Finding The Best Free Tax Help
Many people have said that free tax help is a plus since there is a 50% chance that when all is said and done. You may become one of those lucky American citizen that end up owing money to the US government in the form of taxes.
Nowadays, it is as simple as doing a web based search to lookup. There is a plethora of available information at a little or no charge at all, all you have to do is seek it out.
Let us face it, the local tax service, a decent software package, a certified public accountant and even your sister in law are all candidates to help you with your taxes.
There is a place I believe you never thought to check. That would be the offices of the IRS also known as the Internal Revenue Service.
I have lost confidence and walked out of a tax professional’s office many times, since they had to find the answer. It is not that I minded them looking up the answer rather than just giving me any old answer.
When I pay someone to help me, I expect that he or she has the information and training needed to get the job done.
The point here is that there are alternatives to traditional services. You can also check local organizations and see about special free tax help available to you.
If you make a small mistake here could end up costing you a lot more money in penalty and interest payments.
So you need to make sure that you can check references on any low cost or Free Tax Help that you find out there. You certainly don’t want any surprises creeping in there.
HR Consulting: Run Your Business Effectively
In the world of business, managing human capital is an important aspect of being successful. Many companies keep their costs down by hiring an outside HR consulting firm to handle complex people matters. If you are the owner of a human resource consulting business, here are some tips to help you run your business more effectively to aid your clients in their success strategy.
Find out what each company values the most and start there when implementing any new plans. The company has been doing things their own unique way for a long time. They need a human resource consultant that is sensitive to the needs of their executive management team. It’s never a good idea to try and launch a new idea or plan without taking their values into consideration. If the companies you work with know you have their best interests at heart, they will keep coming back to you to provide their human resource needs.
Learn more about your client’s corporate culture. It’s important to know what you are working with as you begin providing your services. Learn all you can about your clients, where they have come from and what they see as important building blocks to their success. If at all possible, spend some time on their turf and demonstrate to them that you care about their growth as a community of people. This builds value for your services and you will then see the benefits as a human resource consultant.
Streamline any computer systems and encourage similar systems for all your clients. This simplifies things from both yours and your clients’ perspectives. You may want to suggest a certain applicant or employee tracking system or a user-friendly human capital management tool that can be utilized by all your clients affordably. This puts you in the expert seat and the clients look to you for support. That adds more value to your services and knowledge.
Help each client set forth clear goals for their companies in regards to human resource aspects. Once you determine what their needs are and compare it to what they are asking you to do, you will be able to create a written plan that the client can implement to reach their goal. Whether it is better management of employee processes, legal compliance or starting a new employee benefit plan, you will have this written record in hand to remind and prompt the client to take responsibility in its progress. This creates measurable, accountable goals for the client and you to work together on.
Remember, as a human resource consulting firm, you must always stay up-to-date on new laws, regulations and programs so that you can best help your clients for the long run. Failure to do so can result in financial and legal implications for your clients and your firm. Be sure to network with other human resource professionals, actively participate in industry associations and increase your value and credibility as a valuable member of the team as a human resource consultant.
1040 Tax Form Tips
Your starting point for your personal IRS income tax returns should be the 1040 tax form.
It is designed to help you calculate the amount of tax you need to pay based on the amount of income you have declared.
By using this form regularly as your income changes, you will be more aware of whether you need to take steps to reduce your potential tax penalty or you might actually calculate that you will receive a return.
The 1040 tax form is the ‘long form’ or the more complete version and should be used if you have complicated tax issues to calculate.
Things like capital gain or loss, investment income or loss or multiple itemized deductions should be entered individually on your 1040 tax form to help you gain a more accurate idea of the amount of tax you should be withholding or paying.
The 1040 tax form should be used by all resident US income tax paying individuals.
Tax Form of 1040A
The 1040 tax form is the simplified form to help you calculate your estimated tax liability for the financial year.
The short form will be ideal for you, if you have no complicated tax additions for the year, like capital gains or individual itemized deductions.
Tax Form of 1040EZ
The 1040EZ tax form is more simplified version of the more lengthy 1040 form and can help you determine what your tax bill might amount to at the end of the year very quickly.
Once again, this is ideal for those people with no uncomplicated tax issues to account for.
The 1040NR Tax Form
Non-resident aliens can use the 1040NR tax form to calculate the amount of tax payable prior to filing a tax return to the IRS.
The 1040NR tax form is used by any non-resident alien who has been in the United States for under five years and who is earning income on which tax must be paid.
The 1040X Tax Form
There are times when you forget to include income in some of your previous IRS tax returns or new deductions.
You need to complete a 1040X tax form, when you wish to amend a previous tax return in any way.
This form shows the IRS the original figures you submitted and then highlights what those figures should have been according to your calculations.
In some cases IRS help can help you to increase the amount of tax refund you were due or it might even reduce a pending tax penalty you might incur.
Four Practical Reasons to Use Online Accounting for Your Small Business
If you a small business owner that is interested in being more efficient and/or saving money then read on to learn how an online accounting may be able to help you save time, and make your employees more efficient, and may even streamline one of your businesses processes to save you money.
Do You Have These Business Problems ?
