Business and Personal Finance: Keeping Things Separate

Common Small-Business Tax Snafus – Keeping Things Separate The most common piece of advice given to (and ignored by) new small- business owners is to keep everything that’s personal completely separate from the business right from the very start. In addition to making your book- keeping job a heck of a lot easier, it can … Read more

Business and Personal Finance: About Fringe Benefits

Common Small-Business Tax Snafus – About Fringe Benefits For employees, fringe benefits are all good. For business owners, though, they have both good points and some slightly less good points. The good and the less good depend largely on the business entity: owners of C corporations get the biggest benefit from their fringe benefits than … Read more

Business and Personal Finance: Tracking Travel Expenses

Common Small-Business Tax Snafus – Tracking Travel Expenses Travel expenses are among the most common small-business tax deductions. They’re also one of the biggest audit areas, for businesses big and small, in any structure. For that reason, it’s critical that you keep good records of your expenditures; even better, maintain a log to keep track … Read more

Business and Personal Finance: Salaries, Dividends, or Loans?

Common Small-Business Tax Snafus – Salaries, Dividends, or Loans? With sole proprietorships and partnerships, it makes no difference when or how much money you take out of the company, at least for tax purposes. After all, you personally pay tax on your full share of the company’s income every year. These business structures don’t allow … Read more

Business and Personal Finance: Employees Versus Contractors

Common Small-Business Tax Snafus – Employees Versus Contractors One the biggest trouble issues facing new and small businesses is that of employees and independent contractors. It’s cheaper and easier to deal with contractors: you can hire them only as needed, they don’t get benefits, you don’t have to report or pay their payroll taxes, and … Read more

Business and Personal Finance: Choosing the Right Plan for You

Retirement Plans – Choosing the Right Plan for You The first thing to consider when you are trying to choose a retirement plan for your business is yourself—your financial situation, your goals, your age. After all, this is your company, and you deserve to reap financial benefits. Ask yourself why (despite the administrative and fee-oriented … Read more

Business and Personal Finance: Keogh Plans

Retirement Plans – Keogh Plans As long as your business isn’t incorporated, you can establish a Keogh plan for retirement savings. These plans let you put away more money than either SEPs or SIMPLEs, and they’re also much more flexible; for example, these give the option of either defined benefit or defined contribution, while the … Read more

Business and Personal Finance: Simplified Employee Pensions (SEPs)

Retirement Plans – Simplified Employee Pensions (SEPs) When it comes to simple plans, SEPs also fill the bill. These plans were especially designed for small-business owners, with the goal of making it as pain-free as possible for them to offer retirement benefits. In fact, the only IRS form you have to fill out is Form … Read more