The White Room

Check every business bank, card, payment app and wallet. Keep pending items separate until they post. Match each charge or deposit to a client, vendor, project or transfer.

Save the invoice or receipt and payment confirmation. Add the business purpose, date, amount, currency, project and person involved. A bank line shows money moved; supporting records explain why.

Choose business income, business expense, personal, owner contribution, owner draw, own account transfer, loan, refund or needs review. Keep unclear items in a review queue rather than forcing a deduction.

Pair both sides of transfers. Do not count the receiving side as new income or the sending side as a business expense. Match card repayments separately from the original card purchases.

Match each payout to the worker’s invoice, service dates, agreed amount, currency, payment method and project. Record whether DTM hired the worker or distributed funds for another payer under a documented arrangement.

Enter cash purchases and receipts that never appear in a bank feed. For wallet activity, record the transaction hash, asset, quantity, fees, USD value, purpose and source wallet.

Find one missing receipt, identify one uncertain deposit or ask for one invoice. Record the next action and who can confirm it. Keep a small queue instead of letting uncertainty disappear.

Check that supporting files are saved in a secure location. Note what remains unresolved. Tax preparation is today’s habit; filing and paying happen on their required schedules.

Separate records by calendar year. Confirm the legal entity, ownership, EIN letter, formation documents and any accepted tax election. An LLC name alone does not establish how it files federal taxes.

A domestic single owner LLC is generally disregarded for federal income tax unless it elects corporate treatment. An individual owner operating a business usually reports on Schedule C. Have a preparer verify your actual structure before choosing forms.

List business and personal banks, cards, Cash App, PayPal, client portals, payroll providers, exchanges and self custody wallets used for business. Mark ownership, purpose and months available. Connected bank accounts are only part of the picture.

Obtain monthly statements and transaction records from the business start date through year end. Preserve opening balances. A connected feed may omit older months, closed accounts or cash activity.

Use a dedicated business account and card for new business activity. Label money taken personally as an owner draw when appropriate to the entity. Paying personal expenses from a business account does not make them deductible.

Use a folder for each year, then monthly statements, income and invoices, expense receipts, worker records, assets, digital assets, tax payments and questions. Use filenames with date, vendor and document type. Keep tax IDs and identity documents in protected storage.

Track date, account, counterparty, amount, direction, category, business purpose, project, receipt location, transfer match and review status. Keep source records unchanged and document corrections.

Choose a CPA or enrolled agent who can handle mixed personal and business accounts, worker payments, international services and digital assets. Provide documents rather than only a total of deposits.

Confirm beginning balance plus inflows minus outflows equals ending balance. Explain missing transactions, duplicates and timing differences. Reconcile cash and credit accounts separately.

Distinguish client revenue, wages, own transfers, owner contributions, loan proceeds, refunds, reimbursements and unresolved receipts. A gross deposits figure is not automatically business revenue or taxable income.

Developer costs need contracts, invoices and payment proof. Personal spending and owner draws are separate from operating costs. Money left in the bank or money taken home is not a profit calculation.

Once classification is supported, prepare a monthly profit and loss report and unresolved items list. For a simple business, profit starts with business revenue less allowable expenses, subject to accounting and tax adjustments. Do not subtract every outgoing transfer.

Compare each W2, 1099NEC, 1099K and other information return against the register. Payment platform reports can overlap with deposits; do not add both as separate revenue. Ask the issuer about errors and retain corrections.

For every adjustment, keep the original transaction, the reason, supporting record and reviewer. Do not delete inconvenient deposits or rewrite facts to fit a desired tax result.

Keep the agreement between DTM, the client or staffing company and each worker. Document who contracted for services, who owes payment, who is the employer and whether DTM acted as an agent. Forwarding money alone does not prove agency treatment.

If another person’s money appears on a W2 under your name or tax ID, gather pay stubs, the agreement and proof of forwarding. Ask the payroll issuer and a tax professional to determine whether corrections are needed. Do not simply subtract forwarded wages or relabel them as contractor costs.

For US contractors, obtain Form W9 and verify classification. For foreign individuals or entities, ask a specialist which W8 form and reporting treatment apply. Confirm where services were actually performed; an overseas address alone does not settle withholding.

