Small Business – Page 2 – Beck & Company

Why Financial Transparency is Important to Your Business

Recent financial scandals among businesses and corporations have led to extreme distrust in America’s businesses. Today’s consumers are more hesitant to contribute to the financial success of businesses they feel of unethical and dishonest. In an effort to increase financial transparency among businesses, the government has implemented several new laws and financial reporting regulations. While these changes may seem like an inconvenience, they are actually beneficial to the long-term success of your business.

Financial transparency can help your business build and maintain trust with its customers and financial partners. When a customer knows that you are spending your money ethically and responsibly, they are more inclined to support your business through the purchase of your products and services. While it may seem instinctive for companies (particularly private companies) to keep sensitive financial data such as employment numbers and growth plans away from the public, sharing information about your financial performance is actually to your advantage.

When you are forthcoming about your business’ financial performance to your business partners, you minimize the risk of having your business as a partner. Having fewer unknowns can also increase your success when it comes to supplier relationships. By sharing your financial information with your suppliers, you might be able to delay payments to vendors by 30 days instead of having to pay in cash upon delivery. When your suppliers see that you can be trusted with a line of credit, they will be more flexible when it comes to payment.

Some companies have even seen an improvement in their bottom line increase after adopting internal financial transparency policies. Sharing financial information with your employees may be uncomfortable at first, but many companies are saving money because of it. When your employees see how their actions impact the company’s bottom line, they have an incentive to make changes and stick to their department budgets. By increasing your financial transparency internally, you are giving your employees the tools they need to stay on track and keep your business profitable.

If your business is interested in building the trust of its suppliers, partners, and customers, consider being a little more transparent with your company’s financial information. When your partners and customers see that your company is financially stable, their confidence in your brand will increase. Read our blog for more tips on increasing your business’ financial transparency through effective financial reporting.

Do you need help becoming financially transparent? Are you looking for an accountant to help you better manage your company’s finances? Beck & Company’s CPAs are available to assist your company with all of your financial matters – from helping you create more effective financial reports to assisting you with your tax returns. Give us a call today!

Do You Need Help Consolidating Your Business Budgets?

Budgeting is important to the success of your business. Without it, you have no idea of the amount of money coming in or going out of your company. Effective financial management requires you to maintain a budget annually for the entire company. This will help you ensure that you have enough capital to cover upcoming expenses, as well as help you prioritize your business ventures. Budgets are generally prepared on a department level and then consolidated to form the overall company budget. By consolidating budgets on a departmental level, managers can assess how their department is doing both as a whole and individually and also determine whether or not they have exceeded their budgeted amount.

The budget preparation process determines how the budgets within a company can be consolidated. Most companies know how to create a budget; however, many companies have a harder time consolidating budgets so they have a full view of their organization on a departmental level. We’ve created a few tips designed to help you consolidate your budgets and boost your budgeting efforts. Keep the following in mind as you go about consolidating this year’s budgets:

Create a plan for how your company will structure the budgeting process. You can structure it according to departments, locations, products, functions, and customer type. Each department should have their own budget that they can compare to other related units.
Use budgeting software to create and maintain your budget. It doesn’t matter what type of software you use – it can be spreadsheet-based or an off-the-shelf budgeting solution. Many accounting solutions also have a budgeting function to support your budgeting efforts.
Enter each expense into the appropriate line-item category and ensure that line-item categories are consistent across the company. Each department will have its own code in front of the line-item number so you can keep track of your departmental expenses.
Once the budgets for each department have been created, distribute them to their corresponding departments. Include specific instructions for each department on how expenses should be entered. While your accountant or bookkeeper will most likely handle the entries, there may be some confusion on smaller items, such as meal allowances.
Determine a plan for consolidating budgets. This is where you decide which departments, locations, or products will be consolidated and how. For example, let’s say your business owns a number of kiosks in area malls. Rather than maintain a separate budget for each kiosk, you could consolidate the budgets to include all kiosks under each supervisor. This will give you a more complete picture of your business without having to delve into every last detail.
Compare your budget against actual performance. Calculate the difference between your budget and the actual results using both a dollar amount and a percentage amount.
Prepare your consolidated budgeting reports for top executives. Business executives don’t want to see every detail; they want to see the big picture. Most budgeting software solutions can help you create a consolidated budget report. However, if you have trouble creating this automatically, you can create it manually by following these steps:

– Add up all sales.

