Best Resources For Tax Information
Author: Maria Marsala, Life & Business Evolution

Where can a business owner obtain tax information? When you don't know what questions to ask, it's very helpful to take some classes, and read a few articles prior to visiting with a CPA. Enjoy these resources:

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

The IRS has the best free classes around! Call your local office to find out when the home business or sole proprietorship classes are held. The home business class is a half-day class; the sole proprietorship class is a full day. The difference between these two classes -- the extra half day -- is spent dealing with employee tax information. Take a class every year. Expenses are deductible and I bet you will learn quite a few things each year.

Web site at http://www.irs.ustreas.gov, or call toll free (800) 829-3676. Ask for Business Kit Publication 454 and STEP Publication 1057 (Small Business Tax Education Program). Tell them what type of organization you are considering, how many employees you will have, etc., so they can send you other free helpful publications. They'll even send you a very nice Tax Calendar. Just ask for it!

Local Authorities

Let's look at some local taxing authorities. In some states (such as Washington), the Department of Taxation provides monthly classes for new business owners. They cover state-specific topics such as business income tax, occupancy tax and sales tax.

While we're on the local level, don't forget to contact your county, city or town revenue offices, too. Yes, everyone gets in the act of collecting some sort of tax! It could be yearly, quarterly, or monthly. At the very least, call each entity to see what they need from you and what materials or classes they provide. Don't want to call? The end result is fines and penalties later on -- usually many times more than you would have paid in the first place.

Web Sites

Although the IRS is the premier source for tax information, below are other suggested web sites to visit. Peachtree and Intuit (Quicken, Quickbooks) offer bookkeeping, accounting and tax software.

Sandy Botkin, CPA and attorney, is one of the most well-known national lecturers in the field of tax reduction and audit proofing techniques for small business. http://www.taxreductioninstitute.com/index2.htm

Peachtree Accounting Products www.peachtree.com Bookkeeping and Tax Programs: Quicken, Quickbooks, Turbo Tax http://www.intuit.com/products_services

Taxes and Accounting http://www.quicken.com/small_business/taxes_and_accounting

The Top 10 Essentials for Making a Hobby Into a Business http://209.223.182.20/Sites/topten/public/AA/AA82.html

Dealing Effectively with the IRS http://209.223.182.20/Sites/topten/public/AN/AN23.html

CPA or Book keeper?

Besides trading on Wall Street, I was an Operations & Accounting Manager. At one point, I had book keepers and a few CPA's working for me. I was able to sign off on the work performed by the book-keepers but I wasn't unable to sign off on any internal audits. Why? Because I didn't have a CPA License!

So you can see, there is a difference between a CPA and Book-Keeper. Now a days, with Quicken and Peachtree, many of us can set up our own book keeping and send out invoices - if that is how we choose to use our time.

If you are a sole proprietor, you can
1) hire a CPA firm that will also do your monthly book keeping
2) hire a CPA firm that will help you set up your monthly book keeping system and then you can do your book keeping or hire a book keeper
3) hire a book keeper to do your monthly book keeping
4) you can do it.

One suggestion I received from the IRS, was to set up my files - computer and paper according to the catagory on Schedule C & Form 8829. You'll get to choose the names of the sub-categories based on how your money is spent. And using this tip, you'll easily be able to find the back up for your taxes.

Enjoy my article on CPA's. It's called "The Top 10 Ideas For Choosing a CPA" http://www.coachmaria.com/cpa.html

?2000 Maria Marsala, Life and Business Development Coach http://www.coachmaria.com








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Maria Marsala is the owner of Maria's Place for Holistic Evolution, a successful, nationally recognized, Life and Business Development Coaching and Consulting Company. Maria's Place provides clients--who are committed to having an impact on the world--personal and professional services including coaching, consulting, training, seminars, administrative support and computer/web services. Take a quiz or read the free life and business articles on her website at www.coachmaria.com

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