What this covers
What does a business tax service actually do?
Rationale Services handles the whole chain behind a business tax return: collecting what the return is built from, reconciling it against the books, preparing the business return and the owner returns that follow from it, and reviewing the result with you before anything is sent. The work runs through the year rather than in one rush at the end of it.
Most of the effort is upstream of the return itself. By the time a return is being prepared, the numbers are already whatever the records say they are. The part that changes the outcome is what happens in the months before: whether the accounts are reconciled, whether the large items were recorded properly when they happened, and whether anyone looked at where the year was going while there was still room to do something about it.
- Collecting what the return is built from and reconciling it against the books
- Preparing the business return and the owner returns that follow from it
- Reviewing the result with you before anything is sent
- Work that runs through the year rather than in one rush at the end of it
- Documents, reviews and signatures all handled remotely, without travel
Before a return is prepared
What do I need to send my accountant to get my business taxes prepared?
Rationale Services sends you one written request list built from your business rather than a generic checklist. It typically covers bank and card statements, loan and financing documents, payroll processing and the records that go with it, asset purchases and disposals, and anything that changed in the business during the year. We ask early, then chase the gaps so nothing stalls.
The list is specific on purpose. A generic checklist produces a pile of documents and still leaves half the questions open. We tell you what each item is for, which ones we can pull ourselves if you give us access, and which ones only you can answer. Items that are missing get flagged as missing, in writing, so you can see what is holding the work up instead of waiting to find out.
Why don't my books and my tax return agree?
Usually because nobody kept them in step. Rationale Services reconciles the two so one explains the other: the figures in the return trace back to the accounts, and the adjustments made at the end of the year are written down and carried into the books rather than left in a spreadsheet nobody can find twelve months later. That is the job of bookkeeping that keeps the records a return is built from.
This matters the first time someone outside the business asks a question. A lender, a buyer, a new partner or a bookkeeper taking over will put the accounts and the return side by side. If the two do not reconcile, the burden falls on you to explain the difference, often years after the person who created it has gone. Keeping them consistent as a matter of routine costs very little; reconstructing the link afterwards costs a great deal.
Who prepares the owner's personal return when the business return is done?
Rationale Services prepares the business return and the related owner returns together, because what happens in one shows up in the other. Splitting them between two parties is how inconsistent figures get reported. We work from one set of reconciled records and one conversation with you, and we show you how the two connect.
Where an owner has other interests we do not handle, we coordinate with whoever does, and we say plainly which figures came from us and which did not.
What happens if my records are in bad shape?
Rationale Services starts by establishing how bad: what has been reconciled, what never has, and which periods can be relied on. We rebuild from source documents where we have to, tell you plainly what we found, and record the assumptions we had to make so the same ground is not re-covered next year. Where the clean-up runs into the year-end picture, it joins our year-end accounting and reporting.
We do not treat this as a reason to turn work away, and we do not pretend it takes no time. Poor records are the single biggest driver of scope on this kind of engagement. You get told what the clean-up involves before it starts, not invoiced for it afterwards as a surprise.
How it runs
How a tax year runs with us
The same sequence every year, scheduled rather than left to come up.
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Planning conversations while there is still time
Scheduled conversations on your current figures and the decisions you have told us are in front of you, held while there is still room to act on them.
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One written request list, built from your business
You get a specific list rather than a generic checklist, told what each item is for, which ones we can pull ourselves and which ones only you can answer.
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Reconciling the records the return is built from
The accounts and the return are brought into step so one explains the other, and anything still missing is flagged as missing, in writing.
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Preparing the business and owner returns together
Both come from one set of reconciled records and one conversation with you, rather than being split between two parties who never compare notes.
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Reviewing the result with you before anything is sent
A scheduled call with the figures on screen and a prepared agenda, so the review conversation actually happens instead of being squeezed in.
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Carrying the year-end adjustments back into the books
Every adjustment is written down and carried into the accounts, so the books and the return still agree twelve months later.
Planning, several states, and a notice that arrives
What does tax planning during the year actually look like?
It is a conversation about your own numbers, held while there is still time to act on it. Rationale Services looks at where your year is tracking against the last one, what large decisions are coming, and what your figures would look like under each option. The conclusion comes from your position, not from a general rule.
These conversations are deliberately scheduled rather than left to come up. Each one works from your current figures and a short list of decisions you have told us are in front of you: a hire, a vehicle or equipment purchase, a change in how owners take money out of the business, a new line of work, a new state. Where a question turns on a rule that depends on your circumstances, we establish that for your business with you before we answer it rather than assuming the answer carries over from the last client.
Nothing on this page is advice about your situation. It is a description of work we do with you, on your numbers.
My business operates or sells in more than one state. What does that change?
It changes how much has to be established before anything can be prepared. Rationale Services works out which states your activity actually reaches, tracks where obligations arise as that picture changes, and prepares what each one needs. What applies differs by state and by how you operate, so we establish it for your business rather than assume it. The registrations that go with it are handled as business licenses and registration in every state you operate in.
