There are so many things to keep track of in your business, financially speaking. When you're first starting your business (and, frankly, for years after) you may find yourself overwhelmed. The best thing you can do is implement a few financial tools from the beginning (or as soon as you can) and you'll set yourself up for success for years to come. Top Tools for Saving Receipts I've talked about … [Read more...]
Stop Using Excel for Your Bookkeeping!
Many new business owners try to use Excel for bookkeeping, especially in the early days of their businesses. They are, understandably, trying to keep costs low and don't want to spend money on hiring help or investing in software. But trying to use Excel for your books never ends well. Here are a few reasons why. When you try to do it yourself, you simply don't do it at all. I can't tell you … [Read more...]
Stop Using a Shoebox for Receipts!
There's a reason people joke about business owners keeping receipts in shoe boxes - because they do! It happens every year. Someone comes into their accountant's office with a big box (or bag, or folder), and the accountant is stuck sorting through crumpled receipts and trying to decide what's important and what isn't. Save yourself and your accountant time and money by keeping up with your … [Read more...]
4 Tips to Minimize Self-Employment Taxes
One of the biggest stumbling blocks for small business owners and entrepreneurs is self-employment tax. Most people understand that they have to pay taxes, but they don't realize that paying taxes as a self-employed person is completely different than paying taxes as an employee. While I won't get into the details of why that is, what you need to know is that as a business owner you must pay … [Read more...]
Tax Time Tips
It's only February, but Tax Time will be here before you know it. In fact, if your business is a partnership or S-Corporation, you have less than a month! That means that you should be preparing all your documents and getting them ready to take to your tax preparer. But what exactly does that tax preparer need? What do you take to your tax preparer? When it comes to personal taxes, it's pretty … [Read more...]