I'm specifically referring to when a prospective client sends in their prior year's tax returns and you want to come back to them with some great tax savings ideas / strategies. Here are some of my go-to's:
- Look for late filing / underpayment penalties
- Would they benefit from being an S Corp
- If they already are an S Corp, see how "reasonable" their comp is
- Have they taken advantage of depreciating their real estate investments (i.e. component depreciation, bonus, 179)?
- Are they writing off health care premiums
- Are they taking a home office deduction, depreciating office equipment, writing off portion of mortgage, utilities, taxes, etc.
- Writing off vehicle usage for business?
- Did they write off their prior year accounting fees?
- Look for any glaring mistakes on the return
- If we get multiple prior years of returns, look for proper treatment of carryforwards
- Are all dependents on their returns
- Also try to get a hold of their books to see if they agree to the TR and if anything weird is going on there.