With tax season upon us, as a small business owner, you might find that your accounting software really isn't taking care of your taxes the way you wish it would. Well, there is so much competition in the market for software for small business taxes that it's quite likely that you will find a better option out there. From mere apps for phones and tablets it to full-blown tax software for the computer, you'll find that tax software companies are totally anxious to meet your needs. You don't even have to worry about how to make the move to a new tool. Most of them offer you plenty of easy ways to do this.
As you look through the choices available to you in software for small business taxes, you'll find that a disproportionate number of software vendors come from Europe - around Britain, especially. Let's take a look.
Free Agent, for instance, is a Scotland-based vendor of software for small business taxes. It's very informative program that actually teaches you about small business taxes as you use it. The user interface couldn't be simpler, either. It's a simple tab-based system that lets you quickly switch among your estimates, your expenses, your billing, your bank data and so on. You can create expense reports, pull up invoices and so on. It's pretty affordable too at $20 a month. You just have to consider how the software requires that you be quite conversant with accounting techniques.
Yendo, like Free Agent, is from Europe, this time from Ireland. It's a very simple and easy-to-use application that's especially built for smartphones and tablets. The small size of the devices that they run on doesn't mean that these are not serious applications. This app has some pretty powerful analytical features. Not only is it easy to use, it's easy to understand, too. You can use the free version, if you have very limited needs. Anything about five invoices a month though, and it'll cost you $50 month.
From the Old World to the world Down Under, Xero is a program from the land of the Kiwi (the bird, and the fruit). This software from New Zealand will give you some pretty deep features to help you understand your small business taxes. It'll throw up all kinds of graphs and other statistical expressions. Well it's pretty affordable at $20 a month. But you might want to look elsewhere if you're not really conversant with accounting protocols.
And finally, from closer home, the Canadian company Kashoo has a completely deep feature set and it's accounting package. From check printing to bookkeeping and statistical analysis, it's about the most powerful tool you can hope for.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
So What about That Ad That Says You Can Make an Offer on IRS Back Taxes
Let's try to understand how IRS back taxes work.
Let's take this scenario up as an example. Let's say, that in the year 2006, you decided that it would be a good idea if you went and got stock options. Unfortunately, you made a bad bet and in a couple of months, it was obvious that they were worth very little. Or maybe you made an investment in one of those get rich quick schemes on the Internet, and it doesn't pay off (big surprise).
But a few things go well for you, too. You went to Atlantic City and won a few thousand dollars. A year down the line, the financial crisis begins. You are laid off from work, you lose your health insurance and a member of the family needs an operation.
In the middle of all this, a piece of IRS certified mail shows up under your door. It turns out that you forgot to pay anything for the Atlantic city winnings, and now, they want you to pay them $20,000 in back taxes. Of course, you don't have anything, so you feel that you should just send them what you can - a check for $1000 to show them that you mean well.
You do finally find a low-paying job, but by now, the credit card companies are on your trail too. As time goes on, you notice that your IRS back taxes are mounting. They're asking you to pay more and more because at your new place of employment, there's nothing withheld out of your paycheck for your taxes. You figure you needed every penny you had and couldn't afford to have anything withheld.
At this point, there's nothing you can do but to pick up every piece of certified mail that arrives and then, too scared to open it, you put it all in a big Samsonite suitcase in the closet. Before long, the Samsonite suitcases begins to fill up too.
You're worried sick about all this, and you figure that you buy a nice iPad 3 with the one credit card there is a little spending limit left on, to console yourself. One day, as you're surfing the net, you see a great ad in full Retina Display glory - they say that you can settle your IRS back taxes by paying no more than 2% of what you owe.
When someone says that to you on a high resolution screen, what choice do you have but to believe them? Well, they have all kinds of amazing testimonials - people who have paid off $100,000 IRS back taxes for just $500 for instance.
All you need to do, they say, is to offer the IRS something called an offer in compromise. That's just a good faith payment to the IRS if you tell them that you really are not able to pay anymore. The IRS just takes your word for it, and they completely erase your debt. Of course, you feel that you should jump at the offer, right?
As you might expect, that's not how this works out. It's not that there Offer in Compromise system is fake. It's real, certainly, and it's been around for years. But you have to prove to the IRS that you really are poor. They don't take your word for it. They demand proof.
If you're someone who has an iPad (and the IRS knows), they are going to want it first of all. You need to give them a full list of all your assets so that they know that you're poor. Well, that's how the cookie crumbles.
Let's take this scenario up as an example. Let's say, that in the year 2006, you decided that it would be a good idea if you went and got stock options. Unfortunately, you made a bad bet and in a couple of months, it was obvious that they were worth very little. Or maybe you made an investment in one of those get rich quick schemes on the Internet, and it doesn't pay off (big surprise).
But a few things go well for you, too. You went to Atlantic City and won a few thousand dollars. A year down the line, the financial crisis begins. You are laid off from work, you lose your health insurance and a member of the family needs an operation.
In the middle of all this, a piece of IRS certified mail shows up under your door. It turns out that you forgot to pay anything for the Atlantic city winnings, and now, they want you to pay them $20,000 in back taxes. Of course, you don't have anything, so you feel that you should just send them what you can - a check for $1000 to show them that you mean well.
