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Posts Tagged ‘Receipts’

I know that the Quickbooks program itself does not let you export transactions (I’m using QB 2005), and I’m open to exploring the ulitization of a compatible management or POS software if it makes this process easier.
I have 2 computers with QB in our shop. One is available to any employee to use for product number lookups, etc. The second is the “main” version in which the “real” accounting is done in. Computer 1 is where all of the POS sales transactions are done. I choose not to copy the entire file and transfer it at the end of the day because of the mass-access given to computer 1. I’m currently printing a copy of the sales receipts report and re-entering them into Computer 2 at the end of the day, in turn, wasting about an hour to an hour and a half of time everyday. There has to be an easier way to do this. Any suggestions??
Thank you, in advance, for your help!

One of an American citizen’s worst fears is an audit by the IRS. The unlucky individual who is the target of an audit begins to conjure up images of penalties, fines, levies, or worst of all, jail time. Even the most honest of taxpayers, under the scrutiny of an audit, begins to think back in their mind, “Did I calculate my return correctly?”, “Did I save all my receipts for the deductions I claimed?” This is a most stressful and challenging time in a taxpayer’s life. Nevertheless, before one loses sleep over the impending audit, there is a law which protects Americans in an IRS audit situation.

To be more specific, in 1998 the IRS passed the third installment of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TaBOR). The bill was passed as a byproduct of numerous complaints to Congress concerning the abusive behavior by IRS auditors. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights also requires the IRS to inform a taxpayer of his rights and what effect of the tax action the IRS is pursuing. The audit itself is traditionally thought as a meeting between an agent of the IRS and the taxpayer. However a good percentage of tax audits come in the form of a letter asking for clarification or substantiation of items on the tax return. Careful and organized record keeping usually make these types of audits resolve rather smoothly.

The IRS may choose to audit a portion of the filed return, or on some occasions an agent may request a closer examination of the entire return. If the auditor merely asks for documentation for a specific part of your return, it would be a good idea to give the auditor only that piece of information that is requested. Bringing additional documentation or information not requested could subject the taxpayer to wider scope audit, that is if something else on the return looks irregular. In other words, only bring what is requested. Do not volunteer any information to the tax auditor, and answer their questions with simple, direct answers.

Since most people are not experts at tax law, it is highly recommended that a CPA, tax lawyer, or tax advisor represent them in a meeting with the IRS. Contact the person who prepared the return. They will have specific advice on how to prepare for the audit. In most cases they can attend the audit in place of you to gather information from the field agent. This puts the taxpayer at an advantage and may buy valuable time to prepare the necessary documentation.

The audit will conclude with the IRS agent citing any irregularities noted with the return. They will then formally notify the taxpayer of any monetary adjustments that need to be made. In some cases some lucky citizens have received additional refunds after an audit. Unfortunately, in most cases, the IRS will be asking for a check. An agent’s decision can be appealed to a supervisor, or the Appeals Division of the IRS. If the Appeals Division decision is still unsatisfactory, a final appeal can be made to the US Tax Court.

Is the IRS all bad? The IRS is not all about seizing assets, bank accounts, and wages. The IRS does provide ways to reduce your actual taxes through Tax Credits. What makes a credit different from a deduction? A credit lowers your actual amount of taxes. A deduction lowers your actual taxable income.

Help for those who need it…So what kinds of tax credits are there, and how can I get them?

Most tax credits are dependent on your income. The majority of them do require that you be in a lower income bracket, so check with the IRS at irs.gov to see if you can qualify.

Some of the tax credits that you may qualify for are listed below. This is not a complete list, but it should give you an idea of what’s okay and what isn’t:

Child tax credit: You can receive a $1,000 tax credit for each child that is eligible as dependents. Be careful with this one, as claiming a child incorrectly can cause you to be in debt to the IRS.

Education credit: This is available to full and part time students. So whether you’re a twenty-something going full time or if you’re a returning student looking to improve your career options you can claim your schooling. You can claim up to $1,650 as a credit for your schooling for the year. Usually your school will send you a tax statement.

