Speaker (Carly Hill) contrasts treating taxes as a once-a-year task (filing in April) with maintaining year-round bookkeeping. The speaker argues that regular bookkeeping, checking in on finances, setting money aside, and paying quarterly taxes prevents surprise tax bills and improves financial readiness.
Chapters
This is what I hear. Well, my finances are so easy or they're very minimal, so I don't really have to keep track of it. I just give my statements to my accountant at the end of the year to file taxes. And to that I always say it's kind of like two separate things, like, of course I want you to file your taxes, of course I want you to be compliant in that aspect. But that is a once in a year event, right? You're filing your taxes in April. We always know when they're going to come. However, you're missing out on a lot of information year round. Not only you could avoid the surprise. It's usually, oh, my accountant told me I owe this amount in taxes and I was not expecting that. Usually if you have some sort of bookkeeping in place year round and you're checking in and you're putting money aside for your taxes, you're paying your quarterlies and whatnot, the taxes should not necessarily be a surprise.