– Add up all costs of sales.

– Subtract cost of sales from sales – this calculates your gross margin.

– Subtract admin costs from the gross margin – this is your gross profit.

– Subtract depreciation and interest from gross profit – this is your net profit.

Stay tuned for more tips and tricks to help you consolidate your business budget. For more effective business budgeting tips, read past articles on our blog. If you need help creating an effective business budget, contact our certified CPAs and accountants today.

Is it Time to Hire an Accountant for My Business or Nonprofit Organization?

Running a business or not-for-profit organization is hard work. Not only do you have to effectively manage the day-to-day operation, but you also have to effectively manage and maintain your business and organization’s finances (which is no small feat). Many businesses and not-for-profits choose to handle their finances on their own in an effort to save money; however, the stress of managing these financial responsibilities on their own often leads to frustration and unintentional errors.

Businesses and not-for-profit organizations are not always aware of federal regulations and changing laws, and managing their finances on their own can become cumbersome as they have to commit more time to researching ever-evolving accounting regulations to maintain full compliance. Hiring an accountant or CPA would be beneficial in this aspect, as they have full knowledge of business and not-for-profit accounting regulations. Whether you decide to hire someone full-time or part-time, the help of a CPA can ease your business stress (at least where your accounting and finances are concerned).

If you are unable to keep up with the financial demands required of running your business or not-for-profit, it may be time to hire an accountant. If your answer to any of the following questions is “yes”, it’s time to actively look for a CPA or accountant to handle your finances:

Are you deciding on a business entity or trying to determine 501(c)(3) status?
Do you need help with your taxes?
Could you use some help with your financial reporting?
Are you being audited?
Do you need help differentiating between business and personal expenses for tax purposes?
Are you having a hard time comprehending your financial statements?
Do you need help determining which expenses are tax deductible?
Do you need advice about large purchases, such as buying or leasing a property for business use?

An accountant or CPA is qualified to help in the areas listed above. Whether you need help filing your taxes, determining an entity or not-for-profit status, or creating financial reports, an accountant is a wise investment. If your business or not-for-profit organization is searching for a CPA, give us a call today at (703) 834-0776. Our team of accountants and CPAs are more than qualified to help you with both your small and large accounting tasks.

Want to learn more about our client accounting services? Visit our Accounting Services page to learn how our experienced CPA’s can help you make sense of your company’s or nonprofit’s financials.

Effective Budgeting Tips for the Small Business

As we near the end of the financial year and begin closing out 2013’s books, it’s important to start thinking about next year’s financial situation. For small businesses in particular, reviewing this year’s financial situation and projecting next year’s is crucial to success; however, many businesses enter the new year grasping last year’s budget hoping it will be enough to get them through the year successfully. Instead of planning for the new challenges and situations ahead, they rely on what “worked” for them in the past.

This is a recipe for failure.

Effective budgeting requires planning, often yearly and monthly. If you are not looking ahead and actively anticipating costs, then your budget is not preparing you for success. Here are a few crucial tips to help you develop an effective budget so your business can succeed in 2014 and beyond:

Take the timing of payments and expenses into account.
Many small business owners make the mistake of averaging yearly incomes and expenses and allocating that amount for every month in the year. While this may seem like a good practice in theory, reality is that your business is probably not be bringing in the specified amount of income every month. You need to take into account the timing of your payments and bills. If you make the majority of your money during peak seasons, make sure that your budget reflects this. If some of your expenses are only annually or quarterly, your budget will need to reflect that as well. Dividing the sum over 12 months is not a realistic – or effective – budget, and it can lead to some serious cash flow errors. Effective budgeting involves projecting each month’s income and expenses so you have a better idea of what you are facing every month.
Review last year’s numbers.
Before you start planning for next year’s budget, you need to thoroughly evaluate this last year’s budget. Make sure that your employees and business partners have taken a look at last year’s capital and rate of returns, as well as your business’ expenses. Brainstorm ways to cut costs in the coming year and anticipate changes, such as the need to purchase new software or hire additional employees.
Run periodic budget comparison reports.
An important part of effective budgeting involves comparing your budget to your business’ actuals. We suggest performing a monthly, quarterly and yearly budget comparison in which you compare your budget with the actual amounts earned and expenses incurred in the specified time frame. This will help you determine the changes you need to grow your business, as well as provide you with some insight into your business’ current financial situation. If you are not running periodic budget comparison reports, your budget is ineffective. Don’t let your budget be something you look at once at the beginning of the year; make sure that it plays an active role in your business and business decisions.
Reevaluate your technology purchasing plans.
Investing in new technology is usually a good idea. New technology solutions, such as Peachtree, Sage software or Microsoft Dynamics, often save small businesses a significant amount of money and time, as well as help them improve efficiency and employee productivity. Investing in too much technology, however, can be detrimental to your business. Before you invest in yet another technology, take a look at your budget. An effective budget will give you a realistic picture of your company’s financial situation and help you determine if that purchase is a “smart” investment.If, in fact, you do have room in your budget to justify the purchase, make sure that you have thought through the alternatives before you add the technology purchase to your budget. Is there a cheaper alternative? Is there a more affordable way to accomplish the same task? How have you been able to get along without the technology this far? Is it really necessary? Answering these questions will help you determine whether or not your company should make the investment.

