Encourage business clients to do a post-tax season checkup with you

Published June 10, 2026 4:19 PM

1 Min Read

Much as you'd like to put the pain of tax season behind you, the weeks immediately after filing are ideal for reviewing returns with clients for errors, missed opportunities, process breakdowns and things that could go smoother next year. It's also a great way to cement your relationship and uncover new revenue opportunities.

A recent QuickBooks financial literacy report found that one in three (32%) business owners review their returns promptly, when things are still fresh in their memory. But don't wait for clients to take action. Get the ball rolling yourself. Here are 10 reasons why being proactive with your clients can lead to enhanced business opportunities down the road:

1. Turn insight into hindsight

Tax return on laptop screen with stethoscope and person writing on clipboard

InfiniteFlow - stock.adobe.com

Reviewing early allows you to catch errors before they become penalties, to adjust estimated payments, to identify cash flow issues while there's still time to fix them, and to implement tax strategies that need time to execute.

2. Low-hanging fruit

Home office deductions remain widely underutilized, particularly among business owners who work from home but assume the rules about home office write-offs are too complicated. Vehicle use, business meals (with proper documentation), Section 179 equipment expensing, and records for charitable contributions made on behalf of the business are frequently missed. Keeping up with these items year-round instead of playing catchup at tax time will greatly reduce your client's stress. Same goes for bank statements for accounts that weren't synced with the accounting system and anything related to business assets, i.e., purchase records, depreciation schedules and disposal documentation.

3. Get a jump on reconciliation

This is the part of the gathering and reporting process that tends to give small businesses the most trouble during tax time. I've found that many small businesses don't maintain clean books throughout the year, so tax season becomes a nail-biting catch-up exercise. Help clients get transactions categorized correctly, reconcile bank and credit card accounts, and ensure everything ties out to the prior year's balance sheet since this is where most of the pain lives. Businesses that sail through tax season are often the ones that reconcile monthly.

Here are some of the most common hiccups we see:

Meals and entertainment (especially post-rule changes).

Travel with mixed personal/business use.
Software subscriptions (often duplicated or miscategorized).
Contractor payments without proper 1099 tracking.
Owner-paid expenses not run through the business.

4. Check for errors

Reviewing your client's return soon after tax season allows your team to identify mistakes such as incorrect entity structure, typos in Social Security numbers, bank routing errors, misclassified expenses, and missed or underpaid quarterly estimates before they result in IRS notices or penalties. Also confirm that carryforward items, net operating losses, capital loss carryovers and prior-year credits are properly reflected. Those are easy to lose in the shuffle between tax years, especially if you changed preparers.

5. Do a year-over-year comparison

This is how you can help clients spot trends that a single year can't show you. For instance, if revenue is up but margins are down, something in your client's cost structure likely shifted. Are deductions higher than expected? That means either spending increased or something was miscategorized. The tax return tells you where they ended up, but the comparison tells you whether the trajectory is healthy.

Keep these ratios top of mind:

Operating cash flow should consistently exceed net income. If it doesn't, your client may have issues with receivables or inventory. If growth is being funded by debt or by cutting margins to win customers, that's not sustainable. Look at whether free cash flow is positive and whether the customer acquisition cost is recoverable in a reasonable timeframe.

Days sales outstanding shows your client how long it takes to collect from customers. Ideally, their DSO is 30 days or less, but if they're growing quickly, they may need to get collections in sooner so the money can be redeployed back into the business.
A healthy current ratio (current assets-to-current liabilities) should generally be above 1.5. If it's below 1.5, it likely means your client's accounts payable are dragging or short-term debt is too high relative to their assets.
Gross margin of 20% to 60% is typical for many industries and services. It's often higher for SaaS businesses and retail tends to be closer to 20% or less due to high labor and product costs. Every industry is different, but it's important to note whether your gross margin is expanding or compressing as revenue grows. If margins are shrinking as the business scales, they may be paying too much to acquire and maintain new customers, or something else is off.

6. Mind reserves

Make sure your client has three to six months' worth of operating expenses on hand to cover unexpected expenses or emergencies. For project-based or seasonal businesses, I'd push toward the higher end. Cash reserves can also function as an "opportunity fund." If the business has healthy liquidity, it can move quickly when the right acquisition, hire or equipment purchase comes along.

7. Monitor hiring and marketing spend

Many businesses underestimate the true costs of salaries, benefits, payroll taxes, equipment, onboarding, etc., and they overestimate how quickly it takes for new employees to become productive. The other common gap is marketing spend: businesses either cut marketing when cash is tight (usually the wrong move) or spend on marketing casually without tracking return.

8. Don’t overlook deductions and tax credits

Research and development tax credits are significantly underutilized. Many business owners don't realize how broadly R&D is defined. The qualified business income deduction for pass-through entities is another one that frequently gets misapplied or missed entirely. Retirement plan contributions, particularly SEP-IRA or solo 401(k), can reduce your client's taxable income substantially and are often underutilized. Health insurance premiums for S corp shareholders are a common miss as well.

9. Prioritize long-term financial goals

Small businesses tend to be very good at reaching short-term goals and putting out fires. But operating day after day with your hair on fire leaves little time for long-term planning. Small business owners often lack the financial reporting structure, benchmarking knowledge and advisory relationships to make long-term planning viable instead of guesswork. That's where you come on as a trusted financial partner who can hold the business accountable and keep it aligned with long-term goals, especially when things get hectic.

10. Recognize signs you need outside help

When the owner or operations person is spending late nights and weekends trying to reconcile the books, or when the books aren't clean enough to make confident decisions, it means your client has outgrown their in-house bookkeeping capabilities and needs an outside professional.

With the mindset in place, post tax-season checkups with clients are an ideal way to enhance your value as a trusted advisor, unlock service opportunities and make next year's tax season smoother. Most surprises at tax time are predictable if you're looking at the numbers regularly.