Bookkeeping
Behind on Your Bookkeeping? What to Do First
Books months behind and not sure where to start? The order to do things in, from missed tax deadlines to a routine that stops it happening again.
Resources & insights
Accounting guidance for CPA firms, businesses and individuals
Practical guides on bookkeeping, tax, payroll and financial strategy. Written by the people who do the work, aimed at a reader who has a deadline rather than an interest in the topic.
Veris Financials publishes guides on US tax residency and which return to file, sales and use tax, what to do when your books fall behind, catch-up bookkeeping cost and timelines, fractional CFO engagements, and outsourcing for CPA firms, plus a free catch-up bookkeeping cost calculator. The reference tables further down cover the recurring US and UK filing deadlines.
All guides
Tax
Are You a U.S. Tax Resident? The Substantial Presence Test Explained
The Substantial Presence Test is the day-counting formula that decides whether you are taxed as a U.S. resident or nonresident.
Tax
Form 1040 vs. Form 1040-NR: Which Tax Return Do You File?
Filing the wrong U.S. tax return can cost you deductions, credits, or trigger IRS penalties.
Tax
US Sales Tax vs. Use Tax: What Small Businesses Need to Know
Sales tax and use tax are separate obligations, and confusing them costs small businesses money.
Business
What Is a Fractional CFO? (And Does Your Business Need One?)
A fractional CFO brings CFO-level strategy to your business without the full-time cost.
Bookkeeping
Catch-Up Bookkeeping: What It Costs and How Long It Takes
If your books are months behind, this guide covers how far behind is too far, what catch-up bookkeeping costs, how long it takes by backlog size, and how to reduce the cost.
CPA Firms
The CPA Firm Owner's Guide to Outsourcing Bookkeeping
How the white-label model works, what to look for in a partner, and how to structure an engagement that protects your clients and your reputation.
By topic
Where to start, depending on the problem
Each guide pairs with the service page that does the work. Read the guide to understand the problem; use the service page for scope, turnaround and price.
If the question is about tax
Residency status decides which return you file, and filing the wrong one is the most expensive routine mistake in this area.
If the books are behind
What to do first, what a catch-up actually costs, how long it takes, and which records to gather before anyone can quote you.
If you are outgrowing your reporting
What a fractional CFO actually does, and the honest test for whether your business is at that point yet.
If you run a CPA practice
How the white-label model works, what to look for in a partner, and how to structure an engagement that protects your clients.
US filing deadlines that catch businesses out
Most missed deadlines are not the April one. They are the quarterly and information-return dates that arrive between the ones everybody remembers.
The dates below are the statutory deadlines for a calendar-year filer. Where a deadline falls on a weekend or a federal holiday it moves to the next business day, and fiscal-year filers work to the equivalent month of their own year rather than these dates. This is general information, not advice on your situation.
| Deadline | What is due | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| 31 January | Forms W-2 and 1099-NEC to recipients and to the IRS | Any business with employees or contractors paid $600+ |
| 31 January | Form 940 (FUTA) for the prior year | Employers |
| 15 March | Forms 1120-S and 1065, plus Schedules K-1 | S-Corporations and partnerships |
| 15 April | Forms 1040, 1040-NR and 1120 | Individuals and C-Corporations |
| 15 April | Q1 estimated tax payment | Anyone paying estimates |
| 30 April, 31 July, 31 October, 31 January | Form 941 and state unemployment returns | Employers, quarterly |
| 15 June, 15 September, 15 January | Q2, Q3 and Q4 estimated tax payments | Anyone paying estimates |
| 15 September | Extended Forms 1120-S and 1065 | S-Corps and partnerships that extended |
| 15 October | Extended Forms 1040 and 1120 | Individuals and C-Corps that extended |
Primary sources for the US dates above
UK and Canadian filing deadlines
UK deadlines run off two different clocks, which is the source of most of the confusion. Self Assessment runs on the tax year ending 5 April; Corporation Tax runs on the company’s own accounting period.
| Deadline | What is due | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| 31 October | Paper Self Assessment return for the prior tax year | Individuals filing on paper |
| 31 January | Online Self Assessment return, plus balancing payment | Individuals filing online |
| 31 July | Second payment on account | Individuals in the payments-on-account regime |
| 9 months and 1 day after period end | Corporation Tax payment | Companies |
| 12 months after period end | Company Tax Return (CT600) | Companies |
| 9 months after period end | Annual accounts to Companies House | Private limited companies |
| 1 month and 7 days after quarter end | VAT return and payment | VAT-registered businesses on quarterly returns |
Primary sources for the UK and Canadian dates above
What we publish here
Guides written by the people doing the work rather than commissioned from a content agency.
The editorial rule is narrow: a guide has to answer a question a real client asked, and it has to be specific enough to act on. That rules out most of what the category publishes. There will be no posts titled "5 tips for better bookkeeping".
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