Effective budgeting requires extensive planning and realistic oversight. If your budget is not realistic, it is not going to do your company any good. For more effective budgeting tips, stay tuned to our blog.

Should You Hire a Tax Preparation Business Consultant?

Does your business prepare and file its own taxes? While preparing and filing your own taxes may seem more logical than hiring out a professional to do it, it may be in your best interest to hire a tax preparation business consultant. As the tax code continues to expand and become even more complicated, business owners are having a hard time understanding new tax laws. That is, if they even have time to read the lengthy tax code.

While the cost of hiring a tax preparation business consultant may seem expensive at first glance, it will actually save your company a substantial amount of time, money, and frustration in the long run. A professional consultant will know the tax laws and regulations that apply to your business and be able to prepare an accurate return for your business. Choosing the right consultant, however, is essential.

The IRS has provided a lengthy list of requirements business owners should use when hiring a tax professional. For your convenience, we have compiled a tax preparation business consultant checklist to assist you in your search for the perfect tax consultant. Keep the following characteristics in mind as you review your tax preparation business consultant options:

Is the consultant licensed? Licensed professionals are the only ones authorized to represent you before the IRS on tax matters (including audits), so make sure your tax preparation business consultant meets the proper licensing requirements. You can view these requirements here.
Do they offer a free consultation? The initial consultation is essentially the “interview”, and it is just as important as hiring a new employee. Remember, you are legally liable for the information on your tax return, so you your tax preparation business consultant with care. Bring a copy of last year’s tax return to the consultation and discuss how your business situation has changed over the year. Clarify your needs during this consultation to see if the consultant can deliver upon your requests.
How will they charge you for their services? Find out as much information as you can about the tax preparer’s fees before you begin your service with him or her. Some consultants will charge for the number of forms (also known as Schedules) filed while others will charge by the hour. Gaining an understanding of these fees beforehand is important so you aren’t blindsided by a high bill months down the road. One good way to gain an understanding of their charges and fees is to ask what they would have charged to complete last year’s tax return.
Will the consultant be available a year from now? It’s important for businesses to be able to contact their tax preparation business consultant about any questions they have regarding their tax return, whether that be months or years later. Make sure your consultant has a stable history before you hire them.
Does the consultant have any complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau? Make sure that you have thoroughly investigated his or her credentials and find out if they have any complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau. If they do have complaints, begin looking for other options.
Does the consultant ask for receipts / more information to determine whether expenses qualify for deductions? A reputable tax preparation business consultant will ask for any and all receipts to determine what expenses qualify for deductions, and they will ask multiple questions to gain a better understanding of your business expenses.
Will your tax return’s preparation be outsourced? This could lead to significant security risks, particularly if your personal information is being transmitted via the Internet. Find out if the consultant will be preparing your tax return his or herself. If not, you may want to look elsewhere. After all, you are paying for the consultant – not the outsourcing service.
What is the consultant’s experience with IRS audit? Ask about their history with the IRS and whether or not they would represent you should your tax return be audited.
Do they have a reimbursement policy in case you end up owing back taxes on a return they prepared? Many reputable tax preparation business consultants have insurance for this particular case.

A tax preparation business consultant is a smart investment if you choose the right person. By using the above tax preparation business consultant checklist, you will be prepared to ask the right questions and – ultimately – hire the right consultant for your business.

If you are looking for a tax preparation consultant, contact us today. Our team consists of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) and Business Advisors to help your business navigate the complicated tax laws and legislation.

