Does anyone do their own TAXES ??

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threephase

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I'm just wondering if any small business owners on here do their own taxes? If so, are you a sole prop., LLC, S-Corp??

Have you found it's a cost savings measure as opposed to paying a CPA?

How do you keep up to date regarding what can be expensed, etc?

Do you use Quickbooks?

I'm thinking that paying a CPA probably is worth the money..........thoughts?

I'm going to be really small........$1,000 - $2,000 p/month in revenue.

Thanks.
 
I use Quickbooks. I would never do my own taxes. My accountant doesn't do his own wiring, either. For me my accountant fees are the best money I spend. I have enough other things to worry about.
 
I'm a sole prop, I use QuickBooks, and I do my own taxes with TurboTax. My taxes are just simple enough that I can handle them on my own. I'd probably go to a CPA if they were any more complicated, though.
 
I use a CPA. If I ever get audited he has to go with me. That beats any other reason I can think of, besides the fact that the tax code is very complex, and more or less a lifelong study, much like our codebook is. So therefore a CPA, is in my book, the way to go. Build his cost back into your billings, with profit added. Business 101.
 
threephase said:
How do you keep up to date regarding what can be expensed,

I'm thinking that paying a CPA probably is worth the money..........thoughts?
Click to expand...

I have used the same local CPA since day one. I keep my own books but have him go over everything and file my taxes. The trick is to keep business seperate for personl expenses. Get a commercial checking account and a business credit card. Keep receipts for everything ( even parking expenses ). At the end of the year you will be surprised at the number of small items that you spend money on. If you go into the local hardware store to by a small item put it on a business credit card.

It's simple, any money that you can't account for as a business expense you get to pay taxes on ( one way or the other ). So keep good records.
 
Growler,

"Keep good records". Boy Howdy! There is no simpler, better solution.

Whether one works with others or does it all yourself, if you don't make the record, at the point of sale, in a way that differentiates clearly between business and personal, then the records, when reviewed later, get murky.

From the beginning, I taught myself to pause, in the moment of the end of the point of sale, no matter what, and record the transaction.

Just 15 to 30 seconds.

The little sales that one glosses over are the hardest, as the psychology of the checkout line, ATM, or the parking booth is to "move out of the way and leave!".

For me, as a small one person, sole proprietor, cash (IRS designation) business, simplification of the record making has been the key.

My single paper check register is basically a contemporaneous log, as I enter checks, credit transactions, cash, electronic transfers, internet purchase. . .every monetary transaction with: date, payee, memo, amount, and anything specific to a job ID. Every business receipt gets a note on it, too, tying it to a job, or business expense category. When the register gets bulky enough, I'll put in a fresh one, and put the "full" one with my records in the office for later processing. Use as many lines in the register as needed for the info. . .

Quicken Home and Business and TurboTax make all the rest (for me) fall in place.
 
I'm a sole proprietor, use quick books contractor edition for billing and records but i leave the taxes to the professionals. The little bit it costs me is well worth the investment. Like others have said, I have enough to think about.
 
I have my CPA do the corporation and business stuff ... then do my own personal taxes with TurboTax. I also use one of the on-line tax preparation services as a verification that TT is doing things right.
 
I work alone.

I use to do my own taxes before I got my computer.

Now I use turbo tax.

Although I wouldn't do open heart surgery on myself I did file a sharp tooth down that was scratching my gum and I have taken stitches out of my self. :D
 
Whenever I was self-employed I did my own. But then, one of the more useless decisions I made in college was studying accounting, so I knew how to account for things :D

I have a small amount of self-employment (Sole Prop.) income this year and will do my taxes for it as well. This is the first time since I became a Quicken user, so what software I'll use is up for grabs.

The key, as others have said, is keeping good records. The second key, after making sure you write everything down, is writing everything thing down in the right place. Don't concern yourself too much with what kind of expense something is -- like, do you have to depreciate this kind of tool versus that kind -- but do separate items by what they are. Materials for specific jobs go here, consumables you'll use across multiple jobs go there, "office supplies" (invoices, receipts, business cards ...) go somewhere else.

Obviously, keep all your receipts. Accordian files are good for that, especially since you said your still very small.
 
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