Free SCORE Tax Tips

Free SCORE Tax Tips

Having your own small business can be a rewarding experience. There are many aspects that can be difficult to accomplish on your own though. The most important issue that needs to be watched and completed correctly is taxes. Ten free tax tips offered by the Score business website can be helpful to any business owner.

Deductions are the most important thing to remember with your own business. Do not overlook those deductions that may not be the most obvious. Even trips that combine business and pleasure can be used as a write off, just make sure more than half is business related. If your business has employees, you need to worry about getting the correct taxes out of paychecks. Social security, medicare, state and federal taxes all must be withheld. Also unemployment taxes and employer matching are also important.

Keep all of the tax documents for at least seven years. Good record keeping could save money in the end. Business tax returns and licenses should be kept indefinitely though.

Make sure that all of the business tax deadlines are met. April 15 may be the personal deadline but it is not the same for business. All business owners know that estimated taxes are due four times a year. And they remember that sales taxes are due either monthly or quarterly or their bookkeeper keeps track of the dates for them. Employee taxes are even more difficult, they are due either weekly, monthly, or quarterly. This will decide manly on the size of the business. All of these different rules can affect the business greatly. Keep on top of your taxes to avoid tax penalties and interest charges from the IRS.

Tax Carnival Ecstasy – June 18, 2013

Welcome to the June 18, 2013 edition of Tax Carnival Ecstasy. In this edition we start with an article by Jason Hull on tax accountants for your business. John Schmoll has a great post on retirement planning and saving for college together. Bill Smith takes a look at the online sales tax proposals that have been made. And we have an article on fake charities popping up after the recent events in Boston and how to protect yourself. Hope you like all the articles, bookmark, share, tweet, and like on Facebook.

Bill Smith's gold medal
Bill Smith’s gold medal (Photo credit: Waikiki Natatorium)

filing

Jason Hull presents Tax Accounts for Your Business posted at Hull Financial Planning, saying, “Don’t forget that if you own a business which is treated as a partnership for tax purposes, you’ll be personally liable for the taxes at the end of the year!”

retirement

John Schmoll presents Retirement Planning and Saving For College: Can They Co-exist? posted at Frugal Rules, saying, “Retirement planning and saving for college are both items that take years to save for. While it may not always be easy to balance the two, it can be possible to do so without sacrificing the other.”

John Schmoll presents How to Invest in Stocks When You Do Not Know Where to Start posted at Frugal Rules, saying, “Investing in stocks, or anything in the market, can be overwhelming for many. The key to overcoming that fear is knowing where to start and educating yourself so that you can set up an investment portfolio that’ll help you grow your wealth and reach your long-term retirement goals.”

tax law

Bill Smith presents Implications Of Passing A Senate Bill Enacting An Online Sales Tax posted at 2011 Tax, saying, “Congress is currently moving forward with a Senate bill that could place sales taxes on buyers who place orders for items housed out of state.”

taxes

Bill Smith presents TaxCaster: The Mobile Tax Calculator For Taxpayers posted at 2009 Tax, saying, “Tax calculators are popular tools for consumers these days. Before filing one’s taxes, a person can take advantage of a calculator.”

Bill Smith presents After The Events In Boston And Texas, Charity Scams Are Common posted at 2009 Taxes, saying, “When you use TurboTax to file your taxes, you may notice that you can write off the money that you gave to charities.”

tips

Cherry Liu presents 30 Blogs Featuring the Most Reliable Tips for Estate Shoppers posted at House Sitting Jobs, saying, “Real estate laws, taxes and investment options constantly change to reflect the state of the economy, which is why the smartest investors know stay ahead of the game.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of tax carnival ecstasy using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Tax Carnival Ecstasy – February 7, 2013

Welcome to the February 7, 2013 edition of Tax Carnival Ecstasy. In this edition we start with a post on Xero by Rachel Frishe who examines why to switch to the bookkeeping software from a different option. Bill Smith has a couple of tax filing articles about the system you need to run TurboTax 2012 on your PC and a new service from Intuit to help small business find a CPA in their area call CPA Select. Finanly Basit has some tax planning tips for employees that receive a W2 tax form. Hope you find the information useful this tax season, bookmark, share, like on Facebook, tweet on Twitter and come back soon.

