“It’s Tax Time” nobody ever cheered excitedly – well except maybe tax-preparers and accountants.
Most people find taxes complicated, overwhelming and sometimes downright punitive! So let’s talk about how to prepare for and even get excited about tax time!
Prepare for
Preparing for tax time doesn’t start in February when you start adding your receipts into a spreadsheet. It starts at the beginning of last year after you’ve talked to your tax advisor and determined what types of expenses you can claim – ensuring you’ve kept the appropriate receipts all year. What’s the saying “hind sight is 20/20”?
Here is a list of potential expenses you may have as a small business owner – review the list to ensure you didn’t miss anything. However, as different businesses can have different write offs, give us a call to discuss what potential write-offs you may have outside of this standard list.
Knowing that everyone is super busy we’ve created a really simple spreadsheet that you can use to add up your expenses. No tabbing across a ton of columns or learning a new software – just enter your receipts and leave the rest to us. You can download it here.
Celebrate
No – we’re not crazy. We know that when running a small business the bills seem to never stop – so taxes are not fun. But here’s the thing – if you’re paying taxes it means you made money! Maybe not as much as you’d have liked but you’re in the black and that’s something to be proud of.
A final word, while the mantra of most tax advisors and small business owners is lower the income as low as it can go; you might want to consider what your future goals are. Do you want to buy a house, refinance, buy equipment for your business? To do any of these things you need to not only show a profit but a healthy profit and it can work to your detriment to stay solely focused on lowering you income.
As us for an introduction to our awesome Mortgage Broker or Financial Planner if you want more information on planning for purchases.