The thing owners underestimate is that this is a moving target. Hiring a remote employee, taking on a contractor, holding stock somewhere, opening an account with a new sales channel or simply crossing more volume in a place you already sell can all change the position. We keep a written record of where you are active, how, and since when, and we revisit it rather than waiting for something to surface on its own.
We will not publish a list of what applies where. Any list general enough to publish would be wrong for most readers, and the answer for your business is a piece of work, not a lookup.
A tax notice arrived. What should I do with it?
Send it to Rationale Services before anything goes back. We read it against your records, explain in plain language what it is asking about, tell you whether your figures support your position, and prepare and assemble the response for you to review, sign and send.
What we do not do is deal with the authority on your behalf. We do not act as your representative, appear for you, or take the matter over. Where something goes beyond preparing and assembling your own response, we tell you at once and refer you to someone who takes that work on.
The handover
What you have at the end
Not just a return. Everything behind it, in a form the next person who looks at this can use.
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A prepared set of returns
The business return and the owner returns that follow from it, prepared together from one reconciled picture.
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A record of what was prepared
Exactly what was prepared and submitted, kept so there is never a question later about what went where.
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The reconciled accounts behind it
The accounts the figures trace back to, so the return and the books still explain each other a year from now.
Year-end accounting and reporting: The reconciled accounts behind it
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A written schedule of adjustments
Every adjustment we made at the end of the year, written down with the reason for it rather than left to be rediscovered.
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The working papers
Handed over as well, so the next person who looks at this is not starting blind.
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A short list flagged for next year
Where the following year's planning conversation starts. It means no year begins from a blank page.
Who we work with, where we stop, and when to start
How does Rationale Services work with my attorney, banker and other advisers?
Directly, with your authorisation. Rationale Services talks to your attorney, your banker, your insurance broker and anyone else advising you, so that one set of figures goes to all of them. A great deal of the mess we are brought in to clean up comes from three advisers working from three different versions of the same numbers.
We would rather be the party that keeps the figures straight across everyone who needs them than hand you a file and leave you to be the courier.
What tax work does Rationale Services not take on?
Rationale Services does not represent clients before tax authorities, does not take on examination matters, and does not perform audits, reviews, compilations, attest work or business valuations. Work of that kind is referred out. We say where the boundary is at the start of an engagement rather than at the point it becomes your problem.
What does business tax work cost?
It depends on what the work involves, so Rationale Services scopes it after looking rather than quoting from a list. The factors that move it are how many entities are involved, how many states your activity reaches, transaction volume, and the condition of the records we are starting from. How an engagement is scoped and run explains how that is agreed before work begins.
When is the right time to bring someone in?
While the year is still running. Rationale Services can prepare a return from records handed over after the fact, but by then every decision has been made and the only remaining job is to report what happened. Earlier involvement is what makes the planning conversations worth having, because they can still change the outcome, and it is what opens up consultancy work on your own numbers.
If you are already past that point this year, bring us in anyway and we will start with the clean-up. The second year is the one where earlier involvement shows.
Questions
Common questions about business tax work
Can you take over mid-year from whoever prepares our returns now?
Yes. Rationale Services starts by reviewing what has already been prepared and reconciling it against your records, so we know what we are inheriting before we build on it. You get told what we found, including anything we would have treated differently. Changing part way through a year is normal and does not require waiting for a clean break.
Do you work with businesses anywhere in the country?
Yes. Rationale Services works with businesses across the United States and the engagement runs remotely by design. Document exchange, reviews and signatures are all handled without travel, and the work is scheduled rather than fitted around visits.
Earlier years were never prepared. Can you help with that?
Yes. Rationale Services works back through the earlier years with you, establishing from your own records and circumstances what still needs preparing for each one. We tell you what we can rebuild, what we cannot, and where we are working from an assumption. Where any part of it goes beyond what we take on, we say so and refer it.
Do you need access to our accounting system?
Usually, and it makes the work faster and cheaper. Rationale Services prefers read access to your accounting and banking records so we can pull what we need rather than sending you a document request every week. If access is not possible, we work from documents you send instead, and we will tell you what that adds in time.
Can you prepare returns for several related entities with the same owners?
Yes, and we prefer to handle them together. Rationale Services works from one reconciled picture across the entities and the owners, which is how inconsistencies between them get caught. Multiple entities increase the scope of the work, and we scope it on what is actually there.
Can I call with a tax question?
You can call about work we are doing and we will answer from your records. What we will not do is answer a question that depends on your circumstances off the top of our heads on a call, because the answer is only worth anything once it has been established against your own figures. We will tell you what we need to look at and come back with an answer you can act on.
Bring us in while the year can still be changed
Tell us what your year has looked like so far and we will tell you what the work involves before it starts.