5 Finance Tips from Small Business Owners Just Like You

Are you a small business owner? If so, you are more than likely familiar with the stress related to running a small business. You are required not only to be available to answer questions pertaining to the day-to-day activities of the business, but you are also required to keep an eye on your business’ finances and plan for the future. It’s a hard job, but somebody’s got to do it…right?

While we cannot assist with the day-to-day tasks or make the hard decisions for you, we can offer some tips designed to help improve your finances. Our Washington DC CPAs and business advisors meet with business owners like you every day to provide financial services to their companies, and we receive a countless number of tips from our time meeting with them. Keep the following finance tips in mind as you continue on in your business ventures:

Always keep your finances in order. This may seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at the state of some companies’ finances. Make sure that you are maintaining your finances effectively and have someone who is keeping an eye on the financial status of your company. Hiring a CPA or accountant to perform crucial financial services would be a smart move if you do not have one on staff. Remember that potential investors will want to take a look at your company’s finances, so don’t let this area slide. Maintaining your finances now could make you more attractive to investors, not to mention that it will set up business up for future success.
Minimize financial risk. Minimizing risk is essential in financial management. Make sure that your most important and valuable business items are well-insured, and evaluate all financial decisions prior to making them. Make sure that your financial records are well-maintained so you have the knowledge you need to make all financial decisions.
Maintain separate personal and business financial accounts. Maintaining boundaries where money is involved is always a good idea. Consider separating your personal and business bank accounts. This will not only be helpful when it comes tax-time, but it will also be useful in maintaining your company’s finances.
Record all of your transactions. This is bookkeeping 101. If you haven’t been recording all of your transactions from Day 1, it is time to start now. It is crucial to be meticulous about your financial and business records so you can answer any and all questions about your company’s finances. Maintaining good records will help you with taxes, running your business, and investing in other business ventures. Make sure you write down (or input into your accounting system) everything. Don’t leave any financial questions unanswered and don’t set yourself up for an audit by maintaining poor records.
Remember to file your taxes quarterly. Self-employed business owners have different tax obligations. Rather than filing once a year, small business owners are required to file their federal and state taxes quarterly. Don’t make the costly mistake of filing only once a year. Figure out what you owe every quarter, and remember to put the money aside prior to its due date. Consider your tax bill as simply another bill you have to pay and – if it helps – invoice yourself regularly so you remember to put the money aside.

Stay tuned to our blog for more important small business tips from business owners just like you. If you are looking for financial services for your small business or simply need an accountant to come alongside you, contact us today. We offer many financial services to businesses just like you and would be more than happy to answer any financial questions you have regarding your business.

Why It is Necessary for Small Businesses to Maintain Accurate Financial Records

Why do some small businesses fail in the first five years of business? While the slow economy can be to blame for some of the failed businesses, mismanaged finances is the largest culprit. Keeping an accurate record of your company’s finances is crucial to not only understanding your company’s financial demands, but also to staying in business for years to come. Accurately recorded books also provide small businesses with current, up-to-date financial information, giving them insight into the company’s current situation and enabling them to make informed financial decisions for the company’s future.

Why is Bookkeeping So Important to My Business?
First of all, if a company wishes to seek out potential buyers or funders in the future, it is important to maintain and uphold accurate financial records. When investors and lenders express interest in a company, they will want to examine clear and well-kept books in order to gain an accurate assessment of the business.

Proper bookkeeping, in addition to preventing costly audits, builds the business’ framework by outlining its strengths and weaknesses. Without proper bookkeeping, a company’s quarterly reviews would be useless. These reviews help business leaders make accurate, informed decisions for the future of the company based on the information gleaned from their important financial documents. Without accurate financial records, business leaders would not be able to make decisions on the company’s growth or identify any problem-areas needing immediate attention. Basically, if a company wishes to grow and succeed, it needs to have immediate access to important financial information.

Identity theft and other threats have also increased the importance of accurate bookkeeping. If a company has a well-maintained set of books, identity theft or a simple error will stick out like a sore thumb. If a company’s books are not properly maintained, it will be easier for identity theft and errors to slip under the cracks and cause extensive amounts of damage.

Maintaining good bookkeeping practices is not hard; it just requires a little time and attention. Find out how to clean up your records with these bookkeeping basics designed for small businesses.

Does Your Business Need a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan in Place?

