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Episode 244: Stop Rushing Your Taxes. The Real Cost of Panic Filing
Tax season has a way of turning up the volume on everything.
The emails feel urgent. The deadlines feel loud. And if your books aren’t perfectly in order, it can feel like you’re already behind, before you’ve even started.
For a lot of entrepreneurs, this is the moment where panic takes over. “Just file it.” “Just get it done.” “I’ll do better next year.”
But rushing your taxes to make the anxiety stop doesn’t actually solve the problem. It usually compounds it.
If you’ve been feeling pressure, guilt, or that tight-chested urgency around your numbers, this episode offers a different approach. Not avoidance. Not perfection. Just grounded, strategic space.
Because doing it fast isn’t the goal.
Doing it right. calmly, clearly, and sustainably is.
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- Bookkeeping Simplified – https://aimeecerka.com/bookkeepingsimplified
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Below is the full transcript of this episode. As you read, notice the central shift: you don’t need to rush your taxes to prove you’re responsible. One simple practice shared in this conversation is filing an extension if you need space, not as avoidance, but as a strategic pause. Slowing down now can prevent messy books, missed deductions, and another year of repeating the same cycle.
Why Rushing Your Taxes Creates Bigger Problems
Do you feel like time’s running out? You’ve got pressure right now. You’ve got to get your taxes filed, your books have to be up to date.
I need you to hear this. Like, this episode is for you. You do not need to rush, and rushing through it is creating more problems.
So if you feel behind with your books or your taxes, if you’re tempted just to like rush through, make it go away, right? And most importantly, probably, if you keep telling yourself, I’ll do better next year.
All right, we’re going to talk today about how to do it right, not just get it done. So.
Money Simplified for Female Entrepreneurs
This is Money Simplified, the podcast where I help female entrepreneurs go from stress and struggle to unstoppable with money. Money is more than just budgeting and P&Ls, and we’re going to take you through all of it.
Here we blend proven financial strategy with mindset work and energetic alignment so you can create unstoppable finances, build an unstoppable business, and truly enjoy your unstoppable life. It’s time to take my wisdom, my expertise, to help you simplify money and go beyond the numbers.
I’m your host, Aimee Cerka. Welcome! I’m so glad you’re here.
Feeling Behind During Tax Season?
Welcome back to Money Simplified. Today we are talking about taxes, and this time of year there is pressure, there is guilt, there’s all those things like we got to get it done, we’re feeling the deadline.
Before we dive into this though, Bookkeeping Simplified is now open for pre-sale. So if you’re feeling that pressure, if you’re like, I want to do things better, not just get it done, and I would say Bookkeeping Simplified is really for you whether you are DIYing it or you’re planning to outsource, because I believe even if you’re outsourcing, you should have an understanding, CEO-level understanding of what’s going on so that you can make informed decisions.
Again, we’re taking that fear and all of those unknown things out of it. What Bookkeeping Simplified is going to do is it’s going to give you the whys behind all of it. We’re breaking it all down very simple.
That’s what I do, I make money simple, right? Breaking it down, no legalese, no accounting-ese language. Not only— I’ll teach you some of it, but we’re going to explain the principles behind why we do the things that we do and then get into the tactical how-tos specifically within QuickBooks Online.
This is how you do this, and this is how you do this. This is why you want this, this is what you need to do every month. This is what we need to do every year.
Build Bookkeeping Systems That Reduce Tax Stress
So you know exactly why we’re doing the things that we’re doing and then how to do them. That way, if something comes up that’s not covered, you’re going to know how to handle it because we all know those little oddball things are going to come up, right?
Bookkeeping Simplified is open for pre-sale. I also have a special thing going on right now. There is a Telegram thread, so if you join for presale and you have questions that you need answered now before we go live, you can ask them and I will answer them. That’s going to be https://aimeecerka.com/bookkeepingsimplified. That link will be in the show notes as well.
So let’s get into it because the New Year pressure is real, right? Like it starts to build in January, February it gets loud, like 1099 deadlines already happened.
Tax season is coming depending on if you are— have an S corp election or if you are a traditional business. LLC doesn’t have the S corp election. Like, your deadlines are going to be different, but it’s like, we got to get it done, we got to get it done, we got to get it done.
Should You File a Tax Extension?
And everybody panics and everybody freaks out. And then some people— I even had a client tell me her CPA was like, she was good with this part, but her CPA was hounding her about like, hey, we need this, we need this.
At the time we had the conversation, the IRS isn’t even open yet. Everybody just take a breath.
It’s going to be okay. When we sit and we panic and we rush through things, you’re not fixing the problem for next year. We’re just putting it off.
Okay? And even if you’ve got like a decent system in place, like you feel like you’ve got most of the way there, but you’re feeling that pressure and that like, oh my gosh, we gotta get it done, or I’m just not going to do it, I’m going to avoid it.
I’m not going to look at these things. I don’t care if I miss some of the deductions. I just wanted to get it over with, right?
That line of thinking, we make sloppy decisions.
So if you’re feeling all that pressure, file an extension. Not that big of a deal. Have your CPA just file the extension.
Give yourself the space to do this correctly. Make this the year that you change things, that we do it right, we set ourselves up for success for next year.
The craziness of, oh my gosh, we got to do it, we got to do it, we got to do it— don’t worry about it. File an extension.
That gives you 6 months. You can do a heck of a lot in 6 months. We’re not going to just put it back on the back burner and ignore it, so then you’re just pushing the kicking the can down the road 6 months, and then you’re going to freak out all over again.