Home Energy Efficiency Credit: If you’ve made changes to your home to make it more energy efficient you can claim up to $500 as a credit. Keep your receipts so you can prove you made the improvements. Not only do you save on utility bills, but you get back money for the government.

Be certain…Tax credits can provide you with a much needed shot in the arm as they can greatly increase your income tax return. But beware, and make sure you know and follow the guidelines set by the IRS before you claim anything as a credit.

These same credits can backfire on you as the IRS frequently audits larger tax returns. You could find yourself owing the IRS if you incorrectly claimed a tax credit, or claimed something you shouldn’t have.

If you’re not sure about a tax credit feel free to drop your friendly former IRS-Hitman an e-mail.

Now you have the smoking gun…Use it!

It could be said that the new regulations regarding car donation, going into effect during the 2005 tax season, actually make it easier to avoid audit, since there is far less wiggle room to maneuver within. However, to actually take a legal deduction from your taxes, there will need to be some forms filed and receipts gathered. The extent to which you are required to prove the worth of your charitable donation, given to a IRS approved 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization (NPO), is determined by the likely value of the gift. That said, one doesn’t always know what the sale of their car will fetch in the marketplace, regardless of what some chart may tell you. The actual price your car donation fetches will be your deductible value, and this can actually be rather low when sold on the wholesale market, especially by a third-party agency that facilitates car donation for NPOs that lack the facilities or manpower to handle such donations themselves. Begun several decades ago by the Goodwill Corporation to train their employees and recycle unwanted vehicles, car donation programs were designed to be offered by NPOs alone to serve a direct and needy market. In the 1990s, a tremendous upsurge in for-profit organizations that spent a great deal of money on advertisements created a rapidly expanding trend of even lower-middle class individuals using car donation to reap the charitable tax deductions offered by the receiving agents. When assessing your car donation, one must really consider what it is worth on the market, both if you sell it yourself and if you use another agency to sell it on the wholesale market for you. One can assume anywhere from 20-60% of the value of the retail market in such sales. Since a great many NPOs still use third-party (over 95% being for-profit organizations according to a scathing 2002 investigative article) intermediaries to manage the pickups, title-transfers and sales, you should give some hard consideration to how you want to handle your own car donation. Many people choose to fix up and sell their own vehicles, preferring to pay tax on that ?income? and give the remainder to the charity of their choice. Everyone, after all, takes cash. This way you also act as your own ?middle man,? giving your time as well as the donated value of your car. You could even sell that car for scrap, have it hauled away, and give the proceeds to the charity, cutting out that sometimes very expensive middle step of involving a car donation facilitator. Regardless of how you go about it, a non-cash gift to a charity is likely to fetch less than $250, you don’t need any sort of receipt from the NPO ? the IRS will, in this case, take you at your word. All you need to supply is the name of the charitable organization that received your car donation, the date of the car donation, the place the donation took place, However, if the value of your car donation is $250 or greater, you’ll need to get a receipt from the charity that is officially registered as an NPO or charity by the IRS. If you want to check up on a given charity’s status, they should be able to provide you with a non-profit tax ID number that you can then check against the IRS database. This receipt should be dated and indicate what use the vehicle was to be put to, even if it is just for sale. Car donations destined for immediate sale are typically not valued for tax purposes until the sale has been made. Instead, one will receive a temporary receipt that indicates a transfer of title and a forthcoming receipt to be used for determining your deduction. This is most often true of vehicles worth over $500. Such vehicles must be accompanied by Form 8283 (section A only) that the authorized charity issues along with their own receipt of car donation monies. In a perfect world, those separate car donation and charitable income figures will match up with each other as well as the amounts people are deducting from their personal or family income taxes, as they assuredly didn’t before 2005. Sale values over $5,000 must also be accompanied by an appraisal from an independent agent that can verify the fair market value of any car donation. Now that one must present proof of how much their car donation earned at auction, there is little reason to make any kind of error when valuing your car donation for deductible purposes.

