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April 16, 2025 13 mins

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Working with a CPA effectively requires understanding both what to do and what to avoid to create a productive professional relationship that benefits your business.

• Be organized when providing documents rather than dropping off unsorted boxes
• Avoid piece-mailing documents and instead provide complete packages when ready
• Consolidate questions and communications to respect your CPA's time
• Ask questions to understand your tax situation and learn from your CPA
• Plan ahead for taxes and save a portion of profits throughout the year
• Set clear expectations about which specific services you need from your CPA
• Respect their time as a professional service provider who bills for consultations
• Don't wait until the last minute to submit documents during busy season
• Never ignore tax deadlines or expect your CPA to care more about your business than you do
• Understand that CPAs cannot eliminate all taxes, only help minimize them legally
• Keep business and personal finances completely separate
• Budget for CPA fees as a regular business expense
• Don't assume your CPA handles everything without specific agreements
• Feel comfortable switching CPAs if the relationship isn't working well

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
don't wait until the last minute Now.
Sometimes this is out of yourcontrol.
But just realize that theentire country is trying to file
their taxes at the same time.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to what your CPA Wants you To Know.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Tax and accounting help can be expensive, so we've
created this podcast to helpguide you through it all and
make you feel like you have aCPA in your back pocket.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
I'm Carson Sands.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
And I'm Taryn Sands.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I'm a CPA with over 10 years of experience helping
people start and grow theirbusinesses.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
And I'm an MBA with a specialization in marketing and
entrepreneurship.
Taxes suck and we want to makesure you don't pay more than
your fair share.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
We're here to share everything your CPA wants you to
know in a fun and easy tounderstand way.
Let's get started.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Let's do it.
Today's episode will be superhelpful if you are a new
business owner and you're new toworking with a CPA, new to
using a CPA firm, all of that oryou just got started with a CPA
and you're just not really surehow it's best to work with them

(01:18):
.
There's obviously a lot thatyou don't know, and this episode
will help with that.
We're going to go through thedo's and don'ts when working
with a CPA or a CPA firm.
So I was in my dentist's officethe other day and there's a
little list about.
Here is what we would love foryou to do, like our ideal
patient here.
Well, this is kind of the samething.

(01:39):
Cpas also have things that theywish their clients would do,
and to make an ideal client,this is what you would do.
So if you work with a CPA, thisepisode may be super helpful
for you too, because maybe youjust didn't know and now you
will.
So the first thing thatprobably isn't surprising to
anyone is to be organized, andthat usually means when you're

(02:01):
providing documents.
So don't drop off a big box ofdocuments and you haven't opened
your mail and you don't evenknow what's in there.
Be as organized as possiblewhen doing this.
Now we have people that takethis to a whole new level and
put tabs and things like that.
You do not have to do that, butyou definitely want to organize
it a bit and make sure thatit's easy to go through and

(02:24):
understand.
And then another thing we tellour clients is that you don't
want to just keep dropping offthings one at a time, and the
reason you don't want to do thatis because piece mailing just
confuses everyone.
So let's say, you drop off awhole big box of documents, I
add you to the list and we thinkyou're ready for your tax
return, but you still have a lotof other things that you're

(02:45):
dropping off and you areprobably not getting all of
those for a little bit longer.
So then, whenever we go to workon the tax return, there's only
half the stuff that we need.
So we always ask our clients tonot piece small things.
Just make sure you haveeverything in there and then let
us know, because that meansyou're truly ready to work on
your tax return.
And maybe there's somethingthat you didn't know that isn't

(03:06):
in there, and that's completelyfine.
We can be like, oh, you hadthis one item last year.
You don't have it this year.
But don't start sending thingsto your CPA just the minute that
you get them, because it makesit very confusing and it makes
your CPA less efficient.
Another thing with beingorganized is that if you have a
lot of questions and you'reemailing and you're calling a

(03:28):
lot and you just have a lot thatyou're sorting through whether
you're hiring someone for thefirst time or setting up your
bookkeeping, whatever it is beorganized with that also.
So what I mean by that is, ifyou have a lot of questions and
you're just sending a lot ofemails, try to consolidate those
and just have one or set up aphone call so that you can just

(03:49):
knock them out all at once,because I think sometimes people
forget the number of peoplethat a CPA is working with, so
it's really hard to get back topeople very quickly, and you
have a lot of clients who liketo send a handful of emails
every single week, so just beingmindful of your communication
is so nice.
Another thing you should do isto ask questions.