1. Your checkbook is not in balance or your bookkeeper has to call the bank to get the daily balance.
2. You do not use an accounting program to bill your customers, rather you prepare your bills in Word or Excel and then re-entered the bills into your computer and as deposits when you collect the cash.
3. You prepare estimates and then copy the same information into your bill with cut and paste functions prior to sending the bills out to customers.
4. You track your receivables and payables in your head and its impossible to obtain customer and vendor history in real time.
By having an online based accounting system, like QuickBooks, you can make changes and have real time access on your notebook computer, or access your accounting information from any web enabled computer from your home, your vacation hotel room, even your customer’s office, or just about anywhere. Or if you choose, you can access and read some of your accounting information on your I Phone or Blackberry. Imagine if you are at a customer’s office, and you or your employee finished the project and your billing arrangement allows you to progress bill, then you can quickly prepare the bill and print it out and hand it to the customer. This step in itself, will improve your cash flow for two reasons. Firstly, the bill is prepared and delivered to the customer in real time and if you can make this simple procedural change and become disciplined to carry out this new process and bill in real time, then you don’t have to prepare the invoice after the fact, in the evening or on the weekend. And secondly, given the particular circumstance, you may be able to save considerable time for yourself or reduce the time required by your bookkeeper. By training employees to bill in the field in real time, they can quickly email the bill to your to you for your prior approval or better yet, you can review the bill as soon as its prepared by your employee in the field or at the customers office, because you have an online accounting system, taking advantage of the wireless internet or WIFI.
Another benefit is achieved by using the estimate feature in QuickBooks or any other online accounting system, you can have accuracy,consistency and completeness between the invoice and the estimate. Two more important benefits is (1) cash flow improvement resulting from quicker billing and (2) by shortening the billing process, you may be able to save considerable time for yourself or that of your bookkeeper. And don’t forget the fuel and time savings by not having to return to your office in order to access your accounting information in order to prepare the billings.
Too often small business owners do not reconcile their bank statement to a checkbook balance and rely on daily calls or online inquiries to the bank to determine their daily cash balance. At a minimum every business should know their daily checkbook balance and to do otherwise, is not a good business practice. Without a procedure to reconcile a company’s checkbook monthly to a bank statement, is a serious weakness in any system of internal control and could very well create the opportunity for fraud.
Unfortunately, some businesses do not have the time to use the accounts receivable or accounts payable programs included with most accounting packages or if they use it, they do not use in real time. This information is critical to effectively running your business. Among other things, an effective and operating accounts receivable and accounts payable systems gives you real time information to make business decisions and to properly understand your future cash positions. As a business owner, you can review your accounts receivable aging reports on a daily basis and make those calls for money to pay your bills. Another benefit of any online accounting system will also result in one central location or repository in real time for invoices and support for customer deposits. More importantly, when a customer says they paid, you are able to see the customer deposit and billing histories from anywhere. It also provides the business owner with a tool to make sure that all customers were timely billed. With an online accounting system you can be anywhere or even be on the go, that is traveling to appointments and you will know how much is owed to you. One quick tip, is to make sure that you are emailing your bills to your customers from the accounts receivable program. Not only is there a small monetary savings, an electronic bill helps your cash flow, because there is a time savings from not mailing or faxing the bill.
Its also important to know what you owe, in real time. Having a procedure in place to detect duplicate, erroneous bills or fraudulent bills is key for any business. With real time accounts payable information, you can review the accounting payable reports to answer questions from suppliers right over the phone as to why a bill remains unpaid or to inform the vendor when payment can be expected. QuickBooks or other comparable software gives you vendor information in real time, thereby eliminating the need of your bookkeeper to list what you owe in an Excel spreadsheet or in Word. Providing your bookkeeper is able to enter vendor bills into an online accounting system, like QuickBooks Online Plus, then you can assess in real time, the same report from wherever you are located and choose the supplier bills to be paid. Again, another benefit of an online accounting system is that you can be anywhere and you will know how much is owed. I have only addressed three important areas i.e. cash, accounts receivable and accounts payable. Another useful feature, with an online accounting system, is the ability to compare your budget to monitor your actual monthly profit and loss statements. As we all know, budgets are an excellent planning tool that helps you understand financial problems before its too late. One other important comment, QuickBooks Online Plus does not currently support inventory and purchase orders, thus precluding manufacturers, retail, and distribution companies from utilizing this software, unless you are able to locate and purchase a reliable 3rd party add on module.
To stress a very important point, there are limitations to QuickBooks Online Plus accounting when inventory is a major component of the balance sheet, the solution is using an accounting system that has remote access such as QuickBooks Pro or Premier with remote access or a 3rd party inventory add on. This topic has already been discussed in another article that I wrote. Please contact me for a copy of that article.
Another time savings is that your accountant or CPA, can review and make necessary corrections online from the accountant’s computer in real time. So if you have a problem, the accountant has easy access to your accounting information to quickly fix the information, thus avoiding the time for the accountant to schedule a visit to your office.
As electronic calendars such as Google Calendar or Outlook on our Blackberry’s and I phones have changed the way some businesses utilize secretarial skills, online accounting software may very well be able to improve the way small business run and operate their businesses.
