Certified Public Accountant
This article is based on an expert interview with Keila Hill-Trawick, CPA, conducted by wikiHow Staff Editors. Keila Hill-Trawick is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and owner at Little Fish Accounting, a CPA firm for small businesses in Washington, District of Columbia. With over 15 years of experience in accounting, Keila specializes in advising freelancers, solopreneurs, and small businesses in reaching their financial goals through tax preparation, financial accounting, bookkeeping, small business tax, financial advisory, and personal tax planning services. Keila spent over a decade in the government and private sector before founding Little Fish Accounting. She holds a BS in Accounting from Georgia State University - J. Mack Robinson College of Business and an MBA from Mercer University - Stetson School of Business and Economics.
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Tax season can be stressful and complicated, but preparing ahead of time can really help make it easier. How do you do it though? In this video, certified public accountant Keila Hill-Trawick will walk you through the most important things you should get in order before tax season starts.
Key Takeaways
- Gather any paperwork you’ve received in the mail from the government, like your W-2, 1099, and interest statements.
- Make sure you’ve tracked all of your income and expenses for any businesses or other income streams you have.
Video Transcript
The first thing is to get your paperwork in order. You know what's generally going to be asked from you. First, start with all the government forms that you already received. A W-2, 1099, interest statements—any of those forms that you get in the mail, you want to pull those together. Second, if you have a business or other types of income that come in, you want to make sure that you've tracked all of the income and expenses that are associated with that so that when it's time to file your return, that's all in one place for you. And if you have anything that's outstanding, it's easy for you to fill that gap rather than starting from scratch.
