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.