Tax season is a packing list, not a personality crisis.
Hand your licensed bookkeeper or tax pro a complete bag, not a scavenger hunt. Use this checklist as a packing list for the engagement — adjust anything your pro specifically requests.
- Business legal name, EIN, and the bank nickname used in Books.
- Period they asked for (month, quarter, or year) with dates written once.
- Categorized transaction export or Membership CPA-ready package after review.
- Notes on oddities: annual renewals, one-time equipment, owner draws, loans.
- Prior-year return or workpapers if they are continuing an old engagement.
- Contact phone and best hours — so questions do not die in email.
Eight weeks out
Connect or confirm the bank feed. Clear the oldest Needs review rows. Rename messy categories while you still remember what “AMZN Marketplace” was for.
Four weeks out
Walk each month in the period. Flag spikes. Save a draft cover note. If you are on Membership, run a practice export and open it yourself.
Two weeks out
Finish the review queue. Export the package. Store a copy. Send the package plus the cover note in one message — not five follow-ups.
One week out
Respond to pro questions the same day when you can. Do not invent new categories mid-engagement unless they ask.
After filing season
Keep the same category names. Schedule a weekly review so next year is boring on purpose.
- Bank statements for the same period (if your pro still wants them).
- 1099 contractor list if you issue them.
- Loan statements and equipment invoices sitting outside the feed.
- A one-page list of open questions you already know they will ask.
Corpeva helps you keep the ledger and the export tidy. Corpeva is not a licensed accounting firm and does not file for you. Your pro owns the judgment; you own the cleanliness of the handoff.
- One package per period.
- One cover note.
- One phone number.
- Zero competing “final” folders.
If you are still catching up, be honest about gaps. Pros can work with incomplete years. They cannot work with silent chaos. Write what is missing, clean what you can, and stop rebuilding categories from memory the night before a deadline.
Print this checklist or paste it into your calendar invites for the weeks above. The point is not perfection — it is a repeatable packing rhythm so tax season stops feeling like a raid on your office.