(04:11):
Please always ask questions.
We know that not everyone knowsthe tax code and they know
everything about what we say,but if you don't know what we
say please ask questions,because our goal is to teach you
, and we want you to learn Everyyear.
We want you to know why yourtax return looks the way it does
If you owe a lot of money.
We want you to know why.

(04:32):
We don't want you to think thatit's our fault that you owe a
ton of money.
We want you to understand wherethe numbers are coming from,
and that's just simply learning.
So please ask questions.
Also, another thing to do whenworking with the CPA is plan
ahead for taxes.
You know that taxes are coming.
If you're a business owner, youknow you have to save a portion
of profits for your taxes.
You can't be expecting to getto the end of the year and have

(04:54):
not paid anything, so don't besurprised.
Plan ahead, and to do thatyou're going to have to listen
to what your CPA says.
If they tell you to makeestimated tax payments, do it.
If they tell you to set aside acertain amount of your profits
for taxes, you gotta do it.
Another thing you should dowhen working with a CPA is Set
very clear expectations, andwhat this means is that if

(05:17):
you're hiring a CPA specifically, let them know what you would
like them to do.
Some people mistakenly thinkthat if they are having their
tax return prepared, then thatmeans that the CPA will do
anything for them all year long,and that's just simply not the
case.
Everything done is a job by jobbasis for CPA.

(05:39):
So the tax return is one fee.
If you need bookkeeping, that'sanother fee.
If you need retirementconsultations, that's another
fee.
So if you are wanting them todo your sales tax and your
bookkeeping and your tax return,just let them know up front
what exact jobs you would likethem to do.
So, one, that you can get anaccurate price.
And two, you're not assumingthat they're doing something

(06:00):
that they're actually not.
And lastly, you should respecttheir time.
So CPAs bill out in time and Iknow it's silly that maybe you
pick up the phone and you talkto your CPA for 30 minutes or an
hour and you get a bill, butthat is how they make their
living.
They make their living givingadvice and directing people on

(06:21):
financial decisions.
So that means their day canlook like being on the phone for
five or six hours and ifclients don't respect that, then
they wouldn't get paid fortheir job.
So that is their job in anutshell, and they are dealing
with a lot of people, so berespectful of their time and if
you have a lot of questions,just simply call or email and
say where do I book a meetingBecause I know I need some

(06:44):
consulting.
If you're one of those clientsthat continues to ask for free
advice over and over again,firms will deal with that
differently, but they couldeither charge you after the fact
or they will put a stop to itbecause you're asking a lot of
questions all the time, whichjust takes time.
I mean, emails take a lot oftime out of our day.
Right now, I'm responding tosometimes a hundred emails a day

(07:08):
, and that is a lot of work, sojust be mindful of their time.
Now, moving on to the thingsthat you shouldn't do when
working with the CPA, the don'tswould be don't wait until the
last minute Now sometimes thisis out of your control but just
realize that the entire countryis trying to file their taxes at
the same time, so we don'talways know when exactly it is

(07:31):
that you have to turn everythingin, and we don't always know
what the date is that we needeveryone to turn everything in
so that they don't file anextension, because sometimes in
February we're like OK, likepeople haven't really been
bringing stuff in yet, likethings are a bit delayed, and
then sometimes in February, weare so swamped we don't even
know where to begin.

