The Foundations · Keep the books

Read Your Own Return

Open your own tax return and follow it line by line, knowing which numbers came from a rule and which came from a decision you made. A CPA walks one business's return from the shoebox to the signature.

120 minutes · live, small group

What we'll cover

• What a return is built from, and why the shoebox version costs more than the organized one
• A clean year and a messy year for the same business, side by side
• The return line by line: revenue, cost of goods, and the big deduction categories
• The four accidental leaks: mixed spending, missed mileage and home office, contractors handled wrong, and no estimated payments
• The same business as an S-corp, and what would have changed
• Quarterly estimated payments, so April stops being a surprise

What you'll walk out with

A year-end document checklist for your CPA, the case return annotated to reread at your own pace, and a short list of what to fix before you file again.

Know before you go

You've filed at least once. Bring last year's return to follow along; nobody else sees it. If your books aren't in shape yet, Bookkeeping I and II come first.

Dates for this class aren't set yet. Join the waitlist and you'll hear the day it opens.

Educational only — not tax advice. Your return isn't reviewed in class, and attending doesn't make you anyone's client.