When you’re a small-business owner, you have enough expenses to take into consideration merely running the day-to-day without having to worry about how much your tax bill is going to be. Many people end up paying more than they should, simply because they’re not aware of some basic mistakes they’re making during the filing process. Make next tax season your most efficient one yet with these tax-saving tips.

Avoid Penalties for Late Payments

One of the most needless ways a tax bill mounts up is from incurring late payment penalties. Your first tax-saving action is to file on time by getting your returns in as early into the new year as possible. However, even if you do submit before the deadline, you may still be charged if you’re still resolving an IRS query at cut-off or if you tried to follow the legal requirements but were unable to do so through circumstances outside of your control. Many people pay the penalty charge in these instances, but you may not have to. If eligible, you might be entitled to penalty relief if you can demonstrate it was an honest mistake, so remember to check to see if you qualify.

Use Tax Filing Software

Tax-filing software is a lifeline to small business owners in offering protection you may not have been able to afford through other channels. It guides you through the whole filing process, ensuring you prepare everything the IRS needs, and the best platforms provide guaranteed form accuracy and maximum-refund figures. Everything gets backed-up online, so you have full reassurances that you’ve done everything you need to do, increasing the chances of reimbursement for any fees or penalties.

Track Receipts

Consider everything you buy over a year and how it relates to your business. Even seemingly innocuous purchases such as pens or lunch may be eligible as a tax-saving if they’re for work. Traditionally, the only way people could track expenses was by keeping hold of paper receipts all year, which was messy and cumbersome, so many didn’t bother. However, this meant they missed out on hundreds of dollars of tax relief. Fortunately, there are now intelligent software solutions that make this process quick and easy. Take photos of your receipts and upload them straight into the platform, which then extracts line items and categorizes them depending on your requirements. They even sync with tax-filing software.

Filing inefficiencies can cost you more. Put these measures in place and optimize your tax bill.