Disaster can strike at any time, in any way. While natural disasters (such as fire or flood) are not as common as you’d think, your company can still be compromised by instances such as power outages, malware attacks, and computer viruses. Many businesses have a simple data recovery plan in place, and that is it. While it’s important to have a data recovery plan in the case of data loss, you probably need a more sustainable plan.

So many businesses depend upon technology to accomplish their daily tasks. If disaster were to occur, they could lose business-critical information, put their vital information at risk, and be forced to put their business on hold. Most businesses cannot afford the risks that come with not have a disaster recovery and business continuity plan in place.
For this reason, we have developed a checklist to aid you in developing your disaster recovery and business continuity plan.

Identify a Project Team
The first step to creating your disaster recovery and business continuity plan is to identify the project team members and project schedule. Make sure that you include any one who will be impacted by a potential disaster. If you all key staff members are involved and included in the planning process.
Revisit Your Data Backup Plan
Most businesses have a data backup plan in place. If you do not, we suggest you create one now. A data backup plan consists of ways to backup your data should an undesirable event (such as a natural disaster or malware attack) occur. Many companies are relying on the Cloud to store and backup their business-critical data for its ease of use and flexibility. Businesses can retrieve data stored in the Cloud from any location, making it a desirable form of data backup.While the Cloud has its advantages, many businesses have concerns about data security in the Cloud. For this reason, many businesses choose to store and backup their data off-site. Choose the plan that works best for your firm and revisit it once a year to make sure the proper security measures are in place.
Review Potential Areas of Impact
In order to develop a disaster recovery and business continuity plan, you have to be able to predict the potential areas of impact. Review the potential disruptions that could occur in the case of a disaster.
Create Disaster Readiness Strategies
Once you have identified the areas that could be impacted by a disaster, you need to begin creating your disaster response strategies. Look at each area in your business and establish a plan for business continuity. Ask yourself the following questions as you are developing your business continuity strategies:
- If ______ is affected, how can we get our business up and running in a timely manner?
- How will we respond to loss of data? Do we have a plan to prevent data loss from occurring?
- How will we replace damaged equipment?
- Do we have policies in place if a disaster occurs? What role will our employees play?
These are good questions to ask as you are creating your disaster readiness strategies. The better prepared you are to face a disaster, the better off your company will be.

Implement the Plan
Once you have created strategies and developed your disaster recovery and business continuity plan, it is time to implement the plan. Make your employees aware of the disaster recovery plan and begin implementing applicable security measures so your accounting firm is ready if a disaster should occur.
Testing and Maintenance
After your plan is implemented and your data back and security measures are in place, you will need to test and maintain your plan. Simply developing the plan is no good; you have to ensure that the plan works as you predicted. Testing might reveal weak areas in your plan and give you the opportunity to create a plan that better protects your business.

Once you have developed an effective disaster recovery and business continuity plan, you need to be actively maintaining your plan. Make sure your software is up-to-date, your policies are current, and your backup methods are reliable. Proper maintenance will save your business from losing business-critical information and time.

As you can see, developing and maintaining a current disaster recovery and business continuity plan is critical for accountants. To learn more about the importance of developing such plans, click here.

Mid-Year Checklist for Small Business Financial Planning

Running a small business requires a lot of planning and effort. While many small businesses focus their attention on the year-end, it is just as important to revisit your company’s financial plan mid-year. Financial planning is an ongoing process for small business owners and taking action now can help you prepare for future success.

Keep the following checklist in mind as you prepare to go over your company’s financial plans this summer:

1. Meet with a tax consultant.

Many small businesses make the mistake of waiting until tax time to begin thinking about their taxes. By then, it is too late to take action and reduce your tax payments. By meeting with a tax consultant earlier in the year, you will have plenty of time to go over your company’s financials and discuss your best options. More importantly, you will still have time to act on your tax consultant’s suggestions for the year.

2. Assess your estimated tax payments for the year prior.

Now that you’ve hit the mid-way point for the year, it is time to assess your estimated tax payments for the rest of the year. Review your business’ year to date financial earnings and forecast your earnings for the rest of the year. Once you have totaled your small business’ estimated earnings for the year, assess your estimated tax payments to avoid any underpayment penalties. Make sure you adjust your final two estimated tax payments as needed.

