Originally Posted by Hinterland
Originally Posted by blzzrdqueen
How often will I be paying these taxes, is it quarterly? I have a lot of questions! So please bare with me! Thank you ALL for the advice, I'll be looking into it all diligently!
I found having the accountant set up Quick Books was invaluable. I know a little about bookkeeping, which makes me very dangerous. If you ever have to talk to the IRS, it will be a big comfort to know that your deductions are legitimate and correctly accounted for. I have equipment and computers, and nary a clue about things like depreciation and tax issues. I probably spend less than 15 minutes a day making all my entries.
I wholeheartedly agree with this, by having an accountant set up your program initially, it will save you a LOT of headaches and quite possibly $$$ down the road. PLUS you know that it is set up correctly. They say simple, easy, etc... but there are ins/outs that you NEED to know and without this knowledge your fines/fees can easily be greater than the money you tried to save :wink:
They can quickly set up the individual accounts within these programs, and accurately, so that when tax time comes around, you know what you owe the state, payroll taxes, IRS, etc... and your books will all balance.
When I did business taxes, if their spread sheets didn't balance or look correct, the clients either had to fix them before I would continue, or pay me to go through everything and that could be very costly.
For now, yes, you can use Excel or an equivalent for spreadsheets... but I would take them to a tax preparer when tax times comes around.
Some expenses you can take 100% at the end of the year, others have to be amortized. If you don't completely understand what this means... it is another reason to get professional help at tax time .
It also wouldn't hurt for you to call the IRS and find out right now which of your major expenditures are going to be deducted at 100% and which won't. This way you won't be surprised come January. Basically, anything electric will be amortized, so a computer would not be 100% deductible. It would be spread out over a number of years. You will find this to be true of many of your start up expenses....
If you take in your spread sheets, and you are SURE they are accurate, then you and the IRS shouldn't have a problem 6 months down the road :wink:
We had clients who would bring in their spread sheets quarterly for us to look over... we charged a very nominal fee to make sure everything balanced and looked okay. I think we charged $50 every quarter.