Learning about Small Business and Home Business Taxes

At Buck, CPA, we have used and tried many different approaches over the years in helping people understand and put the tax law to use for their benefit. From a tax law standpoint, Congress has been supportive of business in general and small businesses in particular over the recent many years.

The unfortunate fact is that the VAST majority of taxpayers never end up with anything tangible (money in their pockets) from the law. There are several reasons. Human aversion to thinking very deeply about taxes is a BIG one.

However, we should all be thinking about our business decisions in terms of cost versus benefit. It will cost a new business person some time and energy and, perhaps, some money in order to put into place all the MAJOR tax savings devices. The short term benefit is that you WILL save tax dollars this year. That is spendable, after-tax dollars. The long term, and really significant, benefit is that you get to have those same kinds of savings year after year, as long as you do your part. So you can do your own math and decide if the benefits outweigh the costs for you.

My responsibility at Buck, CPA is helping anyone who has made the decision to do their share of the work to make these tax savings a reality for them. Thankfully, you will not be required to eat the whole elephant at once. You can learn about one tax saving measure and get started using it while starting to learn about another one.

Alternatively, we have, in the past, offered a tutorial in which, over a period of about sixty days and several hours together on the phone and the client doing homework, we can get the job done. I'm not sure whether we will continue to offer it in the future. Most people would actually save money doing it this way because you get all the saving opportunities happening very quickly and that saving can offset the cost of the tutorial. If enough people express an interest in it, perhaps we will make it part of a new package.

If, as I have suggested, this is a big game that we are playing with the IRS, then doesn't it follow that the better you understand the rules, the better you will play the game?

As your homework in the area of "Rules" I recommend the book, It's How Much You Keep That Counts, Not How Much You Make, by Ron Mueller. This book is the easiest to read and understand on the subject of small business and home business taxes that I have ever run across. Here is a link to Ron's website www.homebusinesstaxsavings.com. If you are not sure about the cost/benefit analysis mentioned earlier, you need to read this book before you decide.

Good record keeping is an absolute imperative. My friend and business associate Bob Whitaker likes to call his part of the puzzle the "Tools." He has devised the absolute best-I've-ever-seen record keeping system. Bob is living proof that you can survive five; count 'em, FIVE IRS audits. I said he survived, not that he came away unscathed, and, NO he was not my client or I would have put an end to his dilemma much sooner. Please click here to go to Bob's website www.taxminimiser.com for his TAXMINIMI$ER. This tool will make it possible for you to keep all of your financial and auto mileage records. I use it in all my vehicles and during all my travels.

Of course, you may utilize any bookkeeping system that suits you as long as it produces the required results. For many business operators, especially network marketers, you will also need to keep records of your business activities - to prove that your motive for being is business is to make a profit. Some sort of daily diary that fits your lifestyle will do the trick. Include such activities as: meetings, phone calls (made and received), business training you have attended (including phone conference training), any and all activities that demonstrate your business efforts.

There is one more thing you need to do to put the tax savings into your pocket. It is imperative that the person who prepares your taxes have a deep understanding of the tax law as it pertains to small and home based business. In my experience perhaps less than 1% of all tax preparers are up to the task. If you can add to that a preparer with many years of experience in many diverse businesses and also who has tremendous experience in dealing with all matter of IRS problems, then I believe you have found your solution in Buck, CPA.