Homeschool High School

-Transcripts Made Easy

Free GPA Calculator

-Conquer the Test- SAT* Prep

-Get a Jump Start on College!

College at Home

-Excellence in LIterature Gr 8-12

-Evaluate Writing the Easy Way

-Grammar Made Easy

-Spelling Made Easy

Beat the Clock Essay Workshop

Home Business

Articles

Life Management

Catalog

Links

FAQ

Janice Campbell-Speaker Info

Taking Time for Thing That Matter Blog

Contact

Home

• Why Start a Home Business?

• First, Do What You Are! (Coming Soon!)

• Traditional Business Opportunities

• Franchises

• Online Business (aka E-Commerce)

• Microbusiness Ideas

• Marketing

• Recordkeeping

• Business Articles

• Business Resources

• House-Sitting as a Business

• 

Get Ready for Tax Time

By Carol Topp, CPA

If you have been keeping an organized record of your income and expenses, you will find tax preparation easy. If you are unsure how to organize and record your business income and expenses see my related articles on ìKeeping Business Records Organizedî and ìA Simple Bookkeeping System.î

Gather your bookkeeping records and the summary spreadsheet I discussed in "A Simple Bookkeeping System" for your tax preparer. Give him or her printouts of all the backup sheets as well. In addition to the records of your income and expenses by category, your tax preparer will need the following information:

• Miles driven for business. The IRS requires a written record, not an estimate. Often a calendar with the destination and mileage works well, although some business owners prefer a mileage log they keep in their car.
• Business use (as a percent of total use) for shared expenses such as cell phone and Internet use. Only the business portion is tax deductible.
• Date and purchase price of equipment that will be used for more than one year such as computers and printers
• Information on your home office (if it is used exclusively and regularly for your business) such as the square footage of the entire home and your office space, the purchase price, cost of utilities, mortgage interest, insurance, etc.
• Sales tax you collected and paid to your state government
• Contributions to IRAs and self-employed retirement plans (SEP IRA, Keogh, etc.)
• Value of your inventory at the end of the year. Do an inventory count close to the end of the year. Record the quantity of each item and its cost to purchase (not the amount your hope to charge for the item).

Do your record keeping and filing in small bits all year long, instead of waiting until tax time to gather all your information. Start a simple record keeping system now and you will have a better idea of how your business is performing and will find gathering information for your tax preparer much simpler.

Author

Carol Topp, CPA (www.CarolToppCPA.com) consults with small business start-ups, work-at-home moms, and teenagers launching micro businesses. Visit her website for articles, links and ebooks on starting a small business.

---

Affiliate Opportunity

If you would like to earn a commission by offering my e-books on your own website, CLICK HERE. As an Everyday Education affiliate, you can earn 33% of the sale price each time someone clicks on a link on your website and purchases an e-book. It's super-easy to sign up, and it's a good way to earn extra money while sharing valuable information with others.