1. Be PreparedTechnically, every single taxpayer is eligible for a tax audit. While some audits are selected because the taxpayer?s return flagged the system, many are conducted entirely randomly. This means that as a taxpayer you should be prepared for the possibility of an audit at all times. You should make sure to you keep all financial documents, W-2?s, receipts, etc., in one safe place. That way if you are audited, you can easily find everything you will need to verify your income and deductions. Although there is no way to fully avoid being audited, you can follow some of these tips while preparing your next return to try to reduce the odds. 2. Read and Respond to NoticesGenerally, when the IRS notifies you of an audit you must respond within 30 days. If you do not, then you risk having the IRS review and adjust your total tax liability without getting your input. In addition to responding quickly, you will also want to take a thorough look over the notice. It will give you specific information on what is being examined, so that you can prepare for your audit knowing exactly what is being scrutinized. 4. Know your RightsDo not let yourself get intimidated by aggressive IRS agents, as a taxpayer you have a set of rights designed to protect you and your money. You have the right to select where the audit takes place, when it takes place, etc. Do not let an auditor intimidate you in to having an audit at your place of business unless that is where you want it. To learn more about your rights during an audit, check out IRS.gov.

Make sure that you keep your receipts in case you get audited. Learn the best ways to organize and store your receipts for a tax audit from the IRS in this free personal finance video from an exper…

That’s right folks; tax season is almost upon us. It is time to start organizing your paperwork again. How much time will you spend gathering your accounts receivables, accounts payables, receipts, mileage reports, W-2s and 1099s? And that’s only the beginning. More of your time will be spent to meet with your bookkeeper, and then your accountant, each of them reminding you of what information you forgot to get to them, and each of them letting you know what they still need from you. Just how much time will you spend on a topic you really don’t want to think about?

Imagine how much time you could save if you were paperless. Imagine if you could take care of everything by e-mail, without fussing with a bookkeeping program. Imagine if there was a virtual accounting office that would take the aggravation out of your bookkeeping and make preparing your tax return as easy as writing a check. What could be better than an accounting office that you never have to visit?

Better yet, how about a virtual accounting office where you access to your books anytime you want? How many times do you get a call from a customer wanting to know his balance and you have to wait to give him an answer until your bookkeeper can look that information up for you? With a virtual accounting office your books are available to you 24/7. With a secure login you, your bookkeeper or accountant can pull up company records wherever there is Internet access. In real time, you have access to your books and are able to answer that customer’s question about his balance when he calls. Want to know how much you have paid a vendor this year but don’t want to wait to ask your bookkeeper for that report? With a virtual accounting office you could run a report to give you that information anytime you wanted. A virtual accounting office can give you instant access to your accounting information, including your taxes, profit/loss reports, balance sheets and bank statements, all from the comfort of your own office, home, or anywhere in the world you may be.

Are you tired of printing paper checks you have to sign, stamp and then mail? Do you currently pay some bills through your online banking system, some bills with paper checks, some bills with credit cards, and some with automatic withdrawals, all the while never quite knowing your cash balance? A virtual accounting office will save you time by locating all of your payables, all automatic withdrawals, and all deposits into one accounting system. You can pay your bills when you want, easily and directly through your online accounting program. You can also track any payment quickly and easily since you have only one place to look. A paperless bookkeeping system though a virtual accounting office will streamline information into one accounting program. Now you will always know your available cash balance.

How much better would your business be if all your accounting needs were handled without the clutter of paper, through a Virtual Accounting Office, giving you more time to focus on your business? I’d cut this sentence, repetitive. The last sentence is a strong close. As a wise man once said, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” Let others do it for you. A paperless Virtual Accounting Office can do exactly that.

A calendar or log book is a good backup if you don’t have receipts for items the IRS asks for. Learn what to do if the IRS audits your taxes in this free personal finance video from an experienced …

• Easily create professional-looking invoices, estimates & sales receipts
• Stay organized with your customer, vendor and sales information in one place
• Automatically track tax-related income and expenses so tax time is a snap
• Easy to setup, learn & use…no accounting knowledge necessary

Product Description
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