What to Bring Your Accountant at Tax Time: A Small Business Checklist
Every accountant has the same experience each spring: a client drops off a folder, the return gets started, and then it stops — because the brokerage 1099 has not arrived, the loan statement is missing, or nobody can say how much was paid in estimated taxes. Each gap means an email, a wait, and often an extension that did not need to happen.
The fix is to know in advance what your accountant needs. The checklist below covers sole proprietors and single-member LLCs filing Schedule C, as well as partnerships and S-corporations. Not every item applies to every business, but if it applies to yours, your accountant needs it.
1. Your financial statements, closed through December 31
The business return is built from your books, so the books come first. Your accountant needs a year-end profit and loss statement and balance sheet, and both need to reflect bank and credit card accounts reconciled through December 31. A P&L generated from unreconciled books is a draft, not a source document.
- Profit and loss statement for the full calendar year
- Balance sheet as of December 31
- Bank and credit card reconciliations for every account, including accounts that were closed during the year
- Accounts receivable and accounts payable aging reports if you keep your books on the accrual basis
- A year-end inventory count and valuation if you sell physical products
- Read-only access to your accounting software, which is often faster than exporting reports
2. Income forms you received
The IRS receives a copy of every information return issued to you and matches it against your return. Income that appears on a form but not on your return generates an automated notice, usually a year or more later. Bring every one of these, even if you believe the income is already in your books.
- Form 1099-NEC from clients who paid you $600 or more for services (the threshold rises to $2,000 for payments made beginning in 2026)
- Form 1099-K from payment processors such as Stripe, Square, PayPal, or Shopify — the federal threshold is $20,000 and more than 200 transactions, though processors may issue forms below that and some states set lower thresholds
- Form 1099-MISC for rents, prizes, or other miscellaneous income
- Form 1099-INT and 1099-DIV for interest and dividends on business accounts
- Schedule K-1 from any partnership, S-corporation, or trust in which you hold an interest
A 1099-K reports gross payments, not profit. It includes refunds, processor fees, and sometimes sales tax. Your accountant needs both the 1099-K and your books to reconcile the difference — otherwise you risk being taxed on money you never kept.
3. Payroll and contractor records
If you had employees, bring the year-end payroll package from your payroll provider: W-2s and the W-3 transmittal, all four quarterly Forms 941, the annual Form 940, and state unemployment and withholding filings. Your accountant will compare these totals to the wages recorded in your books, and a mismatch is one of the most common reasons a return stalls.
For contractors, bring a copy of every 1099-NEC you issued and the W-9s you collected. S-corporation owners should also confirm that their own reasonable salary ran through payroll and that any health insurance premiums the company paid for them were added to their W-2.
4. Tax payments already made
This is the item most often missing, and the one that matters most to your final balance. Your accountant needs the date and amount of every federal and state estimated tax payment made for the year, including any payment made in January that applies to the prior year. Federal payment history is available in your IRS online account; state payments are available through your state revenue department portal.
Also bring any prior-year overpayment you chose to apply to this year, any payment made with an extension, and every letter or notice received from the IRS or a state agency during the year.
5. Assets, vehicles, and loans
- Invoices for equipment, vehicles, furniture, and computers purchased during the year, with the date each was placed in service — this determines eligibility for Section 179 or bonus depreciation
- Records of any assets sold, traded in, or disposed of, including the sale price
- A mileage log showing business miles, total miles, and dates if you deduct vehicle expenses
- Year-end loan statements showing interest paid and remaining principal for business loans, lines of credit, and equipment financing
- Form 1098 for mortgage interest if you claim a home office under the regular method
6. Deductions that live outside your books
Several valuable deductions for business owners are paid personally or tracked separately, so they never appear in the business ledger. Your accountant cannot claim what they do not know about.
- Health insurance premiums paid by self-employed owners, which may qualify for the self-employed health insurance deduction
- Retirement plan contributions to a SEP-IRA, SIMPLE IRA, or solo 401(k), including contributions you still plan to make before the filing deadline
- Home office square footage and total home square footage, plus rent, utilities, insurance, and property tax totals if you use the regular method
- Business expenses paid with a personal card, with receipts
7. Changes to the business itself
Tell your accountant about anything that changed the structure of the business during the year: a new or departing owner, a change in ownership percentages, capital contributions or large distributions, an S-corporation election (Form 2553), a new state where you have employees or sales, or the opening or closing of a location. New clients should also provide the prior two years of returns, the EIN confirmation letter, and the operating or partnership agreement.
The shortcut: books that are already done
Notice how much of this checklist disappears when bookkeeping happens monthly. Reconciled statements, payroll tie-outs, asset purchases, and loan balances are all produced as a byproduct of a proper monthly close. At Stone Valley Accounting, clients who use our bookkeeping service start tax season with sections 1, 3, and 5 already complete, because we maintain the books the return is built from. What remains is the handful of items only the owner can supply — personal deductions, estimated payments, and changes to the business.
Whoever keeps your books, the principle is the same: the earlier your accountant has a complete package, the more time there is to plan rather than just file. February is for decisions. April is for paperwork.
Frequently asked questions
What documents do I need to file taxes for a small business?
At minimum, a small business needs a year-end profit and loss statement and balance sheet from reconciled books, every 1099 and K-1 received, payroll reports (W-2s, Forms 941 and 940) if it had employees, copies of 1099-NECs issued to contractors, records of all federal and state estimated tax payments, invoices for assets purchased during the year, loan statements showing interest paid, a mileage log if vehicle expenses are deducted, and any IRS or state notices received. Owners should also provide health insurance premiums, retirement contributions, and home office information, which are often tracked outside the business books.
When should I send my tax documents to my accountant?
Send documents as early in the year as possible, and no later than mid-February for S-corporations and partnerships, whose returns are due March 15 for calendar-year businesses. Sole proprietors and single-member LLCs filing Schedule C are due April 15, so a complete package by early March is a reasonable target. Most 1099s and W-2s arrive by January 31; brokerage 1099s and K-1s often arrive later, so send what you have and note what is outstanding rather than waiting for everything.
Do I need to give my accountant receipts for every expense?
Generally, no. Your accountant needs categorized, reconciled books, not a box of receipts. You are required to keep receipts and supporting documentation in case of an IRS examination — generally for at least three years from the filing date — but the accountant typically only needs specific documents: invoices for large asset purchases, support for unusual or large expenses, and receipts for business expenses paid personally that are not in the books.
Does filing a tax extension give me more time to pay?
No. A tax extension extends the deadline to file the return, not the deadline to pay the tax. Any tax owed is due on the original due date, and interest and late-payment penalties apply to unpaid amounts after that date. If you extend, estimate what you owe and pay it with the extension. Filing an extension does avoid the failure-to-file penalty, which is 5% of unpaid tax per month up to 25% and is much larger than the failure-to-pay penalty.
Why does my 1099-K not match the income in my books?
A 1099-K reports the gross amount of payments processed, before refunds, chargebacks, processing fees, and in some cases before removing sales tax collected. Your books should record net revenue correctly and separately track fees and refunds. The two numbers will rarely match exactly, and that is normal. Your accountant reconciles the difference on the return so the IRS matching program sees all the 1099-K income accounted for, while you are taxed only on actual business income.
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