(07:51):
So, that being said, we neverknow.
Just think of it when you'refiling a tax return as a very
long line and you might get atthe back of the line.
If you turn your stuff in verylate and if you're okay with
filing an extension, that'stotally fine.
But if you're one of thosepeople who want to file by the
deadline, just make sure thatyou get in line early, that way

(08:12):
that your tax return can be doneby the deadline.
Also, don't ignore tax deadlines.
We always tell our clients thatwe cannot care more about your
business than you do.
So we do a really good job ofupdating our clients on
deadlines and what they shouldbe doing.
But if they don't do it, thenit's kind of out of our control.
And, just to be completelyhonest, we don't like working

(08:33):
with clients that don't taketheir business seriously, like
if they miss a deadline here andthere and we help them fix it,
that's fine.
That happens all the time.
Something pops up and you missa deadline, we can help you, but
it's those same clients thatyou don't hear from all year.
And then they've just createdthis big mess that they want you
to fix for them, which means alot of time with the IRS, and

(08:55):
that's just not someone that aCPA likes to work with.
They like to work with businessowners that take their business
seriously and stay on top ofthings so that things run
smoothly.
Nobody likes to deal withmesses, right?
Another don't which I think is abiggie is don't expect miracles
from your CPA.
And what do I mean by that?
I mean that a CPA cannoteliminate all of your taxes.

(09:19):
We've had some people come in.
They were not clients, but theyhave said that, oh, another CPA
you use guaranteed that I wouldpay none in taxes.
Well, that could be highlyillegal, but that is not a CPA's
job.
A CPA is to help you maximizeyour tax savings, minimize the
amount that you're paying.
But we can eliminate taxes.

(09:41):
That's just part of life.
We will all pay taxes, and thehigher your income is, the more
you're going to pay in taxes,and we hate it.
We do too, but you can't expecta CPA to work miracles.
We can't make expenses thataren't there, make them up and
we can't avoid taxes altogether.
Another big don't is don't mixyour business and your personal

(10:04):
expenses.
If you listened to a previousepisode, we talked about
bookkeeping and all about that,but that creates huge nightmares
and we preach this to ourclients all the time.
Please do not mix your businessand personal finances.
Just get a separate businessaccount and a separate personal
account so that you can keepthose separate.
Up next is don't forget tobudget for CPA fees.

(10:26):
So all businesses should budgetfor CPA fees and it just
depends on the business how muchthat's going to be.
Is it just going to be yourannual tax return or is it going
to be every single month?
Help, you need to budget whatyou need.
If you're using QuickBooks, youprobably need to budget some
time for QuickBooks.
So just make sure that's partof your budget and a lot of

(10:47):
business owners have to realizethis later on.
But it's so important to makesure that's just part of your
budget.
It's not like an unexpectedexpense.
It's happening every year.
You're going to need help andput that in your business budget
.
I mentioned this a little bitearlier, but don't assume that
your CPA handles everything.

(11:07):
We've had a few people do thatthey assumed that because we
filed the tax return, that wealso did their sales tax, and
that is not the case.
Everything is done job by job.
So sometimes the CPA only filesa tax return and sometimes they
are helping clients monthly forsales tax and things like that.
But never assume that they'redoing everything.

(11:29):
You need to make sure thatthey're doing the jobs that you
need them to do and you'regetting a price for that.
And the last one I have for youtoday is don't hesitate to
switch CPAs if you need to.
If you're not clicking with theCPA or they're not teaching you
things as you go, they don'thave a teaching heart, or they
don't explain things in theright way or they don't respond

(11:50):
to you quickly or lately, whatwe've been getting is that CPAs
are taking on like way too manyclients, which just creates a
big mess for the work they doand the responses they provide.
So if any of that, definitelydo not hesitate to switch,
because if you don't feel likethey're doing a good job or that
you're working well together,it's just not a good fit and

(12:11):
that's not personal.
That's just something thatneeds to be dealt with and find
somebody that works well foryour business and that's not
personal, that's just somethingthat needs to be dealt with and
find somebody that works wellfor your business and that's
okay.
And that's all I have for youtoday, short and sweet.
I hope that you found somethingin here helpful.
Maybe there was an eye-openingmoment where you're like, oh,
I've never really thought ofthat before, or you're just
completely new to working withthe CPA and this would be super

(12:33):
helpful as you get started.
If you haven't done so already,we would really really
appreciate if you would leave usa review on our podcast, as
that's the way that we grow andpeople see our podcast, and we
haven't had very many lately, sowe would love a new one.
Until next time.
Thank you so much for listeningto what your CPA Wants you To
Know podcast.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
This podcast is intended to provide accounting
and tax information foreducational purposes only.
All tax situations are uniqueand should be handled with the
assistance of a tax professionalBye.
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