Find The Best Tax Resources Right Here
Find The Best Tax Resources Right Here
Where can a business owner obtain tax information? When you
don't know what questions to ask, it's very helpful to take some
classes, and read a few articles prior to visiting with a CPA.
Enjoy these resources:
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) The IRS has the best free classes
around! Call your local office to find out when the home
business or sole proprietorship classes are held. The home
business class is a half-day class; the sole proprietorship
class is a full day. The difference between these two classes --
the extra half day -- is spent dealing with employee tax
information. Take a class every year. Expenses are deductible
and I bet you will learn quite a few things each year.
Web site at http://www.ustreas.gov/, or call toll free (800)
829-3676. Ask for Business Kit Publication 454 and STEP
Publication 1057 (Small Business Tax Education Program). Tell
them what type of organization you are considering, how many
employees you will have, etc., so they can send you other free
helpful publications. They'll even send you a very nice Tax
Calendar. Just ask for it!
Local Authorities Let's look at some local taxing authorities.
In some states, the Department of Taxation provides monthly
classes for new business owners. They cover state-specific
topics such as business income tax, occupancy tax and sales tax.
While we're on the local level, don't forget to contact your
county, city or town revenue offices, too. Yes, everyone gets in
the act of collecting some sort of tax! It could be yearly,
quarterly, or monthly. At the very least, call each entity to
see what they need from you and what materials or classes they
provide. Don't want to call? The end result is fines and
penalties later on -- usually many times more than you would
have paid in the first place.
Web Sites Although the IRS is the premier source for tax
information, below are other suggested web sites to visit.
Peachtree and Intuit (Quicken, QuickBooks) offer bookkeeping,
accounting and tax software.
Sandy Botkin, CPA and attorney, is one of the most well known
national lecturers in the field of tax reduction and audit
proofing techniques for small
business.http://www.taxreductioninstitute.com/index2.htm
Since 1980, the Small Business Tax and Management has been
providing services to business owners. Lots of resources on this
site. www.smbiz.com/
Bookkeeping and Tax Programs: Quicken, QuickBooks, Turbo Tax
www.intuit.com/products_services
Taxes and Accounting www.quicken.com/small_business
axes_and_accounting http://www.peachtree.com/
The Top 10 Essentials for Making a Hobby Into a Business http:/
opten.org/public/AA/AA82.html Dealing Effectively with the IRS
http:/ opten.org/public/AN/AN23.html
CPA or Bookkeeper? Besides trading on Wall Street, I was an
Operations & Accounting Manager. At one point, I had bookkeepers
and a few CPA's working for me. I was able to sign off on the
work performed by the bookkeepers but I wasn't unable to sign
off on any internal audits. Why? Because I didn't have a CPA
License!
So you can see, there is a difference between a CPA and
Bookkeeper. Now-a-days, with Quicken and Peachtree, many of us
can set up our own bookkeeping and send out invoices - if that
is how we choose to use our time.
If you are a sole proprietor, you can 1) hire a CPA firm that
will also do your monthly bookkeeping 2) hire a CPA firm that
will help you set up your monthly bookkeeping system and then
you can do your bookkeeping or hire a bookkeeper 3) hire a
bookkeeper to do your monthly bookkeeping 4) do it yourself.
Personally, I did my own bookkeeping for many years (I was an
accounting manager) and then brought my records to a CPA yearly.
I keep up with as many tax laws etc. as I can, I guess because I
like that sort of thing. Many folks don't though! Know which you
are!
As my business grew, I hired a bookkeeper and worked with them
to set up a monthly bookkeeping system. The system was set up as
suggested at the IRS Tax Class I attended - with categories
names and in close order to the tax forms I'll use as a sole
proprietor (Schedule C & Form 8829). I'll choose the names of
the sub-categories based on how I spend money. They also
suggested that you set up your file cabinet with similarly named
files.