Year-End Tax Prep

Tax-Ready Books Before Your New Jersey Filing Deadline

A business tax return is only as good as the records underneath it. Agile Business Accounting closes your year, reconciles every account, builds the schedules your preparer needs and organizes deductions into a clean package. Sole proprietors, LLCs, partnerships and S corporations across New Jersey file with less stress and fewer surprises. We coordinate directly with your CPA, in English or Spanish.

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What "Preparation" Really Means for a Business Return

Most owners picture tax preparation as the moment a professional types numbers into software and hits submit. That step takes an afternoon. The weeks before it are what decide whether your return is accurate, whether you claim every legitimate deduction and whether you pay your preparer for real tax work or for sorting receipts.

At Agile, we focus on that earlier stretch. We aren't a CPA firm and don't sign income tax returns. We do the work that makes the signed return trustworthy: closing the books for the year, reconciling every bank, card and loan account, separating personal spending from business spending, and assembling the supporting schedules a preparer would otherwise have to rebuild from scratch.

The result is a single, organized handoff. Your CPA or enrolled agent gets a trial balance that ties to your statements, a list of open questions already answered and documentation for anything that might draw attention. Preparers tend to work faster with clean files, and many bill less when they don't have to do cleanup first.

Which Return Does Your Entity File?

The forms depend on how your business is organized, and New Jersey adds its own layer to each:

Entity type	Federal return	New Jersey filing
Sole proprietor or single-member LLC	Schedule C with Form 1040	Business income reported on the owner's NJ-1040
Multi-member LLC or partnership	Form 1065 with K-1s	NJ-1065, which may include a per-partner filing fee
S corporation	Form 1120-S with K-1s	CBT-100S, plus income flowing to owners' personal returns
C corporation	Form 1120	CBT-100 under the Corporation Business Tax

Federal partnership and S corporation returns are generally due March 15 for calendar-year businesses, and individual and C corporation returns by April 15. State due dates and extension rules don't always line up with federal ones, so we confirm each year's dates with your preparer instead of assuming.

Our Year-End Close, Step by Step

We follow the same sequence every year, so nothing gets skipped:

Reconcile every account through December 31 and resolve any uncleared items.
Review the uncategorized and "ask my accountant" balances and assign each one.
Record depreciation-ready details for equipment, vehicles and improvements bought during the year.
Split loan payments into principal and interest using lender statements.
Confirm payroll totals in the books match the W-2s and the fourth-quarter returns.
Check that 1099-NEC forms went to every contractor who needed one.
Make sure sales tax collected matches what you reported on your ST-50 filings.
Prepare the final profit and loss statement, balance sheet and trial balance, plus a short notes memo for your preparer.

Contractor reporting is covered in more depth on our 1099 preparation and filing page. The statements themselves follow the format described under financial statement preparation.

New Jersey Wrinkles Worth Knowing

New Jersey's income tax system works differently from the federal one in ways that catch owners off guard. A few examples, all worth confirming with your preparer since rules change:

Income categories stay separate. New Jersey's gross income tax generally doesn't let a loss in one category, such as a business loss, offset income in another, such as wages. A year that looks like a wash federally may still produce state tax.
Pass-through entity tax. The state offers an elective Business Alternative Income Tax (BAIT) for pass-through entities. Whether it helps depends on your owners and income, so it's a question for your CPA. We supply the numbers they need to decide.
Annual report. LLCs and corporations file an annual report with the state to stay in good standing. It's separate from the tax return and easy to forget.
Sales tax reconciliation. Auditors compare reported sales on the ST-50 with revenue on the income tax return. We make sure those numbers can be explained.

Deductions Owners Commonly Underdocument

Missed deductions usually aren't missing because the expense didn't happen. They're missing because the documentation is scattered. These are the areas we look at closely each year:

Vehicle use, which needs a mileage log or actual-expense records, not an estimate
Home office space for owners who qualify
Equipment and software bought late in the year
Health insurance premiums for self-employed owners
Retirement plan contributions made before the filing deadline
Startup and organizational costs in a company's first year
Bank fees, merchant processing fees and loan interest buried inside deposits or payments

We can't decide what's deductible. That's your preparer's job. What we can do is make sure every legitimate expense is recorded, categorized and supported so it doesn't get left out.

What Influences the Cost

Every year-end engagement is quoted individually. The main drivers are:

Whether we kept your books all year or are starting from statements and receipts
How many bank, credit card, loan and merchant accounts need reconciling
Entity type and number of owners
Inventory, fixed assets or multiple locations
Activity in states besides New Jersey
The deadline: work that starts in January is easier to schedule than a request in early April

Clients on our monthly bookkeeping service usually need very little extra work at year-end, because most of the close has already happened month by month. For a wider view of the tax calendar, see our small business tax services hub. When you're ready, schedule through the contact page or call (732) 200-2514.

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Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

Will Agile sign and file my business tax return?

No. Agile isn't a CPA firm, and we don't sign income tax returns. We prepare the reconciled books, statements and supporting schedules, then work directly with your CPA or enrolled agent so the return is built on accurate figures. If you need a preparer, we can talk through what to look for when choosing one.

My books are a mess and it's already February. Is there still time?

Often, yes, depending on the volume of transactions and how many months are missing. We start catch-up work right away, prioritizing the accounts your preparer needs first. If the deadline is too tight, your preparer may recommend an extension. An extension gives more time to file but generally not more time to pay, so we'll help estimate any balance due.

Can you help if I moved my business into New Jersey mid-year?

Yes. A mid-year move usually means part-year filings and possibly activity reported to two states. We split your books by date and location so your preparer can see which income belongs where, and we document when your New Jersey registration and payroll accounts took effect.

What do you hand my CPA at the end?

A year-end package with the final profit and loss statement, balance sheet and trial balance, bank and loan reconciliations, a fixed asset purchase list, payroll and 1099 summaries, sales tax reconciliation and a notes memo on anything unusual. Most preparers can begin work as soon as they receive it.

Do you work with clients who aren't in Middlesex County?

Definitely. Most year-end engagements happen entirely online through shared folders and video calls, and we serve owners throughout New Jersey and in neighboring Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware. Clients who like to hand over paper records in person can book a time at our Old Bridge office.

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