Bill & Don
Bill & Don (Photo credit: iluvcocacola)

Rachel Frishe presents » Why should I switch to Xero? posted at Virtual Techniques, saying, “Xero offers an efficient, collaborative environment for bookkeeping and account with robust reporting and excellent customization options.”

filing

Bill Smith presents TurboTax2012 System Requirements posted at 2013 Taxes, saying, “Filing Tax is one of the tedious tasks to accomplish. However, since a last few years, there has been a change in the process.”

Bill Smith presents Pros And Cons Of Filing Your Taxes With TurboTax posted at 2011 Taxes, saying, “Filing your taxes with TurboTax or another online tax program is something that people often loathe doing, therefore they try to procrastinate or push it off for later hoping that they would be excused and the year would pass by.”

Bill Smith presents Intuit Unveils TurboTax CPA Select posted at 2012 Taxes – Free Tax Filing Options, saying, “TurboTax CPA Select is designed to connect small and medium business owners who require someone to file their taxes with a CPA.”

Bill Smith presents Super Saturday In Ohio: Day Of Help For Filing Taxes posted at 2012 Taxes – Free Tax Filing Options, saying, “Super Saturday is a day of help in Ohio for residents in need of help filing taxes. Formerly known as the Franklin County EITC Coalition, the Tax Time Coalition of Central Ohio is ready with professionals in the tax business to help others in need of their services.”

retirement

John Schmoll presents How to Take the Emotion Out of Investing posted at Frugal Rules, saying, “The stock market is driven largely by emotion, some say upwards of 90%. If you have a solid investment plan though you can easily separate the emotions from the day to day activity of your investments.”

taxes

AYOUBBLIDI presents Tekenen en symptomen Mange Honden posted at Over Honden.

Bill Smith presents Tax Preparation Reviews posted at 2013 Taxes, saying, “Clients continue to use TurboTax every year as it is easy to use.”

basit presents Tax Planning for Salaried Employees- A Last Minute Guide posted at Fintotal.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of tax carnival ecstasy using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Arizona Tax Attorney Aims To Save Customers Money

Seal of the United States Internal Revenue Ser...
Seal of the United States Internal Revenue Service. The design is the same as the Treasury seal with an IRS inscription. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tax payers often seek out tax lawyers so they don’t have to deal with the Internal Revenue Service alone. In turn, an Arizona tax attorney offer expert tax resolution services that often helps clients save money.

For instance, one satisfied customer said his Phoenix tax attorney offer detailed recommendations about how to deal with the IRS at a time when “we really needed help.”

The customer went on to explain how he relied on these tax lawyers experience to both resolve current tax bill issues; while also avoiding problems with the IRS in the future.

Reliable tax assistance

When it comes to the IRS and tax bills, many people hire a professional tax attorney to not only help them with their personal income tax and their business related taxes.

For example, one small business owner said he needed reliable and knowledgeable tax assistance because his business could not function under a cloud of IRS tax issues.

Thus, the business owner consulted with expert tax lawyers to sort out the back taxes that the IRS said he owed.

At the same time, people who hire these experienced and trustworthy tax experts for personal tax help say it really offered them peace of mind because they no longer have to worry about their IRS bills.

5 Tax Tips for Self-Employed Individuals in Any Field

Self-employment is like ice cream; it comes in a large variety of flavors. You can be a freelance writer, a graphic designer, a landscaper or a dog walker. Some people are self-employed full time, while others work part-time around their “day job”. Whatever your flavor of self-employment is, there are some definite tax tips you need to know.

If You Earn It, You Have to Declare It

If you do work for businesses, they will generally send you a 1099 form that you have to file at the end of the year. However, even if you work for individuals, or a business that does not send you a 1099 form, you still have to declare that income. Do not be fooled by thinking, “If I make less than $600 from one person (or business) during the year then I don’t have to declare it.” That is an often-misunderstood concept. The IRS expects you to declare every penny you earn.

Track Your Income and Expenses

You do not want to hand your accountant envelopes full of unsorted receipts and cashed checks come tax season. The accountant may miss some deductions because he or she could not find the right slip of paper. Even relatively inexpensive programs like Quicken work great. Keep track of all your hard copy paperwork and keep it organized as well. The IRS has very specific rules about business tax deductions and whoever does your tax return will need as clear a picture as possible to maximize your deductions.