Follow the extension.
I encourage a lot of people, like, you can still file on time even if you file the extension. So file the extension and give yourself the space, and then you’re good.
This is giving you clarity. We’re not going to continue avoiding it. You’re not a failure because you file an extension.
There’s no penalty for filing an extension. Like, just file it because the extension is going to give you the time to do it right.
We’re not using it as permission to ignore it.
What Happens When Your Books Are Messy
Because when we just rush through this, we’ve got messy books, you’ve got missed deductions, and let’s go back— messy books, you could accidentally be over-deducting.
Now, I will tell you time and time again, the IRS is not something to be afraid of. As long as you are following the rules, there’s no reason to be afraid of the IRS. There’s no reason to be concerned about an audit.
We have a whole lesson inside Bookkeeping Simplified that’s going to be like finding a CPA, because who you have in your corner matters.
But if you’ve got messy books— I had a bookkeeping client one time, we had double expenses entered. So she filed her books like that. She was doubling her expenses.
That wasn’t accurate. That’s not following the law, right? Like, that’s not following the rules. It’s not even a law because it’s not— IRS isn’t legal, but that’s another conversation.
That wasn’t correct. And if she rushes through it, she would have filed like that, and if she was audited, that would have caused a problem.
But then we had the opposite side. You’re missing deductions because you’re rushing through it.
We’re going to have like the bonus for Bookkeeping Simplified is going to be the Unstoppable Taxes, and there’s a whole tax strategy in there. Rushing through is just going to compile the cleanup fees that either you’re going to have to pay yourself—so the fee would be your time and having to figure this out yourself.
Break the Tax Season Panic Cycle
This is the hardest part for most people. The ongoing part of doing your bookkeeping isn’t as big of a deal when you know how to do it right.
But the cleanup process to go back and make it all accurate—either you’re going to pay for it and you’re going to pay more.
The longer we kick it down the road, the more time that we’re going to have to clean up, right? And then if you’ve already filed the taxes and then we’re doing the cleanup, we have to make the cleanup match what you filed, and there’s extra things, right?
But we’re just repeating the same cycle. This keeps happening. It’s not about like, oh, it’s the deadline, it’s the timing.
It’s the system that we have in place. It’s the habits we have in place. It’s the way that we’re operating and the way that we’re prioritizing things that has to shift.
And it’s not about solving everything today.
That’s why I like file the extension. Please just follow the extension. Stop stressing that has to be done right this minute.
We will start to solve it. We’re going to make this a priority. Because if you file the extension and just put it back on the back burner, that’s still not fixing it.
But give yourself the space. Make today the day you’re drawing the line in the sand. I am going to figure this out. I’m going to make it right, and I’m going to give myself the space to do it instead of putting myself under the pressure of the deadline so you can move forward without the panic mode.
‘Cause panic mode means mistakes and pressure and all of those things that we don’t want to put on ourselves.
There’s enough of that occurs in the world. Doing it right changes everything.
When you have your books and everything ready for taxes, like when it’s done right, it’s not a big deal. You have the things in place that you need to.
Get Support with Bookkeeping Simplified
Next week we’re going to talk a little bit about why we avoid it in the first place, but at a minimum, file the extension on your taxes.
And if this is something that you’re like, you know what, I am tired of it being the thing that’s on my shoulder that I don’t get, I don’t understand, I want to outsource—maybe you’re not quite ready to outsource, but you would love to outsource—Bookkeeping Simplified is definitely the place to start.
Again, we’re going to give you the step-by-step. And if you’re like, no, I want to just do it myself, go for it.
I also have bookkeepers that take the courses as well because I explain it in a better way. It makes more sense to them. Anyways, so if this episode brought up questions for you, remember you’ve got the ability to ask them inside the Telegram channel right now.
Bookkeeping Simplified, it is on presale and like I’ve completed the outline now, started working on recording some of the content.
There’s a lot that’s going to be in there. So I think the price point is going to end up even higher than I thought it was going to be. Like, we’re going to end up raising it.
So right now, still pre-sale for you, lifetime access to the course if you purchase it now. This is designed to help you understand your books, like the principles behind why we do the things that we need to do, how to do it so you can do it, so you can do them yourself or work with somebody, have somebody do it.
Have me do it confidently without the rushing or panicking.
Because if you can step into that confident role, again, feeling clear, grounded, confident, you’re gonna be so much better off.
But you need—there’s such power in understanding this.
All right, https://aimeecerka.com/bookkeepingsimplified to join us.
All right. I wanna hear, was this like a breath of fresh air? I know there’s so many people that I’ve had this conversation with, so I wanted to share it here on the podcast.
Send me a message on Instagram @AimeeCerka. That’s it for now.
Remember, you’ve got this and I’ve got you. We’ll see you next time.
Stay Connected and Explore Your Next Step
Thank you so much for listening to Money Simplified. My favorite place to hang out is on Instagram. You can find me @AimeeCerka to catch all the behind the scenes of my stories.
Send me a message to share your biggest takeaway or just to say hi. I love hearing from podcast listeners.
When you’re ready to take action on your mindset, your money, or the systems behind it all, I’m here for you. Whether you’re snagging a free resource, exploring a mini course, diving into the fundamentals with Money Mastery Academy, getting in-depth support inside the Unstoppable Experience, or scheduling a complimentary bookkeeping consult to finally get hands-on help with your books.
Your next step is waiting for you.
https://aimeecerka.com/podcastlinks has all the information, and of course that link is hanging out in the show notes for you. We’ll see you next time.
