Tax Center

Generate a complete, professional tax package for your accountant in one click. No more hunting for reports or copy-pasting into spreadsheets.

Overview

The Tax Center brings together everything your CPA needs into a single workflow. It checks your books for common issues, lets you map expenses to IRS Schedule C lines, and generates a branded PDF or CSV package containing up to eight financial reports.

The entire process -- from opening the Tax Center to handing your accountant a finished document -- takes under sixty seconds.

New Feature: The Tax Center is available to all Kantivo users. Access it from the sidebar under Accountant Tools.

Tax Dashboard

When you open the Tax Center, the first tab shows a financial summary of your current tax year at a glance.

What You See

Gross Revenue -- Total income across all revenue accounts
Cost of Goods Sold -- Direct costs associated with delivering your product or service
Total Expenses -- Operating expenses for the period
Net Income -- Revenue minus COGS and expenses
Total Assets -- Current value of everything the business owns
Total Liabilities -- Outstanding obligations
Total Equity -- Net worth of the business

These figures help you spot anything unusual before your accountant sees the numbers. A sudden spike in expenses or a drop in revenue is easier to investigate now than after filing.

Readiness Checks

The Readiness tab runs six automated checks against your books. Each check returns one of three statuses:

Status	Meaning
Pass	This area is ready for tax filing
Warning	Something may need attention but is not blocking
Fail	This issue should be resolved before generating your package

The Six Checks

Transactions Recorded -- Verifies your books contain at least one transaction for the tax year
Books Balanced -- Confirms total debits equal total credits across all accounts
No Draft Transactions -- Flags any unposted or draft journal entries that could affect totals
1099 Vendors Have TINs -- Checks that vendors marked for 1099 reporting have a Tax ID on file
Fiscal Year Closed -- Verifies whether the year-end close process has been completed
Company Info Complete -- Ensures your business name, address, and EIN are filled in

Pro Tip: You can still generate a tax package even with warnings or failures. The checks are advisory -- they help you catch issues early, but they do not block generation.

Tax Line Mapping (Schedule C)

The Tax Categories tab displays all your expense and income accounts alongside a dropdown for assigning IRS Schedule C lines.

How to Map Accounts

Open the Tax Categories tab
Each account shows its name, current balance, and a tax line dropdown
Select the appropriate Schedule C line for each account (e.g., "Advertising" for your marketing expense account)
The mapping saves immediately -- no save button needed
Mappings carry forward to future tax years automatically

Common Mappings

Your Account	Schedule C Line
Advertising & Marketing	Line 8 - Advertising
Vehicle Expenses	Line 9 - Car and Truck Expenses
Contract Labor	Line 11 - Contract Labor
Insurance	Line 15 - Insurance
Office Supplies	Line 18 - Office Expense
Rent	Line 20b - Rent (Other)
Utilities	Line 25 - Utilities

Note: Tax line mapping is for organizational purposes and your accountant's convenience. Always consult with your CPA to confirm the correct classification for your specific business.

Generating a Tax Package

The Generate tab is where you select which reports to include and choose your output format.

Steps

Open the Generate Package tab
Check the reports you want included (all are selected by default)
Choose your format: PDF (recommended) or CSV
Click Generate Tax Package
A progress indicator shows each report being compiled
The download starts automatically when generation completes

Included Reports

The tax package can include up to eight reports. Select any combination:

Report	What It Contains
Income Statement	Full-year profit and loss with revenue, COGS, and expense detail
Balance Sheet	Year-end snapshot of assets, liabilities, and owner's equity
Trial Balance	All accounts with verified debit and credit totals
Cash Flow Statement	Operating, investing, and financing cash movements
Expense Breakdown	Every expense mapped to Schedule C tax lines with totals
General Ledger	Transaction-level detail for every account
Chart of Accounts	Complete listing with types, numbers, and balances
AR/AP Aging	Outstanding receivables and payables by aging bucket

PDF Format

The PDF output is a professional, branded document that includes:

Cover page with your company name, tax year, and generation date
Table of contents listing every included report
Page-numbered reports for easy reference
Branded footer on every page showing your company name

Your accountant receives a polished document they can work with immediately -- no reformatting required.

Pro Tip: PDF is the recommended format for sharing with your CPA. It preserves formatting and presents a professional appearance.

CSV Export

When you choose CSV format, each selected report downloads as a separate CSV file. This is useful when you or your accountant need to manipulate the data in Excel or import it into another system.

Tips & Best Practices

Before Tax Season

Run readiness checks early -- ideally in January for the prior tax year
Complete your Schedule C mappings once and they carry forward every year
Resolve any "Fail" items in the readiness check before generating your package
Complete your year-end close before generating the final tax package

Working with Your Accountant

Send the PDF package -- it is the most professional and complete option
If your accountant requests raw data, generate a CSV export as well
The expense breakdown with Schedule C mappings saves your accountant significant time
Review the tax dashboard numbers yourself before sharing -- you know your business best

Troubleshooting

Package shows $0 for all amounts?

Verify you have transactions recorded for the selected tax year
Check that you are viewing the correct company (use the company switcher in the sidebar)
Confirm that transactions are posted, not in draft status

Readiness check shows "Books not balanced"?

This means total debits do not equal total credits somewhere in your chart of accounts
Open the Trial Balance report to identify which accounts have discrepancies
Create an adjusting journal entry to correct the imbalance

Schedule C mappings not saving?

Ensure you are logged in with an Admin or Accountant role
Check your internet connection -- mappings save immediately via API
Try refreshing the page and re-selecting the mapping

PDF download not starting?

Check your browser's popup blocker settings -- the download may have been blocked
Try a different browser if the issue persists
Ensure you have selected at least one report to include in the package

Note: The Tax Center generates reports from your existing book data. The accuracy of the tax package depends on the accuracy of your bookkeeping throughout the year.