Accounting, IRS, Taxes
Many individuals are familiar with filling out W-4 forms provided by their employers to file taxes. Business owners, self employed individuals and contractors however don’t fill out traditional W-4 forms. They are professionals who might receive income without taxes taken out right away and are therefore expected to make payments quarterly. According to the IRS, you are expected to make quarterly estimated tax payments if the following apply.
- You expect to owe at least $1,000 in tax for the current tax year after subtracting your withholding and refundable credits.
- You expect your withholding and refundable credits to be less than the smaller of:
- 90% of the tax to be shown on your current year’s tax return, or
- 100% of the tax shown on your prior year’s tax return. (Your prior year tax return must cover all 12 months.)
Simply put, if you know you are going to owe a good amount of money, it’s beneficial to pay your estimated taxes. Here are a few reasons why.
Penalties
No one likes penalties and paying your taxes each quarter prevents that. Per the IRS if you owe over $1,000 you could be penalized for underpayment of your taxes. Knowing the exact figure could be challenging and hiring an accountant could help in estimating how much your payments should be. Your accountant should have all the right numbers and processes in place to give a figure to pay that should prevent you from underpaying your taxes.
Tax Bill
Paying your taxes quarterly let’s you avoid the potential surprise of a larger tax bill during tax season. Not paying could lead to having a large and unexpected bill at tax season. Paying your taxes quarterly can give you peace of mind knowing you aren’t likely to get an unexpected bill. This might be a task to deal with every quarter due to the nature of your business and how busy you are. If that’s the case, consider hiring an accountant who can assist you. For all you know, the cost of paying penalties could be more than what an accountant might charge to help you.
Efficiency
Paying your estimated taxes each quarter should give a good overview of your books and less stress in managing your accounting. This is where a bookkeeper comes in handy as they can provide insights on your accounting through the year. Tax season is less of a headache when you’ve been managing your books and making quarterly payments throughout the year.
In conclusion, the benefits to paying your estimated quarterly taxes can make life easier and provide you peace of mind. Quarterly taxes are typically due on April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15, for the current calendar year. Most accountants and bookkeepers are aware of these dates and should work with you to get your payments in on time as needed.
Want to know more about how accountants and bookkeepers can help with your taxes and grow your business? Contact one of our professionals here at Motl Accounting. We assist businesses and individuals with their accounting needs and look forward to assisting you.
Accountant, Accounting, CPA, International Taxation, Taxes
Prepare to file your taxes in 2021 with these in mind!
Many businesses and families went through unexpected changes in 2020. The effects of the pandemic upended financial plans, forecasts, family plans, business goals and much more. This undoubtedly will have an impact when filing your 2020 taxes due to changes in the tax code for 2021. With COVID-19 came stimulus checks, programs like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and more depending on your business or personal need. We’ve been assisting businesses and families with their accounting and tax needs through the pandemic and will provide you with some tips to prepare you for filing your taxes this year.
Organize Records and Documents
For many, the main hurdle is getting documentation together. It’s important to have all your documentation in order to have a seamless filing experience. Keep all the tax documents that start coming in the mail early January in a folder and do not throw out any tax document that may look irrelevant. Many tax documents can also be downloaded online depending on the provider of the documents in case you can’t locate them. For example, many financial institutions provide tax documentation that can be viewed and downloaded when you access your account.
Review and Itemize Transactions for your Business
Whether you are self-employed, have a side business or own a home, you’ll need to ensure your transactions are correctly documented to claim certain deductions. The pandemic led to many working from home and you may be entitled to write-offs as a result. If you use a software like QuickBooks or use a spreadsheet for your records, take the time to review the transactions and put them in their respective categories. This will help your tax preparation process greatly. The benefits of having an accountant who assists with monthly bookkeeping is advantageous, as the monthly management of your books throughout the year keeps your transactions correctly labeled. This prepares you better for tax season and makes things easier for you and whoever is assisting with filing your taxes.
