Small Business Tax Help: Getting Your Business Through… | Two Roads

Small Business Tax Help: Getting Your Business Through Tax Season

Remember last year when you promised yourself to be more organized for tax time? Focusing on the daily running of your small business may have left you little time to keep this promise. Now, you're looking for small business tax help tips to get you through, and that's exactly what you'll find in today's post!

Small Business Tax Help

But don’t worry, with these small business tax help tips for organizing your paperwork, you'll be ready for next tax season. At the same time, you can start some new, positive business habits for the future.

Organization

Maybe you have procrastinated long enough and it’s time to get organized.

Our suggestion? Start taking time each day to find all papers you will need for the tax season.

Preparing for tax season should be considered an ongoing practice, not something you do at the very last minute. If you take time each day, you won’t feel pressured to scramble around at the last minute trying to get all the paperwork gathered.

(Visit this post for some can't-miss financial record-keeping tips: From Shoebox to Success: How to Update Your Business Financial Records)

Payroll

Always look at payroll as one of the top priorities when preparing for the upcoming tax season.

It’s crucial to make certain all your paperwork is in order to prove the amount of payroll expense for the year. If you have employees, you are responsible for getting the employees the W-2 forms by the end of January. The forms need to be filed with the Social Security Administration in order to prove wages paid and the amount of taxes withheld from each employee for the year.

If you hired an independent contractor during the tax year and the pay was over $600, you’ll need to have a W-9 form. The contractor must provide you with business licenses and proof of insurance. Keeping contractor and employee records up to date should be an ongoing process throughout the year.

Receipts, Statements & Invoices

You know the importance of saving everything. Now you must find all those receipts, statements, and invoices that pertain to your business. Locate each receipt including the ones in the car, home, on your desk and anywhere else you may have placed them for safekeeping.

Next, begin sorting everything into relevant stacks:

  • Receipts are important for your tax deductions. Proving the amount of expenditures for your business can help reduce your end-of-year tax owed.
  • Sort receipts into personal and business use. Since you own a small business, there will be a certain amount of receipts you can use in both categories.
  • Be prepared to show income earned and expenses paid.
  • Have bank statements available to help aid in the documentation of expenses paid and income earned
  • Consider going electronic. The IRS accepts electronic scans of receipts for documentation. The process can help you save time and money by storing everything in a digital manner. Your cellphone may also help with this process. (Read about how cloud bookkeeping boosts transparency in this post)
  • If you have begun to utilize electronic data transfer, you need to periodically back up the information.

(Before you go, don't miss this post next: 4 Really Good Tips For Effective Invoicing for Small Businesses)

Tax season can be less stressful with some planning and multi-tasking. If you designate a small amount of time each day for preparation, you will feel ready for the looming tax deadline.

Get Small Business Tax Help from Two Roads

If you are tired of doing this yourself and need more small business tax help, give us a call at Two Roads. We'd love to help keep you organized to make tax season a breeze!

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This post was first published in 2013 but it was updated in 2021 just for you.