer range of forms, and their accompanying complexity, mean that they put a serious drain on your most valuable commodity: time. However, by working with a virtual assistant, you can delegate tasks such as preparing tax forms. For example, rather than a business owner spending hours on their 1040 and 1065, a virtual assistant can take this on. Better yet, they can also file it.
Bringing their knowledge:
Virtual assistants who work in finance come pre-loaded with a wealth of experience. As such, they will have a firm understanding of tax regulations, be able to identify opportunities to make savings, and craft an overall tax plan for your business. This frees you up to concentrate on the day-to-day activities of your business, where focus and quick decisions are vital.
Achieve the Perfect Tax Preparation
Now you know how a virtual assistant can help you stay organized and on track, it’s time to make a decision. Clearly, the benefits of investing in a virtual assistant are obvious. But, if you’ve never hired a virtual assistant before, where do you start? After all, the nature of a virtual assistant means that you’re unlikely to bump into them on the street.
The hard work of tracking down best in class virtual assistants is, thankfully, over. For, here at Pineapple, we already have relationships with the best virtual assistants in the business. They are looking for the perfect client, and you are looking for the perfect employee. It’s a win-win relationship. So, to get your name down on Pineapple’s books, just send us a message here and we’ll get to work on partnering you with an amazing employee.
