Best way to start preparing now for the upcoming tax season-Small business style

Use Intuit Quickbooks to keep your business finances organized!

There are many things you can do to get ready for tax season. Here are some tips to help ease the burden:

Know what's deductible.

Your business is unique, and your tax filing should be too. The most important thing you can do when preparing for the upcoming tax season is to know the deductions available to you. As a small business owner, there are many options at your fingertips that can help cut down on the amount of income taxes owed or save money on business expenses. The IRS provides some quick tips below:

• Keep good records of any itemized deductions (known as Schedule A). This includes charitable donations, home office or rental office space, and state and local taxes paid throughout the year. If you have questions about what qualifies as an expense deductible by your company, consult with a professional accountant who specializes in small businesses.
• Keep track of mileage driven on behalf of work-related travel or commuting; this may also be claimed as an expense deduction.

Start collecting receipts now.

• Start collecting receipts now.
• Don’t wait until the end of the year to start collecting receipts and organizing them. This is one of those tasks that you want to be working on throughout the year, not just at tax time. You will have less stress if you are organized and prepared instead of scrambling last minute.
• Don’t wait until you have a lot of receipts to go through before starting this process either. It can sometimes feel overwhelming when there are lots of receipts, but if they are already organized into categories it makes this task easier than trying to sort through all those papers as they come in during the year or after an event has occurred.
• Don’t wait until you are in a hurry and don't have time for it either! When we get busy at work, home life seems even more hectic than usual too; so make sure that taking care of your business tasks gets done early on so it doesn't become overwhelming later on down the road! If possible try scheduling time during breaks (like lunch break) or even just getting up half an hour earlier than usual so nothing slips through cracks while everyone else is doing their job too! That way everything will still get done but won't add any extra stress onto other responsibilities

Finally remember not lose those important documents because once they're gone there's no getting back into shape again!

Keep track of the miles you drive for work.

Have you ever driven for work? If so, you're probably aware of the mileage deduction that comes with it. While this is just one of many expenses small businesses can deduct from their taxes, it's one of the most important ones to keep track of. Fortunately, there are plenty of apps out there for doing exactly that: MileIQ and MileTax are two popular solutions. If you don't want to use an app or are already using something else (like Excel), it's still easy enough to keep track manually by writing down how many miles you've driven each day and adding them up at the end of every week or month.

Track your use of the home office.

If you use a home office, you're eligible to deduct expenses related to the square footage of that space. For example, if your living room is also used as your workspace (and has been this way for at least two years), then it's considered part of your home office.

You can get an idea about what percentage of time you spend working from home by keeping a log or calendar with dates and times marked on it. Dividing the square footage of your dedicated office space by the number of hours worked there will give you an estimate: say, 100 square feet divided by 2 hours per day equals 50%. You can then use this figure as a basis for deductions on your taxes.

The IRS allows up to $1,500 per year in deductions for business-related expenses associated with using a home office—the caveat being that those costs have to be legitimate (i.e., not personal expenses). If they are legitimate business expenses, though, they're fair game!

Use mobile apps that keep track of your expenses and tax deductions.

The best way to start preparing now for the upcoming tax season is by using mobile apps that will help you keep track of your expenses and tax deductions.

The most popular accounting software I use for my business is Quickbooks Online, Click the link now to get QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Payroll products with an exclusive discount of 30% off for 6 months!!! 

Quickbooks allow you to enter income, expenses and deductions as they happen so that it is easier for you to organize everything at the end of the year when taxes are due. Since these tools are available on your phone or tablet, they make it easy for you do track business transactions while traveling across town or even internationally if needed!  Signing up for Quickbooks has been a tremendous help, especially for those of us who want to concentrate on our business and spend time with family!

Create a record-keeping system and do it from month to month.

The best thing you can do for yourself and the tax man is to create a system for tracking your expenses and records. This should be done on a monthly basis, so that you know exactly what's going on at all times.

Next up we have home office use; if any part of your house is being used exclusively as an office space (and does not fall under another category), then this too needs recorded carefully so that when tax season comes around again next year everything will add up correctly without any issues arising from missing information or incorrect numbers being reported incorrectly due to lackadaisical record keeping practices by someone who didn’t follow through properly during previous years...

Tax time doesn't have to be so terrible with the right preparation ahead of time.

Tax time doesn't have to be so terrible with the right preparation ahead of time. The right preparation can save you time and money, as well as helping you avoid the hassle of bookkeeping.

Take a look at these tips:

• Set aside some money for taxes in advance. It's always good to know how much money is needed before tax season starts so that there are no last-minute surprises or mistakes made by forgetting about accounting for taxes before submitting them.
• Have all your documents organized ahead of time—not just when it's time to file your taxes! This includes receipts from purchases, proof that you've paid rent/utilities/other bills related to the business (if applicable), etc.. Keep all this stuff together so that when it comes time to submit your return, everything will be easy peasy lemon squeezy-just like me ;)

Conclusion

If you’ve been dreading the upcoming tax season, there’s no better way to prepare than by starting now and I am certain with Quickbooks software, tax season will be a lot less stressful!! 

With the right knowledge and a little bit of planning, you can make your life as an entrepreneur much easier when April rolls around.

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