Note Life-Changing Events
Many life-changing events happen year over year, but have been commonly happening since the beginning of the pandemic. Changes like getting married, getting a divorce, a death in the family or retirement may qualify you for tax breaks. Your accountant or tax preparer should be aware of any life-changing event so they can help determine which tax breaks you qualify for based on how your circumstances changed in 2020.
Here are a few things to consider to help prepare for filing your 2020 taxes. Having an experienced tax preparation service can be helpful due to the changes in the tax code. Finding the right tax forms or knowing what to fill out due to the changes caused by the pandemic can be confusing. It’s advisable in these uncertain times to consult with an experienced accountant or CPA to ensure you are getting the most out of your taxes, while being compliant under the current laws.
Motl Accounting can handle the most complex returns providing you the peace of mind you would want through the experience. If you are looking to prepare your taxes, you can talk to a tax professional at our West Dundee location to get your questions answered and your taxes filed properly. Contact us at 847-426-2100 or send us message via our Facebook Page to get started today.
Accountant, Accounting, Bookkeeper Dundee, Bookkeeping, CPA, Payroll, Payroll Dundee il, Payroll Elgin IL, Small Business, Taxes, taxes dundee IL
Growing as a business is certainly of importance to most business owners. After all, you will want your company to flourish and continue to experience growth for many years to come. However, in order for your business to head in a positive direction, it helps to utilize proper financial planning and analyzing…that’s where an accountant comes into play!
Are you aware of how accountants can benefit your own business? Many might believe an accountant just helps with the crunching of numbers, but you’ll be surprised that great accounting practices actually help businesses grow and generate more profits in the process.
We understand just how beneficial an accountant can be for a business! We have helped several businesses in the Chicagoland area and provided them with great information that’s helped their businesses. That’s why we have gathered five ways in which accountants can help a business grow by working with an accountant like Motl Accounting in Dundee, Illinois. If you would like to discover what these ways are, be sure to continue reading:
- Creates Budgets & Forecasts Reporting. It’s important that every business has a plan for their future. Therefore, you will want to set up goals to achieve over the next year, as well as create charts and graphs to keep yourself on track and complete them. By working with an accountant, you can have reports created which will showcase how your fixed and variable costs compare with your sales volume throughout the year, providing you with knowledge of the market conditions that you will need for profitable growth.
- Discovers Key Performance Indicators. Every business has key performance indicators. If you are in retail, you might use inventory turnover for construction or it might be job costing. Your accountant should assist you with discovering yours, as well as advise on methods to set up reports, allowing you to see how they perform over time so that you can make the best decisions for your business for its future growth.
- Maintains Cash Flow Projections. If there is one thing you want to understand as a business, it’s your cash flow! After all, without cash your business wouldn’t be able to operate at the level you’d want it to. An accountant will create financial reports right out of your accounting software which will assist you with planning your key performance indicators and properly maintaining your cash flow. It’s important to know how to expand your product lines, increase direct costs and add employees in a way that keeps your cash flowing just as it should.
- Determines Your Businesses Value. It’s important that you know the value of your business so that you can plan for your future. Seeing as opportunities or life events can present themselves at any time, you will want to know how much your business is worth, given the current market conditions. An accountant can assist you with getting to determine your businesses value, so that you can maximize it and your tax liability. We have professionals we partner with at Molt Accounting that help our clients with business valuations.
- Creates Advisory Boards. For your business to remain fiscally strong and healthy, you will want to be advised and know what to expect for the years to come. An accountant will work with you to develop a system so that you can forecast budgets, cash flow management and an overall financial analysis for your business. This way you can monitor your goals and business growth through a dashboard and ensure that it is always headed in a positive direction.
These are just a few ways in which an accountant like us can assist your own business with growing.
Are you ready to work with an accountant in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago to grow your own business and provide your peace of mind in the process? If so, please get in touch with us one of our accounting therapists at Motl Accounting, as we would be pleased with the opportunity to assist you with doing so!
Taxes, taxes dundee IL
Running a business is no easy task, especially when you have to file taxes each year to ensure that you are in compliance with current regulations. Having the expertise of an accountant throughout the year and especially during tax season can relieve much of the stress you may feel at tax time.
