Year-End Bookkeeping Checklist for Small Businesses
The end of the year is when good bookkeeping pays off and bad habits come due. Here is a short checklist to work through before the year closes: reconcile, handle 1099s, run the numbers while you can still act, and build your tax package.
The end of the year is when good bookkeeping habits pay off and bad ones come due. If you have kept up all year, this is a tidy review. If you have not, it is a scramble, but a doable one. Either way, a short checklist turns a vague sense of dread into a list you can knock out. Here is what to work through before the year closes and tax season opens.
Reconcile and clean up the books
Start by making sure every account is reconciled through year end, so your records match your bank and card statements. Then look for the gaps: the uncategorized transactions, the duplicates, the personal charge that slipped into the business account. This is also the moment to confirm your mileage is logged and your receipts are attached. Catching these now, while you still remember what a charge was for, is far easier than guessing in April. Our guide to tracking business expenses covers the habit that makes this painless.
Get your contractor paperwork ready
If you paid any contractor or freelancer, this is the season to handle 1099s. Make sure you have a current W-9 on file for each one, with their legal name, address, and taxpayer ID. For payments made during 2025, you generally must send a 1099-NEC to anyone you paid 600 dollars or more for services, and the deadline is the end of January. Worth knowing for next year: the 2025 tax law raised that filing threshold to 2,000 dollars starting with payments made in 2026. Our guide on who gets a 1099-NEC sorts out who is on the list.
Look at the numbers while you can still act
Before the year actually ends, run your profit and loss and see where you landed. This is the one window where you can still make moves that change your tax bill, like making a needed purchase, contributing to a retirement account, or timing income. It is also when you check whether your final quarterly estimated payment, due in mid-January, needs adjusting based on how the year actually went. Our guide to quarterly estimated taxes has the dates and the math.
Build the package your tax prep needs
- Your finalized income and expense totals, categorized to your tax lines.
- Your mileage log and any home office numbers.
- 1099s issued to contractors and any 1099-NEC or 1099-K forms you received.
- Receipts and records backing the bigger deductions.
- Last year's return for comparison.
Pull these together now and the actual filing, whether you do it yourself or hand it to a CPA, becomes a quick handoff instead of a month of digging.
Close the year with the books already done
Keep transactions categorized and reconciled all year, and your year-end checklist becomes a quick review plus a clean tax package, not a December scramble.
Start freeHow Vuuv helps
Vuuv keeps the year-end list short by doing most of it as you go. Your transactions stay categorized and reconciled, your mileage and receipts live alongside them, and your reports are ready to run whenever you want to check where you stand. When it is time to file, your numbers are already organized into the forms your taxes need, so closing the year is a review rather than a rebuild.
Frequently asked questions
What should be on a year-end bookkeeping checklist?
Reconcile every account through year end, clean up uncategorized or duplicate transactions, confirm your mileage and receipts are logged, handle contractor 1099s, run your profit and loss while you can still make moves, and pull together the package your tax prep will need. Doing it as a review beats doing it as a December scramble.
When are 1099-NEC forms due?
You generally must send a 1099-NEC to each qualifying contractor and file with the IRS by the end of January. Make sure you have a current W-9 on file for each contractor first, with their legal name, address, and taxpayer ID.
Who do I need to send a 1099-NEC to?
For payments made during 2025, you generally send a 1099-NEC to any contractor or freelancer you paid 600 dollars or more for services. Worth noting for next year: the 2025 tax law raised that filing threshold to 2,000 dollars starting with payments made in 2026.
Why run reports before the year ends?
Because the end of the year is the last window to make moves that change your tax bill, like timing a needed purchase, contributing to a retirement account, or adjusting income. Running your profit and loss before December 31 also tells you whether your final quarterly estimated payment, due in mid-January, needs adjusting.
Related articles
This article is general information, not tax advice. Tax rules change and every situation is different. Confirm the details against current IRS guidance or talk to a qualified tax professional before you file.