Coral Springs, Florida bookkeeping provider: You give your business so much in order to grow and succeed. You give it your time, expertise and ideas, you market your products and services and hire qualified employees, you design benefit packages, maintain insurance, and have a dedicated space. Now it’s time to take your business to the next level and ensure its future success by putting an accounting team in place. Allow them to give you the advantage of maximized efficiency of your business income and expenses while holding your employees accountable and minimizing exposure to various financial and audit risks. If you care about the future of your company, hire a virtual bookkeeping service today.
Collect Pertinent Income and Expense Information: Around the end of January each year, employers, vendors, financial institutions, and others prepare and forward various tax forms and information pertinent to your filing. Create a set of files – whether that’s a large multi-pocketed accordion file, a group of large manila envelopes, or a digital filing system on your hard drive – to sort and separate the data into one of the following categories: Personal Information. This information should include your legal name, as well as the legal names of your spouse and all dependents. You also need their Social Security numbers and dates of birth. I also keep my primary bank information – account number and bank routing number – so I can request a direct deposit refund if circumstances warrant. Income. Common forms include W-2s from employers; 1099 forms for other types of income, such as self-employment, investments, and retirement distributions; and K-1s for any partnerships in which you participate. Keep a separate folder for security transactions so you can quickly determine holding periods from buy and sell dates to ensure you qualify for capital gains treatment wherever possible.
Hold Off on Mutual Fund Purchases: People should be wary of buying mutual funds at this time of year if they will be held in a taxable account. You could get hit with a tax bill for year-end dividends even if you just purchased shares. “That’s how mutual funds work, but people don’t realize it,” says Joanna Powell, managing director in the Boston office of accounting firm CBIZ MHM. To avoid paying additional taxes, consult with a broker before making a purchase to find out when distributions are made.
Set up your system: There’s more than one way to organize your tax records, but having some kind of filing system will help you keep everything in one place. Don’t wait until January to start organizing important documents. While many important tax documents will arrive in the beginning of the year, some — such as receipts for deductible expenses — will crop up throughout the year. Save documentation for deductible items: If you own a business or plan to itemize your deductions, you should hold onto your receipts and other documents for eligible expenses. You won’t need to submit your receipts with your tax return, but you may need to substantiate your expenses if the IRS audits your return. Do the same for home improvements, especially if you’re planning to sell your home. The amount you spent on home improvements increases your adjusted basis on your home, which is what the IRS uses to determine how much tax you owe when you sell it. Read more details at South Florida Accountant.
What are my obligations as an employer? Upon being notified of a wage garnishment court order, an employer should immediately alert the employee to the situation in writing. Depending on the garnishment, there may be a form provided for this (i.e., Form 668 for a federal levy). An employer can also draft a letter detailing the specifics of the wage garnishment order, the amount to be taken from each payment, and the length of time the wages will be garnished. Concurrently, an employer should notify their HR and/or payroll departments so they can start the wage garnishment process and ensure that payments are sent to the appropriate agency or creditor (whether the employee wishes to comply or not). Taking these actions protects the business from any legal repercussions for failing to respond to the order.
State sales taxes: This write-off makes sense primarily for those who live in states that do not impose an income tax. You must choose between deducting state and local income taxes, or state and local sales taxes. For most citizens of income-tax-states, the income tax deduction usually is a better deal. IRS has tables for residents of states with sales taxes showing how much they can deduct. But the tables aren’t the last word. If you purchased a vehicle, boat or airplane, you get to add the state sales tax you paid to the amount shown in IRS tables for your state, to the extent the sales tax rate you paid doesn’t exceed the state’s general sales tax rate. The same goes for home building materials you purchased. These items are easy to overlook. The IRS even has a calculator to help you figure out the deduction, which varies by your state and income level. Beginning in 2018, your itemized deduction for state and local taxes is limited to $10,000 per year. You still will only be allowed to deduct either state and local sales tax or state and local income taxes, but not both.
Learning QuickBooks fundamentals can be very challenging and requires training since it contains thousands of features to handle all types of industries and businesses. In order to fully comprehend the features, it would be advised that one not only understood the technical basics but had some experience in accounting and bookkeeping. Our accounting and bookkeeping firm has been using Quickbooks for clients for over 20 years. QuickBooks is one of the most comprehensive and widely used premier accounting software for small businesses. One of the most widely used versions of QuickBooks is QuickBooks Online which provides access for the accountant and the client at the same time. Read additional details at https://bookkeepinghelpcoralsprings.com/.