You do finally find a low-paying job, but by now, the credit card companies are on your trail too. As time goes on, you notice that your IRS back taxes are mounting. They're asking you to pay more and more because at your new place of employment, there's nothing withheld out of your paycheck for your taxes. You figure you needed every penny you had and couldn't afford to have anything withheld.
At this point, there's nothing you can do but to pick up every piece of certified mail that arrives and then, too scared to open it, you put it all in a big Samsonite suitcase in the closet. Before long, the Samsonite suitcases begins to fill up too.
You're worried sick about all this, and you figure that you buy a nice iPad 3 with the one credit card there is a little spending limit left on, to console yourself. One day, as you're surfing the net, you see a great ad in full Retina Display glory - they say that you can settle your IRS back taxes by paying no more than 2% of what you owe.
When someone says that to you on a high resolution screen, what choice do you have but to believe them? Well, they have all kinds of amazing testimonials - people who have paid off $100,000 IRS back taxes for just $500 for instance.
All you need to do, they say, is to offer the IRS something called an offer in compromise. That's just a good faith payment to the IRS if you tell them that you really are not able to pay anymore. The IRS just takes your word for it, and they completely erase your debt. Of course, you feel that you should jump at the offer, right?
As you might expect, that's not how this works out. It's not that there Offer in Compromise system is fake. It's real, certainly, and it's been around for years. But you have to prove to the IRS that you really are poor. They don't take your word for it. They demand proof.
If you're someone who has an iPad (and the IRS knows), they are going to want it first of all. You need to give them a full list of all your assets so that they know that you're poor. Well, that's how the cookie crumbles.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Is There a Way out of an IRS Tax Levy Situation
A CP 90 or CP 297 notice in the mail from the IRS - it's one of the scariest things you ever experience, to open an envelope with one of these notices. An IRS tax levy intimation isn't an unstoppable force that has been set in motion. You still have the power to change its course.
But you have to be quick. You can be one of those people who are too afraid of the IRS to open an e-mail from them. Once you get an IRS tax levy notice, your 30 day clock to respond starts. When your time runs out, they begin delivery process - they come and grab your property or something to pay for what they think you owe them.
No, they aren't going to beat your door down with a battering ram and grab your large screen TV. They'll just send an IRS tax levy notice to your employer and grab your money right at the source.
This is a situation that you don't want, of course. Once your place of employment knows about your tax problems, it isn't going to look good on your employee evaluation. Basically, the IRS, once they set their sights on you, are not going to let go until you either pay up or give them a reason why they have the wrong man.
Now that last part probably has your interest right away - convincing them that they have to wrong man. The first thing you want to do is to get professional help - go to a tax firm and retain them. You need their guidance.
Take a look at all your tax returns and try to look for and find out what the IRS has a problem with. If you owe the IRS anything, of course, it's going to be hard to get them off your case.
After you've taken care of all your back taxes, see your tax professional about putting a 433-F financial statement for the current year together - fully supported with old documentation needed. Once the IRS takes a look at your 433-F, they'll come back to you with their thoughts on how you can put this behind you.
It couldn't hurt if you got yourself abreast of the IRS to find out what expenses the IRS allows in your kind of case. If none of this seems to work for you, you do have other options at your disposal.
You could, for instance, talk to the IRS to agree to an installment plan. They'll ask you to prove to them that you really are unable to pay all their dues right away. But if you do convince them, this could be a perfectly acceptable way to go forward. Or else, if you are able to prove to them that you're too financially challenged to be able to pay them back, you can come back to them with an Offer in Compromise.
You really don't have to worry about having the IRS believe. Most of the time, they are just happy to work with you.
But you have to be quick. You can be one of those people who are too afraid of the IRS to open an e-mail from them. Once you get an IRS tax levy notice, your 30 day clock to respond starts. When your time runs out, they begin delivery process - they come and grab your property or something to pay for what they think you owe them.
No, they aren't going to beat your door down with a battering ram and grab your large screen TV. They'll just send an IRS tax levy notice to your employer and grab your money right at the source.
This is a situation that you don't want, of course. Once your place of employment knows about your tax problems, it isn't going to look good on your employee evaluation. Basically, the IRS, once they set their sights on you, are not going to let go until you either pay up or give them a reason why they have the wrong man.
Now that last part probably has your interest right away - convincing them that they have to wrong man. The first thing you want to do is to get professional help - go to a tax firm and retain them. You need their guidance.
Take a look at all your tax returns and try to look for and find out what the IRS has a problem with. If you owe the IRS anything, of course, it's going to be hard to get them off your case.
After you've taken care of all your back taxes, see your tax professional about putting a 433-F financial statement for the current year together - fully supported with old documentation needed. Once the IRS takes a look at your 433-F, they'll come back to you with their thoughts on how you can put this behind you.
It couldn't hurt if you got yourself abreast of the IRS to find out what expenses the IRS allows in your kind of case. If none of this seems to work for you, you do have other options at your disposal.
You could, for instance, talk to the IRS to agree to an installment plan. They'll ask you to prove to them that you really are unable to pay all their dues right away. But if you do convince them, this could be a perfectly acceptable way to go forward. Or else, if you are able to prove to them that you're too financially challenged to be able to pay them back, you can come back to them with an Offer in Compromise.
You really don't have to worry about having the IRS believe. Most of the time, they are just happy to work with you.
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