Useful tax tips for filing your federal tax return
It’s the time again: tax season. Although individual tax returns aren’t due until April 15, America’s CPAs would like to remind you that the taxpayers that get working on their taxes early will make the filing process easier. Below are some of the things you might like to know about getting your taxes done, especially if you’re new at doing them:
First of all, you’re going to need to gather your W-2s and 1099s. When you get this paperwork, put them in a place where you won’t easily lose them, and in a place where you’ll remember because you can’t complete a tax return without them.
Remember that you should check on the rules to see if you’re required to file a federal tax return due to the amount of income that you earn. In other cases, it may benefit you to file a federal income tax return because you had too much income tax withheld.
You’ll have to collect your records. This means you have to round up all of your canceled checks, receipts, and various documents that support your current income. You will also need to gather your deductions and credits that you will be reporting or claiming on your tax return. Try and get your records in the best shape possible so that you’ll only be paying what you owe and nothing extra.
Keep in mind that you may have credits and deductions that may apply to you; you may not need to pay more tax than you need to. This includes the earned income tax credit, child tax credit, adoption credit, and so forth. It’s best to check with your local CPA or the IRS website for qualifications.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax, State Tax Tags: federal tax, filing taxes, income tax, state tax, tax filing, tax season, tax tips
QuickBooks For Small Business Pros & Cons
QuickBooks For Small Business Pros & Cons
Not every small business can hire on an accountant to handle the books. If you, like many business owners, have taken on bookkeeping responsibilities yourself, there are many tools you can take advantage of to make your job easier. QuickBooks is one such tool. This accounting software is designed to cover small business needs. Some people love the program while others want nothing to do with it. Read on to learn more about why (or why not) you should give QuickBooks a try.
Pro: It is Inexpensive
Hiring an employee to keep track of your books forces you to pay a hefty salary. QuickBooks, on the other hand, is only a fraction of the cost of an employee. You can find the basic software package for less than $200, or pay monthly for as little as $12.95 a month. The monthly plan gives you added flexibility – pay for it and use it only as you need it instead of buying the full package (or paying for an employee).
Con: It is Finicky
Many QuickBooks customers complain that the program can be difficult to set up. It may take hours to get it running on your computer. Once running, the program can crash or run frustratingly slowly. If you use the online version, outages are possible, putting a crimp in your workday.
Pro: It Has a Strong Support Team
If you do have trouble getting QuickBooks to run, you can take some small comfort in knowing that the program is accompanied by a large support network. QuickBook’s support center will go out of their way to make sure your concerns are addressed, including reaching out through social media and product review sites. Because it is one of the most popular accounting software used in small businesses, there is also a large support network of everyday users. You may be able to find someone who has experienced the same problem you’re having without needing to contact customer service.
Con: Upgrades Can Be a Hassle
QuickBooks puts out upgrades on a regular basis, offering new features and better performance. Unfortunately, many people would rather do without these upgrades as they are often a hassle to install. Changes to graphics and formatting may make you feel like you have to learn a new program all over again. The upgrades can be expensive too, especially if you try to keep up to date by installing each one as it comes out.
Pro: It Increases Productivity
One of the most common reasons for installing QuickBooks is to help increase productivity. In this area it certainly delivers. The program makes it much easier to negotiate accounts receivable and payable functions. You can easily create invoices, inventory reports, manage time entry, and more. Add-ons let you take care of payroll and help organize during tax season. Most versions of the program allow multiple users to access the information, giving you added flexibility. QuickBooks brings many different accounting tasks into one place, making it simple and easy to oversee your business’s finances.
Con: Lack of Flexibility
QuickBooks is designed to be easy to use. This is a huge plus to some people, but for accountants with their own methodologies it can be frustrating. You may be limited in how much information you can enter into the system and you will hit a limit to how many people can realistically use the program at once. Using this program limits you to the services it provides – if there is a feature you want that it doesn’t have, you are out of luck.
Depending on your specific wants and needs, QuickBooks may be the accounting software for you. You may also find its faults unacceptable, in which case you may wish to look at other programs. Despite its downsides, however, QuickBooks is a popular program that has helped many small businesses handle their accounting needs.
