Taxes are serious business for small business owners. Doing them the wrong way could separate you from your profits real fast. Remember the IRS can end up taking more than 50% of your Schedule C profit in ordinary income taxes and self-employment taxes. The highest tax bracket is now 39.6% and the self-employment tax is 15.3%.
And it could be worse, you could get that dreaded letter. You can always hire an accountant and a meticulous bookkeeper to make sure your papers are in order, and there are a few pointers and tips you can easily find that will help you stay in the black, but the IRS has offered some suggestions to keep you and your business on the straight and narrow.
Fox Business News published a list of some of them.
This nifty little tool provides the ability to look up any tax topic by subject. For example, say you want to look up how to make a payment. Just click on “M” and scroll.
Forms and Publications. The IRS also provides Small-Business Forms and Publications Center to look up specific subjects. Topics range from payroll and payroll taxes as well as application of income tax law. If you are required to file a form with the IRS, you can download the form from this location.
RELATED: 7 Tax Tips for Your Home-Based Business
EIN. This one is for your Employer ID Number. You can utilize by going into the EIN Site. You can also apply for one through the EIN Assistant.
Education. You should also look into workshops and webinars. You can find some useful ones at the Business Tax Workshops and Webinar website. You can also pick up tips on bookkeeping at this site.
e-News. Believe it or not, the IRS is not the enemy. It actually offers a bi-weekly email subscription tax newsletter for business owners. It’s a valuable source of tax law updates as well as a tool for finding explanations of current tax law that govern small businesses. Look into that by clicking here.
You can also go to the Small Business Administration website for more tips. The SBA offers a variety of services and workshops for small business owners. Click here and sign up.
Video Portal. You can also watch some helpful tips being laid out via video portal that contains short videos on various topics. You can find these on IRS Videos or on youTube. The information is user-friendly format.
For Payroll or Contract workers
. A major concern for small business owners is how to deal with employees, especially employees that know their stuff. Just hiring a payroll service won’t cut it. You need to understand how payroll works and the IRS has a page with all the information you need: Employment Taxes. If you a business owner you may also need help in determining whether the worker should be classified as an employee or an independent contractor. If that is case, you can click here for guidance.