Tax Preparation Las Vegas - Accountant Firm

Quite often, while doing tax preparation in Las Vegas, I get asked the question by small business owners, "How can I reduce my taxes?". Almost always, the most important thing that they forget is that they don't keep their receipts so that they can deduct all the expenses that they pay. It's important, for tax preparation, that the Las Vegas business owner keeps track, even if you just take an envelope and put the receipts that you paid for (whether cash, or by credit card) in that envelope every single day, and at the end of the year, or at the end of the month you just add those up and put those on the expense sheet - that's a huge way you can save, and quite often, small business owners will just throw away the receipts (or they can't find them when it comes time to do their tax return)

Some of the most common areas where people forget their expenses are in the materials or the supplies that they might pay for. If they're a contractor for instance - they may run to a local hardware store and pick up some small supplies they need for a job, but they forget to keep the receipt, or forget to put it in that box or envelope at the end of the day. As well, there are office expenses, or meal and entertainment expenses. If they take employees out to lunch, or pay for a dinner with current clients or customers, and then they forget that, "Oh, that was something that I need to go ahead and deduct on my tax return".

Therefore, if you want to save on taxes, one of the key tax preparation methods in Las Vegas is to keep track of the expenses that you pay.

As a Las Vegas accountant, one of the things that I get asked a lot is, "What should you ask an accountant in Las Vegas if you are considering hiring one?". One of the most important things is there licensing (their credentials, exactly what they have other licenses in). You should contact their state board of CPAs and the American Institute of accountants to see whether or not there has been any disciplinary actions put against them, and also check out their licenses - they usually do have them posted in their offices.

One of the other things that you should ask a Las Vegas accountant about is their fees: how do they charge you, is it an hourly billing, is it a value billing, what exactly will they charge you for phone calls, what type of meetings can you have with them on a regular basis? You want to make sure that you understand that before you hire an accountant. Additionally, you want to ask them how you could reduce your fees. Do you charge me less or more if I bring in a box of receipts? Could I possibly do some of the work and keep my fees at a minimum? One of the last things that I would consider asking them is 'what their strategies are with their financial statements and their tax returns?'. Are they aggressive, or are they conservative? You want to hire someone who is exactly like yourself. If you're aggressive and you like to take an aggressive strategy on your tax return, you want to make sure that an accountant is willing to look at that without disobeying the laws.

I'm a partner at a Las Vegas CPA firm. Choosing a CPA can be a very complicated decision, however, there are some common factors that you should look at that all CPAs should have. One of those factors is: they should excel at working with people. Being a CPA is a "people profession". It's not just the numbers, you definitely have to be able to work with people; to be a good communicator and a good listener. A second thing a CPA firm should have is: they should be honest. They should be honest and have integrity well above and beyond what you expect. You should be able to be comfortable with the tax returns and financial statements that they're presenting, and that integrity is crucial.

They should also have a great network of other Las Vegas professions. You might need an estate plan or a will done; or maybe you need some investments. There should be some people they can refer you to in order to get your entire financial profile in order. They should be able to do what they say they're going to do. For instance: if they tell you they're going to return your phone call within 24 hours, they should return your phone call within that specified period of time. You want them to return your tax return within the specified time. Your fees should be exactly what you think they're going to be. Make sure they oblige by everything that they tell you. Those are some of the most important things that a Las Vegas CPA firm should have.