Your CPA needs books they can trust. That means reconciled accounts, properly categorized transactions, and documentation that supports what your records show. The more complete your books are, the less time your CPA spends asking questions and the lower your bill tends to be.

Reconcile every bank account and credit card through December 31st. This is the foundation. If your bank balance in QuickBooks doesn’t match your actual bank statement, nothing else matters until that’s fixed. Reconciliation catches missing transactions, duplicates, and errors that would otherwise flow through to your tax return.

Clear out uncategorized transactions and anything sitting in “Ask My Accountant” or similar holding accounts. Your CPA shouldn’t have to guess what a $1,200 charge at Home Depot was for. If you don’t know either, figure it out now while you can still look it up or remember. Every unclear transaction delays the process.

Make sure owner draws are recorded as draws, not expenses. Taking money out of the business for personal use is not a tax deduction. If you’ve been categorizing personal withdrawals as miscellaneous expense or something similar, fix that before your CPA sees it. Same goes for personal expenses paid with business funds.

Document major asset purchases separately. If you bought equipment, a vehicle, or made improvements to property, your CPA needs the purchase date, amount, and what it was. These get depreciated differently than regular expenses and can significantly affect your tax situation.

Review your accounts receivable and accounts payable. Write off invoices you’re never going to collect. Clear out old bills that have been paid but not recorded. Your balance sheet should reflect reality, not what was true eight months ago.

If you have employees, make sure payroll records are complete and W-2s are ready to go. Your CPA needs total wages paid, taxes withheld, and employer tax payments made. Payroll mistakes are common and expensive to fix after the fact.

Pull together supporting documents your CPA might request. This includes contracts for large purchases, loan documents, lease agreements, and receipts for anything that might get questioned. You don’t necessarily need to send all of this upfront, but having it organized saves scrambling later.

Note anything unusual that happened during the year. Did you start a new business activity? Sell equipment? Take on a partner? Receive an insurance settlement? These things affect your return and your CPA needs to know about them even if they don’t show up clearly in the books.

If your books are behind or you’re not confident they’re accurate, consider catch-up bookkeeping before tax season. Handing your CPA a shoebox of receipts or a QuickBooks file full of errors means they’re doing bookkeeping at CPA rates, which gets expensive quickly.

The goal is giving your CPA clean numbers they can work from without second-guessing everything. Professional bookkeeping services Santa Fe NM businesses rely on throughout the year make tax preparation straightforward because the books are already in shape when January arrives. If you’re doing it yourself, setting aside time in early January to review and clean up before your CPA appointment prevents the rush and missed deductions that come from last-minute preparation.