In the past, businesses, whether large or small, had to fill out all their corporate tax forms and then send them through the mail to their destination.
Today, the Internet has changed all of that. There are now two options for businesses when they are doing their tax filing. They may select either the traditional mailing method or choose to e-file their taxes online.
In this article we’ll take a look at both methods for tax filing.
Mailing
Mailing corporate taxes is fairly straightforward. A small business owner, or the accounting department, or whoever takes care of tax filing, fills out all the necessary corporate tax forms using the information saved from the year before.
The package is then put together and placed in an envelope to be mailed away to the nearest Federal tax collection agency.
We’re not going to put a sugar coating on it – mailing a tax return can be a huge pain for any business.
You have to deal with all the intricacies of not just one, but two government bodies (the IRS and the Postal Service). That means double the chances for errors.
Moreover, mailing does leave some room for doubt when it comes to whether or not your corporate tax forms have actually reached their destination.
More often than not mailed taxes will arrive, and arrive on time, but sometimes they get lost in the shuffle.
It might mean just a delay, but if the delay means a missed deadline then the business can get in some trouble in terms of interest on their tax payments.
Online
The vast majority of small businesses choose to pay their taxes online rather than send them in by mail.
It is a much more convenient process. Most of the time, the corporate tax forms don’t even have to be printed off, they can just be sent as an email package at the end of the tax filing procedure.
This means less paper to worry about as well as less time spent getting all the details together.
Additionally, filing online means same day delivery and confidence in the package’s arrival. You can file your taxes and then pay the outstanding amounts all in one day if you desire, and there is absolutely no worry about whether or not the funds were transferred (and in time) or not.
Finally, paying your taxes online means that you automatically have more records as proof that the transaction took place.
You can keep better track of the transaction as it goes through and, if you worry like the rest of us, you can check back over and over just to be confident that the payment went through.
No worries over lost checks, no dread that you will receive a deadline-missed audit sometime in the future.
Paying your corporate taxes online is also encouraged by the government, sometimes with a few added incentives. The ease of use and peace of mind means that online tax payments are definitely the way to go.
Get more business tax help and advice at our small business tax center.
