Shortly after forming my business as an LLC, I started to receive regular IRS and NY State tax forms in the mail like this and this. Inevitably these were in miniscule type and intimidating.

As a non-specialist in tax law, I found it frustrating to know that I needed to start paying money just to know what the various government forms said.

Now, I do not have a problem paying taxes, and I do believe the government provides a lot for the average small business. Most importantly for Cedarcrest, there is no country in the world in which contracts – the key to doing business with other people – are so enforceable through government entities such as the courts.

I do have a problem, however, with the cost of merely complying with the law. What I mean is: paying large sums of money per year to tax specialists in order to properly pay taxes is one of the more frustrating parts of running a small business.

The greatest service the State and Federal governments could do for small businesses, I believe, is to simplify, simplify, simplify the process of being in tax compliance.

I have a dream: A person running a small business should be able to prepare their own taxes, with no more than one day out of the year dedicated to the effort. Most importantly, the business owner should be confident at the end of that one tax day that it was done properly.

As it is, I would never dream of preparing my own business’ taxes, for fear of overpaying, underpaying, or making a career-ending error.

Anybody in government listening?