Can a Bookkeeper do Tax Returns?

A bookkeeper is an in-house employee or third-party contractor that businesses use to manage their Operational finances such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory, and payroll. This knowledge of existing relationships and company finances makes them valuable employees. However, an accountant’s financial expertise and tax returns knowledge do not always match.

While CPAs and registered representatives have extensive training and experience in preparing tax returns, accountants typically only have tax knowledge gained from preparing their tax returns.

Staff accountants have a higher level of education than the average accountant. However, accountants are also not trusted by the IRS. As “unlicensed tax advisors,” accountants can prepare your taxes but cannot file them with the IRS on your behalf. This is a significant difference when it comes to filing your taxes, and your accountant cannot act on your behalf concerning tax audits.

For this reason, accountants and auditors are not qualified to complete tax returns. However, they are both excellent contact points with the CPA or registered agent of your choice.

Benefits of Tax Returns

You probably know what bookkeepers do and what day-to-day tasks they are responsible for. But how do these tasks benefit your business? Good bookkeeping is more than just keeping accurate records and balancing your books. Find out how an accountant can benefit your small business.

• Bookkeepers can spend their time shaping your vision, streamlining your workflow, and improving your bottom line.
• Hiring a professional bookkeeper can minimize the risk of errors. Professional accountants can ensure the accuracy of financial reports and data through their training and experience.
• Some bookkeepers also offer tax preparation services, which can be especially helpful in untangling the complex tax system for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
• Reliable bookkeeping records can be a significant advantage if the IRS or other agencies audit you. Usually, an audit is simply a matter of checking the records. However, if the accounting records are not in order, things can become more complicated than they need to be.

Responsibilities of a bookkeeper

Bookkeeping is essentially the first level of accounting over which the business owner has control. Business owners can do their own bookkeeping or have a third party do it remotely. The accountant’s responsibilities include

Routine financial transactions: A large part of bookkeeping involves entering data and verifying basic financial transactions during the day. Accountants make entries such as debits and credits to the general ledger. Accounting and bookkeeping software allows small businesses to record all transactions.

Invoicing: Accountants process all invoices, whether they are accounts receivable or payable.

Accounting: Accountants use single-entry or double-entry accounting systems to reconcile bank accounts depending on the business.

Preparation of financial statements: accountants maintain a general ledger used to prepare financial statements, including balance sheets, cash flow statements, income statements, and statements of changes in equity.

Tax Returns: Bookkeepers ensure that tax returns are correctly filed, from preparation to submission and eventual audit.

Bookkeeping is a commodity.

If you’re looking for an easy job, bookkeeping may not be for you.

Sure, you can find the promise online of being able to travel the world and provide accounting services to businesses with great freedom. 

• Still, it’s important to remember that it is becoming a commodity.
• The USA has reliable and qualified accountants and bookkeepers, and they are slowly becoming the solution for entrepreneurs frustrated by the high cost of hiring accountants in the United States.
• Don’t forget that even Tax King Service takes care of the bookkeeping for a few hundred dollars a month. 
• It appoints experts to make it easier for business owners.

There are many domestic and international bookkeepers ready to coordinate transactions and speak the global language of accounting.

For these reasons, accounting is becoming progressively cheaper and more commonplace… But if you do it right, it’s worth it.

• This is an extraordinary approach because, on the one hand, it is a standard service. 
• Still, on the other hand, it is also the basis for the excellent tax and accounting services we want to offer you in this outsourcing model.
• Bookkeeping is the foundation of accounting knowledge for bookkeepers who strive to provide excellent tax planning, advice, and management facilities. 
• It is built on a foundation of good bookkeeping. In short, bookkeepers must provide tax returns service.

Bookkeeping help businesses get back on their feet.

These are the critical skills that accountants bring to your business. Accountants are not just accounting consultants or data entry clerks, and bookkeeping is more important than many small business owners realize.

• The next time you ask, “What does a bookkeeper do?” when asked the question. You’ll know the answer is that they can handle everything from transaction reconciliation to payroll and even manage it all.
• Ultimately, the answer will depend on what you and your small business want from an accountant. 
• Regardless, an accountant who handles your small business finances will free up the time and energy you need to grow your business.

Author Bio

Villie Walters Ramirez is a 32-year-old sales assistant at a tax king who enjoys Tax Preparation NYC and bookkeeping. She has a post-graduate degree in accounting, and she has a severe phobia of cats. She enjoys travelling A lot.