Export your books to your tax software

If your preparer files returns with his own professional software, Pop Books can hand him the figures from your books as a trial balance file. Pop Books does not send anything to the IRS. You import the file into your tax software, check it there, and file from there.

Make the file

1. Open Taxes and choose Export for your tax software.
2. Pick the software: Drake Tax, Lacerte, UltraTax CS, or a generic spreadsheet.
3. Pick the return (Schedule C, 1120-S, 1065 or 1120), the dates, and the basis.
4. Choose Preview. Check the rows and the totals. Debits must equal credits.
5. Choose Download file.

Before you export

• Close and lock the period first. You can export an open period, but the figures can still change and the export says so.
• Give every income and expense account a tax line. Accounts without one are listed in the preview with a Fix mapping button.
• The books must balance. If they do not, nothing is exported and you are told why.
• The books are exported as recorded. If you want cash basis figures, your preparer makes that change.

Check it in your tax software

The layouts these programs accept are only partly described in their public help, so each file should be test-imported with a small client first. Every file from Pop Books is marked as needing that check. Use the Tax Line column to help assign tax codes where your software asks for them. Your preparer decides every tax treatment.

Book income to taxable income worksheet

The worksheet lists book income, the 50% limit for accounts tagged as meals, and the accounts your preparer usually reviews. It is a worksheet to check and adjust, not tax advice.