Estimate Your Taxes

There are two ways to avoid being hit with a whopping tax debt at the end of the year. Either you have to be frugal enough to put away a certain percentage of every payment you receive, or you have to arrange with the IRS to pay quarterly estimated tax throughout the year. Most people choose the latter in order to avoid yearly penalties for underpayment. It may be tempting to spend all your money as quick as you earn it, but remember that just because no one took taxes out when you earned it, that does not mean you will not have to pay later. Estimating and paying your taxes is one way of avoiding having to file a tax extension form in the future.

Pick Your Name

If you are doing business under your own name, that is great. You just file a Schedule C form with the IRS and life is simple. However, if you are doing business under a company name, then you should have some sort of business license in order to avoid problems with the IRS. It can be a simple DBA (doing business as) license, but you want to make sure that you have all your legal paperwork in order before filing your taxes.

Self-Employment Tax

The IRS does charge a special tax rate for people who are self-employed. You will have to pay the self-employment tax, but you can deduct half of when figuring out your adjusted gross income. Form 1040 Schedule SE, available on the IRS website, will help you figure out exactly how much your self-employment tax will be.

Filing a tax return when you are self-employed is trickier than filing a regular tax return. Many people find that going to a professional tax accountant is well worth the initial fees in order to get the highest possible return they can. Unless you are very knowledgeable about business tax laws, you should keep yourself as organized as possible and seek the help of a reputable professional when it comes time to file your taxes.

About the Author: Annita Grosh is an accountant who specializes in working with self-employed invididuals. She loves watching as an idea becomes a workable and profitable business.

Five Money Saving Methods of Working From Home

Finding new ways to save money is never easy, but working from home can make it easier to build up that savings account. It is necessary to spend money to have even a slight chance of making money and this is even true when it comes to getting a regular job. A regular job will cost much more than working from home through a few basic measures.

Reduced Transportation Cost:

Going to a regular job requires driving, taking a bus, riding a train or taking a subway. Regardless of the mode of transportation, most jobs away from home will require spending some money to reach the office space.

Working from home has a key benefit in saving cash via transportation. It is not necessary to spend a single penny getting from one room to the other. That benefit of reduced transportation can add up quickly by the end of the year.

Depending on the distance to the office and the mode of transportation, it can save as much as $100 or more per month in transportation costs. Even jobs close by that take 5 minutes to drive to, will cost you roughly $30 or more per month.

Lower Food Costs:

Going to a regular job opens a number of doors to the temptation to spend. While it is possible to pack a lunch and avoid coffee, it is always tempting to buy lunch at least once or twice a week. In some cases, running out the door might require buying lunch rather than packing lunch.

Staying at home has the benefit of saving on the cost of buying food outside. Not only it is less costly to make a meal and a pot of coffee at home, it is also much healthier than most restaurants and cafeterias available around a regular job.

Lower Clothing Costs:

Working at home offers the benefit of wearing comfortable clothes and avoiding expensive suits or work attire. Since the job will not entail face to face conversations with clients, going out to an office or making an impression with the outfit, the expense of clothing becomes much less.

The uniform of choice for working in the home is anything that feels comfortable and does not reduce motivation. That can range from casual outfits to semi-nice clothes, based on personal preferences.

It is not necessary to hide away from the world, but the freedom of wardrobe choice while working at home is a key reduction in necessary expenditures.

Tax Deductions:

As an individual who works from home, tax benefits are available. Self-employed individuals can cut taxes by making use of deductions. The home office space, gas used while working, any equipment necessary to perform job tasks, office supplies and even utilities will all provide a discount.

It is not possible to claim tax deductions on your return when working at a regular w2 job that relate to home expenses such as mortgage interest. Only those who work at home can add the expense of personal computers and a percentage of utilities to the tax deductions.

Making More Money:

Working from home wastes much less time. Even a half hour commute to work will result in five hours or more per week in just transportation. Working from home clears up those five hours so that more time is spent making money.

Working from home has clear benefits when it comes to saving more cash. Instead of wasting a few hundred dollars in transportation, clothing and other expenses necessary to work in a regular job, it is possible to save that cash by working at home. Saving money at home starts with determining the cost of going to a regular job.

Jeff is an Internet marketing consultant and content distributor for NY divorce lawyers, and He is also a passionate blogger who often writes about money saving, sharing his knowledge and experience in that field.