Setting up our own business or, simply, registering as freelancers to be able to bill for our services involves a whole associated process. This process must be treated with special care and planning, including management tax, accounting, and labor.
As a freelancer or SME, you must decide how to solve problems related to this process. In this article, we tell you several questions that you must ask yourself when hiring a tax preparation service:
- An online tax advisor or onsite advisor?
- What advisory services do I need to contract?
- Keys and tips to choose your advisor.
Online Advisor or Onsite Advisor?
One of the first decisions is whether we need an onsite consultant or an online service. On the one hand, online tax consulting services provide cheaper rates and time savings on physical trips. However, there are some deficiencies, such as difficulty maintaining fluid communication.
Onsite tax advisors, meanwhile, allow us to personally meet the professional in charge of managing our business’ tax needs with a closer and more personalized treatment. However, the rates are usually significantly higher, requiring more effort when traveling to clarify issues or deliver documentation. Onsite consultancies allow us to access a more adapted service to our business and expand or reduce it depending on our needs.
What Services Do I need to Contract?
Another fundamental point when choosing our tax advisor is knowing their range of services. First, we must analyze our needs. As a freelance professional who issues two or three monthly invoices to the same companies, it differs from setting up a bar and hiring two servers.
The types of services tax advisors usually provide include:
Tax services
They usually include both the additions and cancellations in the tax obligations of individuals and companies. The advisor oversees managing and planning the tax obligations derived from the activity according to the chosen regime: objective estimate or direct estimate.
Labor services
Labor services include the management of procedures for registering and canceling Social Security, payroll and declarations, and payments to Social Security. They also have the calculation of retentions to practice workers, the recommendation on agreements, and issues related to preventing occupational hazards.
Accounting services
Accounting services usually include, generally, the preparation of the book of income and expenses in the case of the self-employed indirect estimation, of the tax books and the case of companies, of the Official Accounting books, preparation of balance sheets, preparation of annual accounts or planning and implementation of company or business accounting.
Services for companies
Opting for a corporate structure for your business introduces distinct management requirements pertaining to its establishment, dissolution, endowments, or succession planning.
Legal services
Legal services are strongly advisable for both corporate entities (in matters related to their formation, bylaws, or partner contracts) and self-employed professionals, as they prove invaluable in tax disputes, administrative affairs, and any other business-related concerns
Selecting the Right Advisor
It is recommended to consider a series of tips when choosing our advisor since this person will manage essential aspects of our company.
- Establish your needs and priorities: Remember that the less time you must dedicate to your business’s fiscal or accounting management, the more resources you can dedicate to other aspects of your company, such as finding new clients or selling more.
- Search and compare different offers and try to select those that best suit the needs of your business.
- Find an advisor who explains things and gives you added value, advice, or guidance to help you improve your business. And that it does it periodically, on its initiative, not only when you request it.
- You can make a small investment in the history of the companies or the clients with whom they have worked.
- Start a first contact in which you can clarify your doubts about the services they offer, the deadlines for documentation delivery, the level of availability to solve doubts or the final price of the advisory services.
Finally, an important factor to contemplate before selecting your advisor is the level of rapport between you and your advisor. Effective communication is essential, enabling you to grasp intricate aspects of business management and confidently pose questions on any matter.
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