An invoice or contractor label does not decide worker classification. Review control, relationship and the work arrangement. Payroll obligations differ from contractor reporting.

Total payments by worker and tax year. Keep direct payments separate from qualifying payment card or third party network payments to avoid duplicate reporting. Verify the applicable year’s thresholds, exceptions and deadlines before filing.

Preserve foreign currency amounts, exchange rates, fees, service locations and invoices. Ask the preparer about sourcing, withholding and any required 1042S or other reporting instead of assuming all foreign payments are exempt.

List software, AI services, hosting, domains, phone, internet and memberships with amount, billing frequency, business use and next renewal. Convert annual costs to monthly equivalents for budgeting; tax timing may differ. Confirm subscriptions after the history finishes syncing.

Document the reasonable business portion of phone, internet, equipment and other shared costs. Track personal use. Do not automatically claim the full bill.

Keep purchase date, invoice, cost and business use for computers, furniture and other assets. Flag startup costs and larger purchases for the preparer rather than assuming immediate deduction.

For business driving, log date, destination, business purpose and miles. For meals, retain receipt, attendees and purpose. Ask about eligibility and limits; normal commuting and personal meals are separate.

Document the space and its use before claiming a home office deduction. Have the preparer check the exclusive and regular use requirements and applicable exceptions.

Record loan proceeds and principal payments separately from interest and fees. Deductibility depends on the facts. Paying off a credit card does not create a second deduction for purchases already recorded.

List addresses you control and their business or personal purpose. Keep exchanges, platforms and self custody activity in scope. Never store seed phrases or private keys in the checklist.

Capture timestamp, asset, quantity, transaction hash, fees, USD value, acquisition cost and counterparty or purpose. Distinguish purchases, sales, swaps, rewards, service payments and transfers between your own wallets.

A crypto payment for business services can create income at its USD value when received and a separate gain or loss when disposed of. Track the receipt and disposal as separate events with supporting valuations.

Have a digital asset tax specialist review staking, liquidity pools, token creation, distributions, rewards and burns. A burn does not automatically establish a deductible loss. Preserve evidence before deciding treatment.

Match exchange and wallet records with any tax statements. A bank connection does not automatically include every on chain event or establish cost basis.

Match invoices and payouts, recover missing receipts, review subscription renewals and confirm transfers. Give unresolved items a question, evidence needed and next action.

Compare expected customer receipts with worker obligations, operating bills and the tax reserve. Available cash is not the same as profit. Keep estimates separate from confirmed amounts.

Reconcile every statement, review the profit and loss report, update outstanding invoices and worker totals, and save the month’s supporting records. Record what changed and what remains provisional.

Use reconciled profit, wage withholding and other income with your preparer to update federal and Illinois estimates. Do not apply a guessed tax percentage to every deposit.

Move the planned tax reserve to a dedicated account. This transfer is not itself a deduction or a tax payment. Track actual payments with date, tax year, agency and confirmation. Confirm upcoming due dates with the relevant agency.

If you also earn wages, review whether additional withholding can help cover the total annual liability. Use current figures and prior year information; daily bookkeeping does not mean taxes must be filed daily.

Include formation and EIN documents, ownership and tax elections, prior returns, monthly statements, reconciled register, profit and loss report, receipts, asset list and actual tax payment confirmations.

Include W2s, other information returns, client contracts, worker invoices, tax forms, payment register and any payroll corrections. Explain uncertain agency or pass through arrangements in writing.

Provide wallet inventory, exchange records, transaction history, valuations and acquisition costs. List incomplete cost basis or complex transactions rather than inventing missing numbers.

Which return and schedules apply? Are payroll corrections needed? Which payouts are expenses versus agency distributions? Which US and foreign worker filings apply? What estimates or withholding changes are needed? Which Illinois obligations apply?

The IRS retention period depends on the records and circumstances. Keep employment tax records at least four years, and preserve asset basis records for as long as needed. Ask the preparer to set a retention schedule; do not use a blanket delete after three years rule.

Before approval, compare reported income and deductions with reconciled books and note adjustments. Save the filed return, submission acceptance, payment proof and next year’s action list.