It's Almost Year End!

Oh no! December 31st is approaching! Rapidly! Are your books in order? Your accounts up to date? Are you realising that you should have been entering your financial info into some sort of software program all year long?
Grab that big brown bag of receipts and get a move on. It may be time to call in a professional bookkeeper to minimize your frustration and maximize the benefits. It will cost you a lot less than having your CPA work through it when he is trying to prepare your tax returns.

New Federal Withholding Tables

Thanks to the federal stimulus package that reduced federal withholding amounts for most of the year you will now be getting a smaller paycheck. The tables are again being readjusted to remedy errors in the original package. It may be too little to late though. Many taxpayers are expected to have reduced refunds or even worse - owe at the end of the year. Prepare yourself accordingly.

Bank Recs

It's amazing how many people don't reconcile their bank accounts on a monthly basis. To me this is essential to keeping track of your finances. Especially if you are using a debit card. This way you can make sure that every bank transaction is valid and that you have accounted for them all.
If you aren't keeping track of what is happening in your bank account how will you know if you are a victim of fraud or identity theft?
With online banking access it is easier than ever to track this. I highly recommend it for everyone - business and personal.

Mortgage Crisis

I read a cheery bit by the Associated Press yesterday that predicted the mortgage crisis was going to get worse before it gets better. They were predicting the bottom hitting in 2011 and that roughly half of americans now owe more on their home than it is worth.
It's kind of depressing news. Although I guess not surprising.
It emphasizes the need to keep your finances in order and to know where you stand at all time.

Wake Up Call

Tracking our personal expenses in QuickBooks has definately been a wake up call. It's great to know how much you've spent so far each month and where you are spending. It makes it a lot easier to create a budget and to see where you are overspending.

I think everyone should use some type of software or tracking program for their expenses. Some banks offer online tracking of expense types. There is also mint.com, which is a free online service that connects to your online bank accounts and allows you to easily track your spending.

So take charge of your finances. You know you need to.

Personal Finances in a Tough Economy

With the rapidly dwindling economy and the scarcity of dollars, my husband and I recently decided to keep better track of our personal finances. We decided the best way to do that was using QuickBooks software.

Step 1: We set up a company for our personal accounts.
Step 2: We entered in our bank accounts including opening balances for our selected start date.
Step 3: We each enter our own bank & cash transactions on a weekly basis.

Now we can see exactly how much we are spending and where we are spending it. This will make it much easier to target those areas we are over spending and begin budgeting our money.

Once we have a couple months of data in we will be able to develop a budget.

The best part is you can use all the fun reports, graphs and pie charts that QuickBooks offers to see where you stand at any point in time.

Sales Tax on Internet Sales

The Supreme Court has backed state sales tax on Internet sales. New Mexico had imposed its gross receipts tax on Dell Computer’s Internet sales in the state, even though Dell had no physical presence in the state other than a third-party service tech under contract. State courts found for the state, and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case. Sales taxes on Web sales face more challenges, but the tax should not be ignored. [Dell Marketing LP v. Taxation and Revenue Dept. of the State of New Mexico, No. 26,843, N.M. Ct. App. 2008]

>Tax Day 2009!!

Your tax deadline is 11:59pm tonight! Don't forget to file your taxes or file for an extension!!

Business Mileage

When keeping a mileage record for reimbursement of business mileage be sure to indicate in your journal what the purpose was for each trip. It is not enough to just mark it as 'business'. If you are audited the IRS will not accept that as well documented.
In other words if you are, for example, showing a client a property - indicated that including client name and the location of the property.
It's always better to over document than not provide enough information.

California Sales Tax

California companies take heed! The sales tax will be increasing to 8.75% effective April 1st, 2009. This is supposed to be a "temporary" increase through 2011. We'll see how temporary that is.
Remember to change your records so that you'll be all set when it comes time to submit your payments to the State Board of Equalization.

The Dreaded Tax Crunch

April 15th is rapidly approaching. Do you have your receipts and bank statements ready to go? Did you plan ahead this year and use accounting software to make your tax prep easier?

If you are running your own business, no matter how small, it really pays to organize your accounting using financial software such as QuickBooks. You may think you don't have time to do it yourself and that may very well be true. But can you afford not to do it?

Hiring a freelance bookkeeping professional can save you money in the long run. It is much more cost effective to have a professional bookkeeper keep your books up to date then to pay your Certified Public Accountant to straighten out your bookkeeping while he/she is doing your taxes.

If you are all set for 2008 taxes, think ahead for 2009 and be prepared!

Mileage Rates

Last July the IRS raised the business mileage rate to $0.585 per mile due to the rapidly rising fuel prices. Now that the price of gas has significantly decreased the IRS has lowered the mileage rate for 2009 to $0.55 per mile for business use.

The mileage rate for medical use is now $0.24 per mile.

The mileage rater for charitable purposes is $0.14 per mile.

New Year, New Business

By now you should be through the headache of year-end payroll reporting requirements and sending out the 1099's to your eligible vendors. Did you get caught in a time crunch? Or miss some of those very time-sensitive filing dates?
Maybe you should consider out-sourcing your bookkeeping needs so that you don't need to pay late penalties and interest charges next year. It can be a cost effective solution. A few hours a month may be all you require to get a handle on your books.