Tax Accountant for Small Business

In a normal year, the job is keeping records organized, filing the right returns on time, planning estimated payments and spotting deductions before the year closes. In a bad year, it's different: pulling IRS transcripts, catching up on missed returns, arguing for penalty relief, setting up a payment plan and handling the IRS so you can run the business. A good one does both and gets you out of reaction mode.

Not every tax preparer can. Unlimited representation rights before the IRS belong only to a few licensed professions, and Enrolled Agents are one of them. Our founder is an Enrolled Agent, licensed by the U.S. Treasury to represent taxpayers in all 50 states, so we can handle audits, collection cases and appeals for your business directly once you sign Form 2848.

Don't wait for the IRS to file for you. If it does, it builds a substitute return from 1099s and other reports, with none of your expenses, so the balance usually looks far worse than reality. We prepare the missing years in a sensible order, using your real income and deductions, and plan the filings around whatever resolution comes next, such as an installment agreement or penalty abatement.

Start by stopping the bleeding: make current deposits on time, even while the old balance sits there. Then gather payroll registers, deposit history, every Form 941 and any IRS notices. Unpaid trust fund taxes grow quickly and can lead to the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty against owners or officers. We work out the liability by quarter, deal with the IRS and set up a resolution the business can survive.

Sometimes. First Time Abate relief is the simplest route if your prior three years are clean. Otherwise, reasonable cause relief needs a documented reason: a serious illness, a fire, a bookkeeper who vanished with the records. The rules differ by penalty type. Interest generally stays, except the portion tied to any penalty that gets removed. We review your history and file the request when the facts support it.

It's a monthly payment plan for a federal balance you can't pay right now. Which type you get depends on how much you owe, whether your returns are filed and what your cash flow looks like. For a business, the IRS also wants to see that you're current on deposits going forward. We decide whether an agreement is the right tool, prepare the financials and negotiate terms the company can keep.

Read it first: it tells you the tax year, the items being examined, the deadline and what the IRS wants. Then call us before you send anything. Dumping a box of unrelated papers on an examiner rarely helps. We handle correspondence, office and field audits, keep the scope focused, and file an appeal if the result isn't supported.

If you're past a few hundred thousand in revenue, have employees, or own more than one entity, it's worth having a professional. The same is true if a notice confuses you, if you're paying estimated taxes by guesswork, or if you've won a federal contract and need cost accounting. We often step in as both tax accountant and fractional CFO for companies at that stage.