Year-End Package for Your CPA
What your CPA asks for every January, in the order they ask, for the 2026 tax year
Poof · written by a former controller
A CPA bills for the hours they spend chasing you. Most of those hours go to the same fifteen questions every year. Answer them before the first email and the return costs less, comes back sooner, and has fewer surprises in it. Tick each box as you go, and send the package as one bundle, not as a thread.
When it needs to be ready
By Dec 31
Buy what you plan to buy; collect missing W-9s
Jan 15
Fourth-quarter estimate; send the package
Feb 1
1099-NEC and W-2s filed and sent
Mar 15 / Apr 15
S-corp and partnership / Schedule C and C-corp returns
Why a month early: a CPA works the returns in the order the packages arrive. A package sent in mid-January gets looked at in February. One sent in March is often extended.
1. The books, closed through December 31
Every bank account reconciled to the December statementIncluding savings and any account you opened or closed during the year. The difference should be zero, not "close".
Every credit card reconciled to the December statementA card reconciles to the balance owed. Personal charges on a business card are owner draws, not expenses.
Loans tied to the lender's December 31 balanceEach payment split into principal and interest. If the books and the lender disagree, the lender is right.
Nothing left uncategorized"Ask my accountant" and "uncategorized" are questions your CPA will bill you to answer.
Receivables and payables reviewedWrite off invoices you will never collect (accrual books). Enter December's vendor bills even if you pay them in January.
Customer deposits still held as depositsMoney collected for jobs not finished by December 31 is a liability, not this year's revenue.
December checks that cleared in JanuaryThey belong to the year you wrote them. They also count toward a contractor's 1099 total for that year.
2. The reports
Profit and loss for the full yearWith the prior year beside it, so a jump in any line is explained before it is asked about.
Balance sheet at December 31Cash on it should equal the reconciled bank balances to the penny.
General ledger or trial balanceExport as a spreadsheet, not a PDF. Your CPA will want to sort it.
Last year's returnOnly if you changed CPAs. Your new CPA needs the depreciation schedule and any carryforwards in it.
3. The questions your CPA will ask
| Question | What to send | Why they ask |
|---|
| Meals | The year's total for business meals | Generally only 50% is deductible |
| Entertainment | Tickets, golf, events, kept apart from meals | Entertainment is not deductible |
| Penalties and fines | Late fees to government agencies, tickets | Not deductible |
| Political contributions | Any, including through a trade association | Not deductible |
| Vehicles | Business miles, total miles, and the purchase price and date of any vehicle bought | Personal use reduces the deduction; the mileage log is the evidence |
| Owner pay (S-corp) | Officer wages on the W-2, distributions, and owner health insurance premiums | Reasonable compensation, and 2% shareholder health insurance goes on the W-2 |
| Owner draws (Schedule C) | The year's draws and contributions | Draws are not an expense; booked as one, they understate profit |
| Home office | Square footage of the office and of the home | The deduction is a ratio |
| Retirement | Contributions to a SEP, SIMPLE or 401(k), and the dates | Some can still be made after year end |
4. Equipment, vehicles and loans
Everything you bought that lasts more than a yearThe invoice, the price, and the date it was placed in service. Your CPA decides between Section 179, bonus depreciation and regular depreciation; your job is the list.
Everything you sold, scrapped, traded in or lostThe date and what you got for it, including an insurance payout.
New loansThe loan agreement for each vehicle or equipment loan opened during the year.
5. Payroll
The year-end payroll summary from your providerW-2 totals, the four 941s, the 940, and state unemployment returns.
Payroll on the books matches the payroll summaryWages, employer taxes and benefits. A difference here is a question on the return.
6. Contractors and 1099s
A W-9 from every contractor you paidCollect them in December, before you need them. Without a TIN you may owe backup withholding.
Each contractor's total for the year, by how you paidCard and PayPal payments are reported by the processor on a 1099-K, so they come out of your total.
Who crossed $2,000For payments made in 2026 the 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC threshold is $2,000 (it was $600). Corporations generally do not get one; payments to attorneys and for medical services do.
Who files them, and whether they canFiling in the IRS's IRIS portal needs a Transmitter Control Code, which takes weeks to get. Decide in October or November who is filing.
7. Sales tax and estimates
Sales tax returns filed and paidEach period's return, and the payment that matches it.
Estimated tax paymentsThe date, amount and account for each federal and state estimate. Note any paid from a personal account; the CPA cannot see those.
8. Texas businesses
Last year's total revenueAgainst the franchise tax no-tax-due threshold, which decides which report is due in May.
What the business owned on January 1Equipment, vehicles, furniture and inventory at cost, against the $125,000 business personal property exemption. Over it, a rendition is due April 15.
How Poof does this: Books → Taxes maps your year to the lines of Schedule C or Form 1120-S, answers the questions above with your books’ numbers, and builds the year-end package as one PDF. It keeps the calendar of every deadline and who files each one. Poof prepares and reminds; your CPA files.
See Taxes in Poof