Who can move mountains of papers with just the push of a button? Who enjoys opening those perforated, tear-apart tax mailers? Who thinks a blank tax planner is like going on a giant scavenger hunt? These are just some of the many talents and skills that allow a successful daily money manager to thrive, making calm out of chaos for our clients. Perhaps you are wondering what the difference is between a daily money manager (DMM) and a certified public accountant (CPA)? Why is it a good idea to have both on your team? If you’ve been pondering either of these questions, here are some reasons to retain both a DMM and a CPA to handle your tax preparation and planning needs.
What We Do
Your Organized Instincts daily money manager is not a substitute for your CPA, foremost because we do not prepare income tax returns, but we do collect your tax forms, generate tax related reports and quickly provide them directly to your CPA. Why is this important? It saves you the headache of tracking down the mile-long list of documents at several online portals, or remembering countless details yourself. In other words, your DMM acts as a retriever of forms, investigator of details, and clarifier of questions. Plus, we’ll act as a translator between you and your CPA—often translating tax and accounting lingo to your life and return.
We track residential rental property income and expenses for easier tax preparation. Are you a charitable one? We will track those donations for taxpayers who itemize on their returns. Plus we keep orderly records of your bills, accounts, and bank statements in the cloud. If your CPA provides you with a tax planner, we’ll help provide the reports and documents required. Our DMM’s track notices from government agencies (such as individual states or the IRS) about changes to your tax return or refunds, as well as reminding our clients to make their estimated tax payments.
Our DMM’s continuously keep abreast of technological advancements which vastly helps our “tech-challenged” or “reluctant-to-embrace” clients. This means throughout the year we have digitized your financial papers which are often vital components come tax preparation time. When it comes to relaying them to your CPA it’s an easy transition of data. No more collecting and shipping those difficult to replace tax documents. Plus, we’ll even train you to access these items for yourself—when you’re on vacation, at the office, or holding your mobile device—as the data is quickly and securely available to you.
What is the Benefit to You?
DMM’s are able to bestow our clients peace of mind when it comes to managing their unique and often cumbersome finances. If you don’t know the tax forms by number or computation, we help you avoid feeling embarrassed by having a professional in your corner who does. We end your dread of receiving a notice from the IRS about changes in your return and happily support your CPA’s efforts to resolve those frightening variance notices.
By tracking renewal of legal entities, such as LLC’s with the Secretary of State, we help you be comforted that this tiny, but important detail is taken care of. When your signature is required on multiple returns, we help conduct a signing party where, together we tackle the long trail of signature and dates lines on all those paper returns. Allow us to make your trustee role just a bit less taxing.
All in all, your DMM handles many of your financial jobs for you, both small and large. We understand the ins and outs of what you’ll need come tax return prep or year-end planning time. In this way, your DMM adds even more value to your financial and tax planning teams work as we take a share of the stress off your shoulders.
How Does Your DMM Benefit Your CPA?
With a DMM, your CPA is more efficiently able to move through their return preparation phase, review, and sign off process. They are often thrilled to have received all the necessary documents with ease. They won’t need to stop and explain themselves due to missing pieces. If they have a clarifying question, your DMM already knows the correct answer or can track down the answer, and will relay it to you. Your DMM reduces the response/wait time to clarify questions during this very busy season for CPA’s and firms. Embracing digital files and tools, your CPA can more quickly efile your tax return(s) and know there won’t be issues should you need to e-sign any documents. All these services your DMM provides affords your CPA the opportunity to provide you with higher touch/value services and demonstrate their expertise.
At the end of the day, your CPA and your DMM work together to give you the easiest route to tax filing and payment obligations. While your CPA works diligently to prepare your return, your DMM makes sure all your financial ducks are in a row getting over the finish line.
At Organized Instincts, our seasoned team of daily money managers will help you take the dread of tax time away, whether it’s April or October. Schedule a conversation today and learn how our team puts your tax ducklings in a row.