Is your Quickbooks ready for tax season?

 Before year-end, it is important to ensure your Quickbooks file is in order.  There are several questions to ask between now and the end of the year.  Some of which are:

• Are bank and credit card statements reconciled?
• Are business and personal expenses separated?
• Are uncategorized transactions resolved?
• Does the P & L make sense?
• Are the books ready for tax preparation?

Bank and credit card statement reconciliations are an  important task in the accounting process.  The reconciliation process can be viewed as the task which captures all transactions throughout the year.   It does not ensure all transactions are coded correctly, but it does help to know all transactions are recorded. 

Separating business and personal expenses within Quickbooks is necessary and proper.  This ensures only qualified business expenses appear on the profit and loss to accurately guage the performance of a business.

Uncategorized expenses occur when transactions are saved in Quickbooks without assigning an account (from the Chart of Accounts) to the transaction.  Quickbooks will automatically use 'uncategorized expense' as the account to finish the transaction if an account has not been selected by the user.  Users will need to edit these transactions before financial statements can be issued.

A review of one's profit and loss is important during the course of the year to determine if it is reflecting accurate performance of the business.  If not, a more detailed look at sales and expenses would be needed to fix any problems.

All of the above steps are vital to ensure the books are ready for tax preparation. Starting now before the year closes is a great time to begin this process.  LFC has been assisting businesses in getting their Quickbooks files 'tax prep ready' since 2002. LFC has the experience and knowledge to help businesses with this vital process.  

Schedule a time with LFC to begin this important work for your business! 

Schedule meeting

Office Phone  (651) 204-6577

• 
  

Why work with Liberty Financial in 2026 for your accounting and tax prep needs?

Although it may appear early to begin thinking about the 2026 tax season, it is important to begin making plans regarding your personal tax preparation.  This is especially important if you have a business.  There is still plenty of time to make adjustments now so one is on track with their income tax filing.  

One important decision an individual or business owner needs to make is selecting an accountant to work with for their tax prep and business accounting needs. Below are reasons why one should consider working with LFC:

Individual taxpayers

• Years of experience 
• Affordability
• Knowledge
• Enrolled Agent (IRS designation)

Business Owners

• Worked with wide variety of clients in multiple industries
• Dedication
• Quickbooks Advisor
• Reasonable rates

Contact the LFC office to get started today!

Office:   651 204 6577

Preparing for 2026 Tax Season - tool to use

 Now that the 2025 tax season has officially ended (October 15th, for those that filed extensions), Liberty Financial is moving ahead to the 2026 tax season.

Here you will find documents to help you prepare for 2026 taxes.   This is the Letter of engagement for individuals and businesses.  You can fill it in and transfer the document to LFC via Dropbox or other transfer service. Contact the LFC office before transferring the document.

Things to keep in mind:

• New clients will need to prepay fees before work begins on tax preparation
• Existing client fees are due when work is completed
• Prepaid fees to start work for new clients - Individual taxpayers $375; businesses (S-corps & C Corps; LLC's, and Partnerships) $1000
• Additional fees may be required depending on extent of work involved in preparing tax return.  LFC will notify new client if additional fees are to be charged.

Tax Cut analysis - US Department of Treasury

 In June of 2026, the US Department of Treasury analyzed the impact of the recent tax law changes (as well as the importance of extending the 2017 tax law) on working families.  The complete analysis can be found here.  Below you will find some of the highlights from the analysis:

• Tax relief came primarily to families making less than $200k  per year
• Those making between $100k and $200k experienced an average tax cut of $1250; those making between $50k and $100k averaged $815
• No tax on tips - saw 7.5 million filers claim an average deduction of $7k
• No tax on overtime - saw over 29 million filers claim an average deduction of over $3k
• Enhanced Senior Deduction - over 35 million filers claimed an average deduction of over $7500
• No tax on car loans - average deduction of over $1800 for 1.4 million filers
• Trump Accounts - 5.5 million accounts opened
• Enhanced Child credit - 40 million families claimed the credit
• Total individual tax relief - $82 billion

These numbers are for returns filed by April 15th.  They do not account for taxpayers who filed extensions to October 15th.  Thus, the numbers will show greater impact once the extended returns are added to the analysis.

The good news is that the 2017 law was made permanent along with enhancements from the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) which was passed in July of 2025.  Tax bills since 2001 have carried with them  uncertainty because they have included sunset provisions (expiration dates) in order to get them passed through Congress.  This was true with the 2017 bill.  It was set to expire in Dec of 2025.  Now that the bill is made permanent, individuals and businesses have more certainty in their future tax planning.  

There is always a risk that this current tax bill can be repealed and replaced by a future Congress. But for now, it is the law in place and it is providing significant relief to taxpayers.

LFC will be watching for any update on these statistics once the extended returns are processed and added to the current data.

2026 Year-end tax planning with LFC

As we move into the last quarter of 2026, it is a good idea to consider reviewing one's tax situation before the close of the year.  This review will help with the following:

• Maximizing the benefits provided in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB)
• If necessary, make adjustments to estimated tax payments (final quarter payment due 1/15/27)
• Determining contribution amounts for retirement plans
• Decide if making purchases on business equipment for additional depreciation deduction is warranted

Other important items for business owners include:

• Making sure year-end payroll processing is on track
• All vendor data files are in order for 1099 processing in Jan 2027
• Potential write-off of accounts receivable for non-collectible customer balances (bad debt expense) for accrual-based accounting systems
• Ensure all bank and credit card accounts have each month's reconciliation completed
• If business maintains inventory, perform a physical count of items on hand as of 12/31/26.  For retail businesses, this would include sellable goods inventory; for manufactures, it would include finished goods, works in progress, and parts.
• Review owner capital accounts for distributions, outstanding loans, and capital contributions for the current year
• Review fixed asset purchases and disposals during the current year to update fixed asset list
• Final review of accounting system before file is provided to tax preparer

LFC can help with the year-end review as well as tax preparation for your business.  We also provide tax services to individuals.

Use the Contact Us tab or schedule a meeting from this blog to reach out to us.