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Find The Best Tax Resources Right Here
By Maria Marsala, Business Growth Specialist,
Thu Dec 8th

Find The Best Tax Resources Right Here

Where can a business owner obtain tax information? When youdon't know what questions to ask, it's very helpful to take someclasses, and read a few articles prior to visiting with a CPA.Enjoy these resources:

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) The IRS has the best free classesaround! Call your local office to find out when the homebusiness or sole proprietorship classes are held. The homebusiness class is a half-day class; the sole proprietorshipclass is a full day. The difference between these two classes --the extra half day -- is spent dealing with employee taxinformation. Take a class every year. Expenses are deductibleand 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 STEPPublication 1057 (Small Business Tax Education Program). Tellthem what type of organization you are considering, how manyemployees you will have, etc., so they can send you other freehelpful publications. They'll even send you a very nice TaxCalendar. Just ask for it!

Local Authorities Let's look at some local taxing authorities.In some states, the Department of Taxation provides monthlyclasses for new business owners. They cover state-specifictopics such as business income tax, occupancy tax and sales tax.

While we're on the local level, don't forget to contact yourcounty, city or town revenue offices, too. Yes, everyone gets inthe act of collecting some sort of tax! It could be yearly,quarterly, or monthly. At the very least, call each entity tosee what they need from you and what materials or classes theyprovide. Don't want to call? The end result is fines andpenalties later on -- usually many times more than you wouldhave paid in the first place.

Web Sites Although the IRS is the premier source for taxinformation, 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 knownnational lecturers in the field of tax reduction and auditproofing techniques for smallbusiness.http://www.taxreductioninstitute.com/index2.htm

Since 1980, the Small Business Tax and Management has beenproviding services to business owners. Lots of resources on thissite. www.smbiz.com/

Bookkeeping and Tax Programs: Quicken, QuickBooks, Turbo Taxwww.intuit.com/products_services

Taxes and Accounting www.quicken.com/small_businessaxes_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 IRShttp:/ opten.org/public/AN/AN23.html

CPA or Bookkeeper? Besides trading on Wall Street, I was anOperations & Accounting Manager. At one point, I had bookkeepersand a few CPA's working for me. I was able to sign off on thework performed by the bookkeepers but I wasn't unable to signoff on any internal audits. Why? Because I didn't have a CPALicense!

So you can see, there is a difference between a CPA andBookkeeper. Now-a-days, with Quicken and Peachtree, many of uscan set up our own and send out invoices - if thatis how we choose to use our time.

If you are a sole proprietor, you can 1) hire a CPA firm thatwill also do your monthly 2) hire a CPA firm thatwill help you set up your monthly system and thenyou can do your or hire a bookkeeper 3) hire abookkeeper to do your monthly 4) do it yourself.

Personally, I did my own for many years (I was anaccounting 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 Ilike that sort of thing. Many folks don't though! Know which youare!

As my business grew, I hired a bookkeeper and worked with themto set up a monthly system. The system was set up assuggested at the IRS Tax Class I attended - with categoriesnames and in close order to the tax forms I'll use as a soleproprietor (Schedule C & Form 8829). I'll choose the names ofthe sub-categories based on how I spend money. They alsosuggested that you set up your file cabinet with similarly namedfiles.

About the author:© 2003 Maria Marsala, Business Growth Specialist. Helping youattract clients and improve your bottom line by providing bluechip methods, practical ideas and proven systems for businessesgrowth. Request a consultation or join Elevating Your BusinessEzine now. Visit http://coachmaria.com

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Accident and Health Benefits: Employee fringe benefits provided by employers through the payment of health and accident insurance premiums or the establishment of employer-funded medical reimbursement plans. Employers generally are entitled to a deduction for such payments. Employees generally exclude the benefits from gross income.