Making financial decisions for your business without consulting an accountant can put your business at risk and even cost you more money in the long run. However, if you make yourself aware of some of the best practices for small business taxes, you can ensure that your business operations are headed in the right direction.
Every business should have confidence in their taxes! We have done thousands of small business taxes at Motl Accounting and have here for you some of the best practices for small business taxes.
- Hire an Accountant. Hiring an accountant will greatly benefit your business! Throughout the year, your accountant will track your income and spending ensuring that you don’t have cash flow problems, as well as monitor your gross and net profits. This way, when it comes time to prepare your taxes, you will have all you need to properly file.
- Keep Records. Keeping accurate records throughout the year of all of your business transactions will ensure that your tax return is correct. With inadequate record keeping, you could be leaving out deductions or even putting yourself at risk for an audit. It’s best to invest in an accounting software to assist you with keeping track of all of your income and expenses.
- Understand the Difference Between Net & Gross Income. Business owners often forget to take into account the difference between their net and gross income. If your product costs more money to make than you charge for it, you will lose money, regardless of how many units you sell. It’s important to know what your gross and net profits are so that you can better forecast and ensure that your taxes are accurately prepared.
- Correctly Classify Your Business. By failing to correctly classify your business, you could result in overpaying taxes. Each business classification will have a different effect on your taxes, whether it be Limited Liability or Sole Proprietor. It’s important to consult with your accountant or attorney to discover the best classification for your own business.
- Manage Your Payroll. The IRS typically checks every quarter to ensure that a business’s payroll taxes have been paid. Therefore, it is recommended that you hire a reputable company to assist with your payroll. Whether you are working with classic fax reporting, paper checks, or even electronic reporting and direct deposit, you will want assurance that yours is handled as it should be.
By properly filing your taxes, you can have confidence in the overall operations of your business. These are just a few practices that you will want to keep in mind when it comes to your own business taxes.
With that being said, if you are seeking an accountant to assist your business, please get in touch with us here at Motl Accounting. With years of accounting experience in the Chicagoland area, we would be pleased with the opportunity to provide you with our tax services that provides business owners peace of mind.
401K, Accountant, Bookkeeping, Payroll, Payroll Dundee il, Taxes
You might not know everything about employee 401(k) plan contributions, but if you’re an employer, it is your responsibility to understand the basics when you offer this benefit to your workforce. A 401(k) is one of the most common retirement investment options because it is a flexible way to build capital over the course of a career and the funds mostly get withdrawn from your paycheck. We have a Payroll Vault team that oversees the accurate disbursement of these funds from paychecks to 401(k) or retirement accounts. Here’s what makes this type of plan unique and what sets it apart from other retirement options.
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Accountant, CPA, Taxes
What’s your favorite season? At Motl Accounting in Dundee, our favorite is tax season. It’s the time of year when you should be thinking about the best way to complete your business filing. There are a number of ways to do your taxes, but a personal CPA for your small business like Charles Motl will provide the quality of service you should expect from a customized tax filing. Business taxes are an entirely different animal than your personal filing; they can be much more complex. The more complicated your taxes are, the more you need help from a professional to avoid those unexpected and tedious mistakes that will ruin the start of your year.
When you work with Motl’s certified public accountants, you know that the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has qualified our professionals to practice in your state. This distinction means the accountants have passed a rigorous exam and have the experience to complete a professional tax return with accurate deductions on your behalf. Many businesses that we service have tried doing their taxes on their own before realizing how much they may be missing out by not understanding the complexities of deductions and taxations. We recently assisted a Photocopy business in Chicago by reviewing a statement they received and helped them save around $1800 dollars by taking a second look at the statement. It’s natural to panic when you receive notices from the IRS or State government, but we provide the peace of mind in such situations. That’s what we pride ourselves on. This among many reasons is why it’s advisable to go with a CPA rather than doing it alone. Read on for some of the strongest benefits.
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