4 years of back taxes... suggestions on damage control?
Hey Redflagdeals!
I’m receiving a lot of conflicting data, so I figured I’d post my question here.
I have a videography business. It started with a partner about 8 years ago. About 4 years ago things went sour, we separated and I began to neglect the responsibilities that the partner was handling (taxes, receipts, etc.).
I’ve been putting it off (of course), but now I have 4 years of back taxes to take care of and I’m perplexed with all the options I have available. I have very little financial knowledge so I basically need to find someone I can pay as much as it takes, and put my trust into maximizing my return so the government doesn’t beat me to death.
My income was about 75 - 90k for the 4 years, but 80% of that went right back into the business. Unfortunately I’m terrible with receipts and most of my expense documentation are from credit card statements and Mint summaries which I’ve heard are both a total “no no”, and “totally ok”.
I’ve also been charging HST, so that’s going to tack quite a bit onto the total owing.
I was referred to two independent financial wizards, one is the friend of an acquaintance, who’s a CPA financial analyst at a mid-sized corporate holding company. The other is a freelance accountant that apparently “played the system” to nearly eliminate my other colleagues back-taxes. It’s hard to trust a stranger when I feel like I’m going to owe over 50k, but I’m quite desperate for options, don't know much at all about taxes, and I feel like choosing the wrong representation is going to seriously damage me.
My options:
1. Go to a local tax office (A colleague recommended - http://www.artbooks.to)
2. Trust the financial analyst freelance accountant. (He suggested already that I'd be owing 50-70k)
3. Trust the “play the system” freelance accountant.
Of course, I’d love to get the “play the system” accountant, as 50k is going to seriously ruin me for a few years, but I’m trying to mitigate risk. Perhaps there’s a solution here?
Please don’t rub in how foolish it was not to nip this in the bud sooner. I’m trying to find an actionable plan so I can stay productive and move forward with my business.
Thank you!
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TL/DR; 4 years of back taxes, trying to minimize penalties. Looking for recommendations on action plan / damage control.
I’m receiving a lot of conflicting data, so I figured I’d post my question here.
I have a videography business. It started with a partner about 8 years ago. About 4 years ago things went sour, we separated and I began to neglect the responsibilities that the partner was handling (taxes, receipts, etc.).
I’ve been putting it off (of course), but now I have 4 years of back taxes to take care of and I’m perplexed with all the options I have available. I have very little financial knowledge so I basically need to find someone I can pay as much as it takes, and put my trust into maximizing my return so the government doesn’t beat me to death.
My income was about 75 - 90k for the 4 years, but 80% of that went right back into the business. Unfortunately I’m terrible with receipts and most of my expense documentation are from credit card statements and Mint summaries which I’ve heard are both a total “no no”, and “totally ok”.
I’ve also been charging HST, so that’s going to tack quite a bit onto the total owing.
I was referred to two independent financial wizards, one is the friend of an acquaintance, who’s a CPA financial analyst at a mid-sized corporate holding company. The other is a freelance accountant that apparently “played the system” to nearly eliminate my other colleagues back-taxes. It’s hard to trust a stranger when I feel like I’m going to owe over 50k, but I’m quite desperate for options, don't know much at all about taxes, and I feel like choosing the wrong representation is going to seriously damage me.
My options:
1. Go to a local tax office (A colleague recommended - http://www.artbooks.to)
2. Trust the financial analyst freelance accountant. (He suggested already that I'd be owing 50-70k)
3. Trust the “play the system” freelance accountant.
Of course, I’d love to get the “play the system” accountant, as 50k is going to seriously ruin me for a few years, but I’m trying to mitigate risk. Perhaps there’s a solution here?
Please don’t rub in how foolish it was not to nip this in the bud sooner. I’m trying to find an actionable plan so I can stay productive and move forward with my business.
Thank you!
-
TL/DR; 4 years of back taxes, trying to minimize penalties. Looking for recommendations on action plan / damage control.