Business owners: Here are the money-saving features to look for when choosing accounting software

A widely touted benefit of running a small business is access to tax write-offs that are generally unavailable to W-2 employees — like business dinners, business travel and rent if running your business from home.

But to really maximize these tax savings, business owners have to be organized. Having accurate numbers, maintaining receipts and keeping financial books in order will make tax time easier, reduce the likelihood of being audited for a mistake and save as much money as possible.

Here are organizational features to look out for in accounting software.

Being able to sync your desired payment platforms to your accounting software can make a big difference when it comes to accuracy and saving time around tax season.

Look for integrations with the platforms you're using to collect customer and client payments, whether it's PayPal, Square or others. QuickBooks, for instance, lets you sync payments from Square, PayPal, Etsy, Shopify and more. It also syncs to your credit cards and bank accounts so you can track what's going out, making it even easier to stay organized.

One of the easiest ways to stay organized is to let your software do the heavy lifting for you when it comes to uploading business transactions. These days, platforms like TurboTax for Business allow you to connect your QuickBooks account (or other accounting tools) to easily import data on your business income and transactions. This way, you don't have to manually sit there going back and forth between a spreadsheet and your tax filings.

You can even go as far as to use a business checking account that integrates with accounting tools to save you from pouring over bank statements at the last minute. Mercury integrates with bookkeeping and accounting tools like QuickBooks, Xero and NetSuite.

In any case, manually importing information can increase the chances of making a costly error.

Working with a dedicated CPA is the best way to get tailored advice and discuss your personal tax strategy throughout the year — not just during tax time. CPAs can help you figure out how to record and manage your transactions throughout the year, how to pay and plan for certain expenses, how to keep track of the receipts for things you want to write off on your taxes and administering tax documents to freelancers or employees you hire throughout the year.

However, not everyone can afford consistent, ongoing expert help like this. In this case, sometimes the next best option is to see if there are any similar services offered by the platforms you're using.

Sometimes this service may be an add-on you pay extra for, but it can still be less expensive than the annual fee you'd have to pay a dedicated accountant.

This is usually a feature offered by tax platforms like TaxAct and H&R Block since they're more focused on taxes. TaxAct provides one-on-one support from tax experts and H&R Block offers on-demand support with their Online Assist plans. This may not be designated ongoing support throughout the year, but getting some professional help for a complex business situation is still better than none at all.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every small business article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of small business products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

Catch up on CNBC Select's in-depth coverage of credit cards, banking and money, and follow us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date.