3. Re-evaluate your business entity.

Mid-year is the perfect time to re-evaluate your small business entity. Many small businesses start out as partnerships or sole proprietorships only to transition to another entity further down the road. If your small business is not incorporated, you may want to consider incorporating it (as a C Corp, S Corp, or LLC) to possibly save money on taxes and protect your company from some financial risk. Some companies are formed with one entity target in mind and may need to reassess the entity for a different revenue level. Whatever your situation, make sure that you adjust your entity before it’s too late. Failure to adjust your entity due to revenue can be a costly error.

Make sure you discuss your situation with your tax consultant prior to making any decisions. He or she will guide you through the process, determine the right entity for your situation, and let you know when to change it.

4. Assess your company’s recordkeeping process.

In order to run effectively and efficiently, your business needs to keep up accurate records. If your business could use some help in the recordkeeping department, mid-year is the perfect time to assess your current processes and procedures. If you have not been keeping track of your business expenses, now is the perfect time to catch up. If your employees are struggling to accomplish certain administrative tasks, look for an alternative solution (such as outsourcing, investing in a technology solution to accomplish the job more effectively, or dedicating a set amount of time each week to that specific task).

It may seem like a lot of work now, but you will be grateful for the updated books come tax-time.

As you can see, there are plenty of tasks your small business can perform mid-year to get ready for tax-time. Plan for any equipment maintenance that needs to be done on equipment still under warranty. Re-evaluate your small business budget for the year and redistribute expenses as needed. Do everything you can to ensure that your company’s financials are in tip-top shape come tax-time. While it may seem like you just filed your return for this year, it is never too early to start preparing for the next tax year.

Important Tax Tips for the Small Business

Tax preparation season is here and with it comes a lot of stress. While we can’t eliminate the stress that tax season brings, we can give you some tips to help you prepare for tax season. As a small business owner, you need to have a clear understanding of how this year’s taxes are going to affect you and your business. Keep the following tips in mind as you prepare for the April 15, 2013 deadline:

Maintain Good Records

Ensure that your taxes are filed accurately by maintaining good records year-round. Make sure that you have any necessary paperwork readily available come tax time. Should you be audited, you will need the paperwork to back up your deduction claims.

Know What Deductions You Can Take

Do you know what small business deductions you can take? Remember that if you take any small business deductions, you will need the documentation and original receipts readily available. Tax deductions and credits change each year, so make sure you have thoroughly researched your deductions prior to sending in your tax return.

Take Advantage of the Small Business Jobs Act Tax Provisions

Signed into law by President Obama, the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 consists of 17 tax provisions designed to decrease the tax burden for small businesses. Several of these provisions can be utilized during this year’s tax season (2013) so make sure you review them thoroughly.

Remember the Credits within the Affordable Care Act

The tax credits within the Affordable Care Act allow a small business to cover up to 35% of the premiums it pays to cover its employees. Keep in mind that in 2014, this rate will increase to 50%.

Avoid the Most Common Audit Traps

Be aware of any following potential red flags and act on them before the IRS has a chance to:

Home Office Deduction – This deduction is very specific. Just because you have a home-based business does not mean that your business will qualify for this deduction. Likewise, if you operate your business from a location outside of the home yet claim a home office deduction, you might trigger some unwanted attention from the IRS. Make sure that your business is eligible to claim this deduction and make sure you know what specific expenses you can write off if you claim it.
Classifying Your Employees as Independent Contractors – Contractors are not the same thing as employees, and it is very important for you to know the difference. The IRS views this misclassification as an attempt to avoid paying payroll taxes and even the slightest mistake can bring penalties and back taxes. Because of this, it is important that you make sure you know the proper classification of those who work for your business.
Large Miscellaneous Deductions – Any time the IRS sees businesses claim a large amount of itemized deductions relative to your income, they become suspicious. Likewise if they see large amounts of miscellaneous expenses reported. Make sure that you are specific and label every deduction accordingly.

Keep Your Personal Expenses Separate from Your Business Expenses

Know that the IRS closely scrutinizes any personal expense that is claimed as a business expense (such as the use of a business vehicle for personal use). Keep good records and maintain a separate bank and credit card accounts for your business. Trust us on this one, you will be glad that you did.

We know that tax time can be stressful, especially with all of the uncertainty regarding changes to tax laws. As you prepare your business to enter tax season, keep the above tips in mind. If you feel that you are in over your head, considering hiring an accountant or CPA to assist you with your tax preparation. For more information on how to go about choosing an accountant, read our article, “What Should I Look for in an Accountant?”.