Grow Your Business

To avoid the mad rush leading up to April 15, here is a year-long laundry list:

- If you are filing as an individual taxpayer (that is, your business is a single proprietorship),
remember that your first quarter income tax for 2013 is also due on April 15. It would thus be advisable to pay attention to these two tax returns as early as you can.

- Update all your records, such as your cash on hand, cash in bank, accounts receivables, accounts payables, loans, and other accounts. Cash count, inventory count, and property count should be performed at the end of your financial reporting period (for example, December 31). It’s also better to ask and send confirmations or request of balances of your accounts to third parties earlier, such as bank deposit certificates and loan balances from your banks.

- Remember that personal, living, or family expenses are not deductible to your taxable income. As a general rule, expenses can only be claimed if they are paid or incurred as part of the taxpayer’s profession, trade or business operations.

- When hiring an external auditor or accountant, make sure to confirm his personality and professional qualifications. Require the person to present a copy of his license from the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and his certificate of accreditation issued by the Board of Accountancy (BOA) if he is a sole practitioner, or to the auditing firm he belongs to, in case he is a partner of that firm, to verify his authenticity.

- Check your substantiation requirements. Take note that no expenses shall be allowed unless the taxpayer shall substantiate with sufficient evidence, such as official receipts or other adequate records: (a) the amount of the expense being deducted, and (b) the direct connection or relation of the expense being deducted to the development, management, operation and/or conduct of the trade, business or profession of the taxpayer.

- If your business is a corporation, check out the deadlines for filing your financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The schedule of filing is based on the company’s last digit of their SEC registration or license number.

- Be updated with the current BIR, SEC, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and other government agency regulations that are applicable to your business.