What records should I send my accountant before the company tax year closes?

Agree what the year-end handover needs to cover

Before sending a folder of statements, confirm the company, financial year, return being prepared and the person responsible for each part of the work. A bookkeeping clean-up, preparation of annual financial statements and completion of an ITR14 can be connected tasks with different missing information. Agree the scope so neither side assumes the other has already completed a necessary step.

Use a simple cover sheet showing the year-end date, accounting system, last reconciled month, company tax reference and the contact who can answer transaction questions. Note changes of directors, ownership, address or business activity during the year. Include earlier unresolved correspondence so it does not appear after the return has been prepared.

The list below is a practical handover framework, not a universal SARS submission checklist. The ITR14 guide describes financial information and supporting requirements that depend on the company's circumstances. Your accountant should identify the schedules needed for the actual return. Start the discussion before year-end, when missing supplier invoices and stock information are usually easier to obtain.

Provide the accounting records and bank evidence

Export the trial balance, general ledger, income statement and balance sheet for the agreed period. State whether the reports are draft or final and when they were produced. If the accountant has access to the system, identify the company file and explain which periods are ready for review. Avoid sending several spreadsheets with identical names and no indication of which contains the latest corrections.

Give each supporting file a meaningful name containing the period and document type. Add an index connecting larger balances or unusual transactions to the relevant files. This lets the reviewer find the evidence without repeatedly asking you to search a mailbox or reopen the accounting system.

• Statements for all bank, credit-card and payment-processing accounts used by the company.
• Reconciliations that explain differences between each statement and the ledger.
• Cash sales, petty-cash records and receipts that do not pass through the main bank account.
• Sales invoices, credit notes and evidence for unusual receipts or refunds.
• Supplier invoices and a list of costs paid personally on behalf of the company.

A transaction export is helpful but may omit opening balances, pending items or supporting documents. Check that the package can explain the full year, including accounts closed during it. The monthly close checklist provides a useful way to locate reconciliation gaps before handing the year to someone else.

Explain what belongs on either side of year-end

The last bank transaction of the year does not determine whether every sale or cost belongs in that year. Give the accountant the information needed to examine timing. Identify work completed but not yet invoiced, customer deposits, supplier invoices received after year-end and payments made in advance. The accounting and tax treatment should be assessed from the underlying facts.

For a stock count, preserve the original count sheets and explanations of subsequent corrections. For a service business, keep job or project records supporting completion dates. A year-end adjustment should be traceable to the event it describes, rather than created simply to make the reported profit resemble an expected number.

Separate assets, loans and owner transactions

Provide an asset list showing purchases, disposals, dates, invoices and any finance agreements. Tell the accountant where the assets are used and whether the company still holds them. If equipment was bought personally and later introduced into the business, explain that sequence. Ownership, funding and use should not be inferred only from the person who paid the supplier.

Supply loan statements and agreements with opening balances, advances, repayments and interest identified. Do the same for director and shareholder accounts. A payment to an owner may have several possible explanations, so attach the approval or supporting record for the actual transaction. Avoid grouping every owner withdrawal into salaries or miscellaneous expenses.

Flag transactions with connected people or businesses, including balances that have not moved for a long time. If the company gave a guarantee, committed to a purchase or entered a financing arrangement that is not obvious in the bank records, disclose it to the preparer. The tax and financial reporting consequences need review before the final documents are approved. A complete description is more useful than choosing a category you are uncertain about.

Include payroll and earlier tax information

Payroll and tax records help the preparer reconcile amounts already reported or paid. Identify the payroll system, year-end reports, employer submissions and any corrections still underway. Explain differences between the payroll period and company financial year where they do not align. Do not assume that an employee's personal tax year and the company's reporting period are interchangeable.

Collect the previous company return and assessment, provisional tax calculations and payment references, and relevant SARS correspondence. Include VAT or employer reconciliation issues that might affect the underlying accounts. The objective is to show what has been declared, what has been paid and what remains unresolved, without treating those as the same status.

Make a separate list of tax matters needing a decision. Examples include an unusual disposal, a change in business activity, a foreign transaction or an expense with uncertain treatment. Provide the contract or invoice and a short factual explanation. Let the accountant identify the applicable treatment and evidence requirements. An unexplained number in a spreadsheet is unlikely to answer the questions raised by an unusual event.

Make missing records visible and assign follow-ups

A useful handover does not pretend the records are complete when they are not. Create a query list with the missing document, affected transaction, person responsible and next action. Mark an estimate clearly and explain how it was calculated. Never manufacture a supplier invoice or backdate an approval to make the folder appear tidy.

1. Check that every month and account is represented.
2. List missing invoices, unexplained deposits and unmatched balances.
3. Request replacements from the original issuer where available.
4. Give the accountant the surrounding evidence and state what remains uncertain.
5. Track the resolution and update the accounting records consistently.

For example, if a supplier invoice is missing but the bank payment and delivery note exist, send both with the supplier's name and the replacement request. That makes the gap understandable. It does not automatically establish the tax treatment, but it is more useful than hiding the payment or describing the whole expense category as complete.

Close the handover with a reviewable final file

Agree how the accountant will return questions and proposed adjustments. Review changes that affect revenue, owner balances, asset values or tax calculations, and ask for plain explanations when the reason is unclear. Keep the final financial reports, tax calculation and completed return together so the approval relates to one identifiable version.

After submission, add the acknowledgement, assessment and relevant account evidence. Keep the handover file available to authorised people even if the person who assembled it leaves. A shared business process should not depend on documents stored only in one employee's personal mailbox.

Company tax return preparation works best when the records explain the business before the filing deadline becomes urgent. Start with the cover sheet and query list, then fill the evidence gaps in priority order. That gives the preparer time to ask meaningful questions and gives the directors a return they can review with confidence in the underlying information.