Tax season is a miserable time of year for many people. Business runners have it even harder as they work to compile information on lost inventory, income and yearly expenses. Even companies with automated accounting tend to run into challenges since inventory control is often tracked separately.

Inventory management software can help create a seamless automation process that can ease the pain of tracking, calculating and filing once it is time to file taxes. Here is how:

Separate assets: Many businesses operate from multiple locations, making asset tracking a difficult task. Companies need to be able to accurately track inventory between multiple locations, which often includes online and brick-and-mortar stores spanning several states. Online sales and in-store sales will need to be separated, and companies operating in multiple states will need to file individual state income taxes for each store or warehouse. Inventory management software such as Microsoft Dynamics NAV can automatically keep track of inventory, no matter how far and wide it is spread, and necessary information can be extracted separately or together, making tax filing much easier.

Intelligent tracking: The accounting method a business uses can make a difference on the taxes that business pays on earnings. The most common inventory valuing methods is Last In, First Out (LIFO), where it is assumed that the items the organization acquires last are the first ones it sells. The First In, First Out (FIFO) methods assumes that items are sold in the order they are received. Which method is best depends on the business, its size and how it operates. Often times companies will start with one system and then switch over to the other when it becomes more beneficial. Microsoft Dynamics NAV and other inventory software can give organizations the flexibility they need to use the accounting method that suits them best. Software can quickly and easily switch between one method and the other without a company having to retrain employees or rework spreadsheets.

These are just two of the ways inventory management software can help a easy tax-time challenges. Contact Accent Software for more information on Microsoft Dynamics NAV and its inventory management capabilities.