Small Business Supplemental Checklist

Posted Saturday, December 20, 2025

Small Business Supplemental Checklist

Small Business Tax DeductionsIf you have a small business or side-gig activity that is reported on Schedule C or F of your individual tax return (Form 1040), please use this supplemental checklist to help us accurately report your revenue and expenses. If your small business files a separate tax return such as Form 1120S (S Corp), Form 1065 (partnership) or Form 1120 (C Corp), please use our business entity checklist here.

Small Business Tax Docs and Financial Data

All small business owners should review the following checklist items, or at least use it in conjunction with financial statements and the like. We commonly get the question, “Can’t I just send you my QuickBooks data?” The answer is a “Yeah, we need that for sure, but…” Financial statements and spreadsheets might miss critical information such as:

  • Home office, auto expense, cell phone and internet deductions
  • Intended 401k or SEP IRA contributions for 2025 paid in 2026
  • Multi-state issues (nexus) and income apportionment
  • Estimated tax payments, and other business related taxes
  • Inventory methods, etc.

We also must ask some required IRS disclosure questions about receipts and 1099 issuance. Unfortunately, income statements and balance sheets only get us so far.

Startup Expenses

  • Expenses associated with getting your business going before it was fully operational (dates and descriptions are key!)

Operating Activities

  • 1099-MISCs and 1099-NECs (that you received from your clients or customers)
  • 1099-Ks (issued by merchant card providers, such as PayPal, Etsy and Google)
  • Did your business accept cryptocurrency as payment? If so, we need those details
  • Are you tracking sales by state? If so, please provide those details (we might need this regardless)
  • All expenses associated with the business
  • Total amount spent on materials or products for resale (most small businesses can expense this immediately as supplies)
  • List of assets (computers, machinery, furniture) purchased (we will expense any single item $2,500 or less)
  • Home office, auto expense, cell phone and internet related expenses

Other Tax Docs

  • Self-employed health insurance premiums including 1095-A if you use Marketplace Health Insurance

New to WCG (yay!)

  • Last year’s 1040 tax return and state tax returns, all pages, don’t hold back
  • Form 8995 or NOL worksheets if your business had losses last year
  • Depreciation schedules for equipment and automobiles that are used in the business

Small Business Activities

We have three ways for you to synthesize your small business or side-gig activities for tax return reporting-

  • Excel template, Simplified Business Operations “the SBO” (class favorite)
  • Fillable PDF
  • Secure online form

See buttons below-

Biz Activities Excel Template

Our Simplified Business Operations (the “SBO” as we like to say) Excel template is easy to use.

Biz Activities Fillable PDF

Not a fan of Excel? No worries! We have a fillable PDF to help organize your business activities.

Biz Activities Secure Form

Ok, no Excel or PDF? We got you. Please use our secure online form to organize and send to us directly.

Small Business Worksheets

You might not need these two additional worksheets if you report automobile and home office expenses using the above templates or form. They are here for your perusal or review.

rental property car

Auto Expense Worksheet

Submit your automobile expenses using our secure online form.

Home Office Worksheet

Submit your home office expenses using our secure online form. We will optimize between actual and simplified methods.

Home Office Mini Portal

Learn more about home offices and how their definitions impact deductions and other expenses.

Tax Return Preparation Fees

No one likes to be nickeled and dimed. While your small business might seem small, it might have complexity. We typically include one side-gig type of small business as part of your tax return preparation (Form 1040) at no charge. These are simple businesses with a handful of expenses.

However, at times there is complexity that will increase your fee by $250 to $500 for small business activities including farm activities on Schedule F-

  • Several transactions or expenses
  • Home office beyond a simplified home office deduction
  • Various equipment, automobiles and fixed assets associated with the business
  • Payroll for employees

Please see our Personal Tax Prep (Form 1040) page for more fascinating details including our simplified fee page.

Taxpayer’s Comprehensive Guide to LLCs and S Corps

S Corp BookWCG CPAs & Advisors and Jason Watson, CPA, have released the 2025 Edition of Taxpayer’s Comprehensive Guide to LLCs and S Corps. Over 400 pages of pure pleasure! This edition has updated 2025 data such as IRA and 401k limits including Social Security wage limits, but it also has a bunch of new information spread out various chapters such as customized multi-entity structures, expanded reasonable shareholder salary sections, more tax reduction mechanics among various little tidbits gleaned from hundreds of small business consultations. Riveting!

It is available in paperback for $49.95 from Amazon and as an eBook for Kindle for $39.95. Our book is also available for purchase as a PDF from ClickBank for $29.95. Why do we all love 95 cents? We all know that 39.95 is really 40 bucks. At least we are not like gas stations… $39.949. Silly! Yet we digress. Apple iBook, Barnes and Noble Nook, among others are not utilized since their format is challenging to make mini updates here and there.

Avoid Self-Employment Taxes

How can I avoid self-employment taxes? This simple question was the inspiration for creating an article describing the benefits of an S Corporation. That original article, which was about four pages long, quickly became a series of Knowledge Base articles on the WCG website. The articles touched on basic topics such as how to elect S Corp status, shareholder payroll, reasonable salary determination and liability protection. Those broad topics demanded much more information, both horizontally by spanning into more related issues, and vertically by digging deeper into the granular yet riveting levels of the tax code. Beyond general S Corp benefits, our book will show you-

This book is written with the general taxpayer in mind. Too many resources simply regurgitate complex tax code without explanation. While in some cases tax code and court opinions are duplicated verbatim because of precision of the words, this book strives to explain many technical concepts in layperson terms with some added humor and opinions. We believe you will find this book educational as well as amusing.

Each week we receive several phone calls and emails from small business owners and other CPAs across the country who have read our Taxpayer’s Comprehensive Guide to LLCs and S Corps and praised the wealth of information. Regardless of your current situation, whether you are considering starting your own business or entertaining a contracting gig, or you are an experienced business owner, the contents of this book are for you.

While this book’s origins were based on reducing self-employment taxes through an S Corporation election, it has dramatically expanded to sound business advice from entity structures to operational considerations to business tax deductions and retirement planning.

Enjoy! And please send us all comments, hang-ups and static. This book is as much yours as it is ours, except the tiny royalty part- that’s ours. Stop by and we’ll buy you a beer with the pennies.

While we have you, please check out our rental property book aimed at real estate investors, I Just Got A Rental, What Do I Do?

How To Purchase Our S Corp Book

If you buy our 430-page book and think that we didn’t help you understand small business tax law or the benefits of S corporations, let us know. We never want you to feel like you wasted your money. If you are ready to add some insightful reading into your day, click on one of the preferred formats. Amazon is processed by Amazon, and the PDF is safely processed by ClickBank who will email you the PDF as an attachment.

amazon

Amazon

$49.95

Amazon Kindle

Kindle

$39.95

PDF

PDF

$29.95

In Closing

If you have any questions, please feel free to call us at 719-387-9800 or email [email protected]. Thanks again for your time- We look forward to working with you!!

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They go beyond the call of duties to assist me not only with Tax return matters but with any questions on other personal and company tax matters.

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I've always dreaded tax season, but WCG has made things so easy, even as we changed to an S corp. So happy we found them!

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It was great to find an accounting firm eager to take on new clients, answer initial questions in depth, and support our “keep it simple” philosophy.

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Working with WCG was so easy, shout out to Sally Rhoades who handled my complicated tax situation this year wonderfully and was available for all my questions.

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It's a wonderful and rare treat to find a company like WCG these days with their high level of service, personal approach, and deep knowledge of accounting.

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