At Bench, we give you everything you need to have a stress-free tax season, so you can focus on building your business.
Here’s what that could look like for you.
How Bench gets you ready for tax season
Our specialty is making sure you have complete, up-to-date books and financial records. We give you a tidy package with all the info you need to file your taxes, so you or your accountant can file your taxes easily.
When you sign on with Bench, here are the three things we do for you to make tax season painless.
1. We bring your bookkeeping records up to date
We’ll take care of all your bookkeeping, even if you’re months (or years) behind. So long as you sign on with us six weeks before your tax deadline, we can get your bookkeeping fully caught up in time for filing.
But even if you sign up for Bench after the six week mark, you can still file a federal tax extension and we’ll get your books updated well before your new deadline.
First, we get your raw, uncategorized transaction history for the period you need caught up. That means automatically importing bank and credit card statements for your business. For any cash transaction, just take a picture and upload it to the Bench app.
Then, we get down to the business of categorizing your transactions for you. If your bookkeeper has a question about how to categorize a generic transaction (like say, “HOBBY LOBBY, $40”), you can categorize the transaction yourself with just one tap in the app.
Finally, with all your transactions categorized, we’ll build complete financial statements for each month of the year. Getting you caught up usually takes three to four weeks.
2. We give you a Year End Financial Package
This is the most exciting part. Your Year End Financial Package summarizes all your financial data for the year. It contains all the financial info you need to file taxes.
Once it’s ready, you’ll see it ready for download in the Bench app:
Once you download it, here’s what you (and your accountant) will see:
The six parts of your Year-End Financial Package include:
General ledger
This is a list of all the accounts on your books. It helps your accountant navigate your transactions.
Trial balance
This is a summary statement of all the debits and credits on your books.
Journal entries
This contains all the transactions your bookkeeper has recorded during the financial year. If your accountant has a question about any of your transactions, they’ll find it here. We also include “adjusted journal entries” so your accountant can see exactly what changes your bookkeeper made at the end of the financial period.
An annual income statement
This income statement tells you how your business earned and spent money. We also provide income statements for each month of the financial year.
An annual balance sheet
This gives you a tally of what your business owns (assets) and owes (liabilities). We also provide balance sheets for each month of the financial year.
Notes for your accountant
This is essential information, prepared by your bookkeeping team. Anything important that isn’t summarized in your financial statements for the year will go here.
But there are more uses for your Year End Financial Package than filing your taxes. When it’s time to plan for the future, the statements in the package can help you understand how your business is making and losing money, and even find ways to reduce your expenses.
3. We work with your accountant
Already have an accountant who files your taxes for you? Your Bench team will work one-on-one with them, and make sure they’ve got everything they need to file your taxes.
Looking for an accountant? We’ve got a network of CPAs we trust, and we can connect you with one who’s a good fit for your business.
Ready for a stress-free tax season?
You didn’t start your own business so you could spend late nights yelling at QuickBooks and trying to figure out how to calculate “adjusted gross income” for your tax return.
Bench will take care of the hardest part of tax season for you: getting your books up to date and getting your accountant all the essential financial info they need.
Not 100% sure Bench is right for you? Start a free trial—we’ll do one past month of bookkeeping for you, so you can get a feel for how easy life is when Bench handles your books. No credit card required.
