The Small Business Tax Help Blog

Archive for April, 2009

Come Play with Me is Friday at Westlake Porter Public Library

WESTLAKE Westlake Porter Public Library, 27333 Center Ridge Road. (440) 871-2600 or westlakelibrary.org. • Come Play With Me, 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 8. Open playtime for ages 2-4 and their caring adults. Register one week before session.

IT Contractor Payroll – Tax advice for Contractors

Question: I have a small (really small) business. are there any “free file” companies i can use to file my tax return?

I noticed HandR blocks software makes you pay if you have small business.

Answer: Often free files do not offer you guidance in completing the forms. The right guidance can save you money. Here is info from the IRS and a site I think may save you some time and money. Just include your small business in your own 1040.

TurboTax Gives Sneak Peek into the Future of Tax Prep

SAN DIEGO----Filing your taxes could be as simple as point, shoot and submit with a new iPhone application from TurboTax®, the nation's best-selling, No.1-rated tax preparation software from Intuit Inc. .

Taming the Sales & Use Tax Compliance Monster

Question: I am a w2 employee and I need help writing off business expenses?

Hello,

I am a w2 employee for a company and I just need your advise to see if I am going alittle too overboard on my deductions.

Even though I am a w2 employee and I am using “STANDARD DEDUCTION” I am allowed to write off business expenses that I was not reimbursed for during the work year.

I am going to claim roughly $1200 for my cell phone (all work related and thats a figure of 90% company usage)

About $475 for work clothing
About $600 for laptop and PDA
And about 8500 miles for non commuting miles. E.g Driving to customers houses ETC.

I made roughly $51,000 this year and I am very afraid of getting audited becouse I did not save receipts or logs so I need to know if this figure is too high and might raise a red flag for audit for the IRS. I wanted to go to you guys and ask.

Please advise. Thank you so much!

-Brandon

Answer: If you are using the standard deduction, you can not deduct unreimbursed work expenses. You must itemize.

------

The expenses you list above total $6397.50. You must subtract 2% of your income ($1020). This leaves you with a $5377.50 which is over the standard deduction by a little bit. On top of that, you add in your state taxes and charitable contributions (if any).

Personally, unless your state taxes are really high, I probably wouldn't deduct the work expenses without receipts and logs.

Towns that time forgot: Central Florida's historic lost communities

Long ago, Central Floridians lived in places with names such as Beulah and Bloomfield. To get from Orlando to what is now Sanford took a daylong wagon ride.

TravelAnalysis - Online travel expense reporting

The IRS and the Freelance Dilemma

The IRS and the imaginary sequel to Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs have one thing in common: they’re both in search of more money.

Whoifwhat: Contractors cheat on taxes, Illegals

The California exodus

Running a county seems like it would be one of the best jobs around. If you’re one of the lucky 58 Californians who have this job, you get to run vast chunks of the state, control millions of dollars, and operate a multitude of helpful government programs.

Ben Bernanke Refuses Transparency HR1207