The New Year begins with many of us making resolutions to eliminate procrastination and committing to self-improvement. Why not include organizing and planning for preparation of your 2014 income tax return to decrease the stress or dread many feel when dealing with filing their income taxes?
In the past year articles my partners and I have written frequently addressed business planning. As business consultants, we are firm believers that a solid business plan will improve businesses’ chances for success.
A successful businessman or businesswoman has had a good estimate for some time of their business’ financial results for 2014 and already has set their sights on 2015.
Hopefully you have prepared a model that calculates what your annual retirement contributions and other savings and investments will accumulate to by your planned retirement date. If you haven’t, in the previous edition a model for long term planning, projecting and monitoring asset accumulation was addressed. One such model may be downloaded from Alegriacpas.com.
Financial planners say it is never too late to start saving for retirement; it is also never too early to start saving.
While normally straight-forward, failing to properly establish a business in the State of Washington or with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can be costly. While some of the information was covered in the previous article regarding choice of entity, it is repeated as it is critical.
A critical step in starting a new operating trade or business is choosing the legal framework. Generally the choices are: Sole-proprietorship, partnership, Limited Liability Company (LLC), or a corporation. There are other possibilities such as a trust or co-operative, those are less common and are not addressed here.
Washington State provides insurance to cover injuries to employees on the job through its Department of Labor and Industries (L&I). Washington State provides unemployment benefits to employees who have lost their jobs through its Employment Security Department (ESD). Generally, L&I premiums are funded by payroll taxes based on total hours worked and ESD benefits by wages paid, subject to an annual limit. Auditors from the respective departments audit employers’ records to ensure compliance and accuracy of reporting and paying the taxes.
Retail sales tax is the State of Washington’s principal source of income. Businesses making retail sales in Washington are required to collect and remit sales tax on sales of goods and services to the state. The seller is responsible for remitting the tax whether or not collected.
You just received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and your first thoughts, after panic subsides (or not), might be: I have never been audited before; how can I get this over with as fast as possible; why me; how much more am I going to have to pay; what did I do wrong on my return; or is this the start of an annual audit.
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