Sarah Jackson is an Associate Editor at Proformative.com.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax, State Tax Tags: business, business tips, small business, small business advice, small business ideas, small business tips
New Tax Laws Proposed For Electric & Hybrid Vehicles
When the federal government spends more each year than it collects in tax revenues, it has three choices: It can raise taxes, print money, or borrow money. While these actions may benefit politicians, all three options are bad for average Americans. –Ron Paul
Recently, there have been multiple states that have begun to consider legislation which would specifically tax hybrid and electric vehicles. The reason, they are arguing, is that gas tax revenue is expected to drastically decrease in the future due to greater fuel efficient vehicles. As such, with much of the funding that goes towards our nation’s roadways arising from gas tax revenue, some states fear that at some point, the revenue generated will not be enough to help cover the costs of maintenance and upkeep.
However, this has a lot of people up in arms, specifically those that own electric and hybrid vehicles. They feel that they are being penalized for going “green”, also that on average, green vehicles are significantly more expensive to purchase. Most of which, do not receive sales tax breaks for purchasing such vehicles. It’s felt that more effort should go towards saving tax payer’s money rather than creating new laws to tax people more.
So what should be done?
It’s obvious that everyone does need to pitch in to ensure our roadways are safe and maintained. This is going to take money, which does indeed have to come in the form of taxes. But is our taxing system fair? With gas taxes, those with lower efficiency vehicles as well as those that simply drove more were already footing a larger portion of the bill. But perhaps the time to reexamine our tax system for maintaining roadways has come. What follow here are a few ideas of different methods of taxing that may be more fair for drivers.
Highway Tax Based On Usage
One option that should be considered is a highway tax based on usage. The number of miles driven as well as the weight of a vehicle certainly determine the overall wear and tear on our highway infrastructure, and when it comes down to it, that is the reason we are being taxed right? Because through our use of it, roadways become worn, and as such, those that use roadways more frequently and drive heavier vehicles should be taxed more. It seems fair from the surface, but there would certainly be those that disagree. Mainly, companies that deal with freighting and transportation, but again, they are using it more and should be paying more as a result.
Weight would be an easy determination and could be calculated into a taxing system relatively easy. As far as usage is concerned, there have been ideas about reporting your vehicles odometer reading annually and being taxed off of that. Deepening on the total number of miles driven in a year dictates exactly what should be taxed. Anyone caught falsifying their actual reading can be fined or face some form of penalty.
Highway Taxes Separate From Car Ownership
Another idea is that even though a person may not own a car, they should still pay for the upkeep of our highway system. The reason being that even though they are not driving, they are certainly benefiting from proper roadways being in place. They may be taking the bus, or carpooling, but beyond that, everything from the food they consume to the clothes they purchase and entertainment they enjoy at some point used roadways to make it’s way to them. Transportation in this country, and all that entails, is not free. There are costs, and we all benefit from it. For that reason we should all be chipping in to ensure our roadways are maintained and safe.
New Technology To Increase Roadway Longevity
There are those that feel rather than finding new ways to tax people for road maintenance, perhaps we should be investing in ways to increase the longevity of our roads. This can come in the form of new concrete compositions, or new materials that can be used altogether. In that way, the initial cost may be more expensive, but over the long run, the cost of maintenance and repair would go down. If this worked, we would not need to be taxed as much since once in place, roads could withstand a lot more wear and tear. This is sort of a proactive approach rather than a reactionary one, and should most definitely be considered by policy makers.
In The End
In the end, one of these options, a hybrid of them all, or other ideas should be considered. It certainly doesn’t make much sense to punish those for buying more fuel efficient vehicles when the trend in our country has been to become more fuel independent. If anything, a string of new laws taxing hybrids and electric vehicles will only result in the slowing of their acceptance by the public. Hopefully this will be resolved in the best manner and does not simply throw the burden onto a select few individuals. But as we know about the taxing system in this country, that is generally the case that occurs.
Featured images:
License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1198014
The author of this article is Damien S. Wilhelmi. If you enjoyed this piece you can follow me on Twitter @JakabokBotch. If you are in need of a Colorado Brake Repair, be sure to check out one of the many AAMCO locations at AAMCOColorado.com.
Categories: Federal Tax, Income Tax, State Tax, Tax Law Tags: automobiles, cars and technology, electric cars, hybrid cars, laws