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Posts Tagged ‘Tips’

I am a very creative artitstic individual. I think I would like to work in the wedding planning business. I am hardworking, and love to design, concepts and make things beautiful. I don’t know how I could get started in the wedding planning/events planning business. Does anyone ahve any ideas that would help me to get started.,

I am working on a business plan and all other aspects of running/starting a small business, any tips/ideas etc. It will be a shoe store for women. Any good sites for creating logos/advertising etc. any hints

QuickBooks is a great accounting program for home-based businesses to track their income and expenses. It is easy to learn and simple to use. It has a great Help file. You do not need an accounting background to be able to generate reports such as a Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet needed for tax preparation and managing your business. I have listed a few key points to consider when using QuickBooks.
Cash or Accrual Basis of Accounting? The first step in setting up your company in QuickBooks is to determine if you will track income and expenses on the “Cash Basis” or “Accrual” basis. Most small businesses operate on the cash basis of accounting. What this means is you record your expenses when you write the check or charge your credit card, and you record your sales or income when you take the money to the bank and deposit it into your account. This is the easiest way to account for your transactions. Some businesses are required by the IRS to report on the accrual basis. This normally pertains to large publicly traded companies and/or some manufacturing entities. On the accrual basis, you record income at the time of sale, not at the time you receive payment. You also enter expenses when you receive the bill, not when you pay it. The choice is yours on which basis to use. QuickBooks supports both accounting methods.
Simplify the Chart of Accounts!! The most important list in your accounting system is your Chart of Accounts. You track your flow of money through this list of accounts which includes where your income comes from, where you put it, what your expenses are for, and what you use to pay them. QuickBooks’ EasyStep Interview walks you through setting up your accounts. The system also offers sample business templates that already have accounts set up for you. You can later delete or add any accounts that were initially setup in this interview to make it match your income and expenses better. Keep your chart of accounts SIMPLE! Too many accounts result in messy reports that are hard to read and analyze. Also, use descriptions for your account id’s, not numbers. If you assign account numbers for each account, you will have to memorize the numbers for fast data entry. It is much easier to type in the name of the account when entering transactions. This is a key timesaver!
Utilize Reports QuickBooks has many reports you can run for daily management of your business. The most widely used reports are the Profit

Selecting what kind of business you create is very important.

?He who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client.?

A taxpayer is unlikely to get audited by any one of the below ways alone, but a combination of two or more of below is definitely inviting the IRS to audit you! 1. Unreported income: Remember any company whom you work for has to by law provide you with either W-2 or a 1099-Misc or around January 31st. Thus, if you file a return but fail to report this income, remember the W-2 and 1099-Misc is also being simultaneously reported to IRS, and so you’re screaming for an IRS audit. This is also true for your bank interest, stock dividends, and capital stock transactions from stock trading activities, these must also be reported as they too are being reported to the IRS. 2. Incomplete or poorly prepared tax returns: If you file a tax return with missing or incomplete information along with several mathematical errors, the IRS computer will not be able determine what you’ve filed, then you are definitely inviting an IRS agent to investigate these omissions and error. 3. Consistently using estimates or round numbers on your deductions: If a taxpayer is consistently using round numbers or estimates, it really implies that the taxpayer has been either exaggerating or has poor records to substantiate the deductions. Most CPA’s and tax professionals recommend the use of exact numbers 4. Reporting income that appears too low to support taxpayer lifestyle: A taxpayer who reports mortgage and property tax expenses on his schedule A but showing income from employment incapable of supporting these deductions, this too will be inviting an IRS audit. A taxpayer who consistently shows very little taxable income, and hence a small tax liability due but has substantial savings and investment income could also trigger an audit. 5. Drastic changes in income: Substantial income fluctuations can sometimes indicate that income was underreported somewhere. IRS loves to investigate strange income fluctuations. 6. Taxpayer claiming excessive charitable contributions: There are no average percentages in place to determine what is unreasonable, but most National tax publications maintain a safe percentage is 2-5% percentage a year. But, now in 2006, most CPA’s will now demand a copy of a receipt or canceled check showing proof of charitable deduction before reporting this contribution to charity in 2006. 7. Employee Business Expenses: Employees that claim high amounts of employee business expenses, especially if these expenses appear to be mostly commuter expenses are most susceptible for audits. For example, claiming travel expenses for daily commuting, parking or train tickets to travel to work in metro cities. As such, these are generally personal expenses if the taxpayer is a W-2 employee. 8. Claiming Auto mileage: Taxpayers keep claiming auto mileage without really understanding the law. Taxpayers can claim auto expenses in connection to your job for which the employer does not reimburse them. This is really rare in this day and age when gas prices are very high. Still, it is possible for say an employee to make various trips to client sites for which the employer does not provide reimbursements. However, on the personal tax return the taxpayer generally claims excessive mileage that includes commuting mileage that is mileage from home to work. This is strictly not allowable per IRS tax code. 9. Flagrantly ignoring to file individual tax returns or late returns without proper extensions: The IRS has consistently audited individual taxpayers who have flagrantly disregarded the law, and consistently ignored the IRS filing deadlines for filing the individual tax returns. All IRS correspondences must be responded timely as ignoring those leads to more investigations and a potential invitation of an audit. All tax returns must be filed on a timely basis along with timely extensions. 10. Claiming office at home expense: This is generally the most common area of deduction that results in triggering IRS audits. The reason is that the office at home expenses are allowable under some very strict rules. The office must be used exclusively and regularly for business purposes. The so called designated area in the house must be generally a room where the family do not entertain, do not use as a play room for the kids and definitely not be used as a bedroom.