Tax Preparation – 5 Small Business Issues For 2015

Given how tax laws are ever changing, it’d be no surprise if you too were confused while trying to comprehend the complex revisions. According to tax experts for small businesses, here are the top five issues you should be dealing with on an urgent basis.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Healthcare’s been the number one issue to plague small business owners since 1986. Come 2015 and the ACA, both the cost and complications have increased at a time when you’d expect otherwise. Small business health insurance tax is the main concern right now in addition to the 30-hour workweek designation for full-time employees, the employer mandate, and the individual mandate. If you fail to provide the basic health insurance to your employees or even to report to the IRS regarding the coverage, you may be in for some serious tax penalties. For instance, if you run a business with more than 100 employees, then you have to guarantee health insurance for at least 70% of the staff employed on a full-time basis.


Tax Extenders

There are 50 tax breaks included in the proposed bill and according to one expert; you need to be prepared regarding whether your business has been exploiting any of these breaks. Your preparation must involve organizing all your records and bringing them up to date so that they are easy to access during the tax season, especially when you are considering ways to secure potential deductions. For that matter, accountability for everything from meals to the use of a personal vehicle is necessary. One solution to simplifying this record keeping is to use modern technologies; automating the process.

While breaks such as Section 179 that allows businesses to subtract the full price of qualifying software or equipment leased or purchased during the year; are ideal for small businesses owners; a lot of them were rushed into making purchases in the last two weeks of 2014 whereas a lot more missed out because they had no idea about it. And again, owners will have no idea until later during the year whether purchases made in 2015 would still be subject to it or not.

Online Sales

One of the changes anticipated for this is the Marketplace Fairness Act whereby the legislation is attempting to equal the odds among the brick-and-mortar stores and those involved in e-commerce. It hopes to achieve this by allowing states to collect and pay the state sales tax from online merchants who earn at least a million dollars every year.

Retirement

There are multiple developments under consideration or brought into effect on this one. Owners of small businesses who are considering or even offering a retirement plan currently would now have to take into consideration the myRA, the non-mandatory workplace savings program initiated by the U.S. Treasury this year. Other legislations too are about offering incentives for small businesses so that they’d begin providing for retirement plans as well.

Corporate Tax Rates

One of the key issues that small businesses would have to deal with is the corporate tax rate. A company that follows the structure of a corporation is required to pay a higher tax rate than a limited liability company or other business structures. Lowering the rates for them won’t be as beneficial in terms of tax advantages for the small businesses if there’s no change in personal tax rates.

Tax Preparation – 5 Reasons to Hire a Professional Tax Preparer

They save Your Time

Most people who think they’d rather do their own taxes rather than investing in a pro; can relate to this point. Honestly, it’s not everyone’s piece of cake and it’s likely that you end up losing your peace of mind spending literally hours doing taxes, not being able to figure out the account particulars. If you are not skilled at the technical aspects for accounting, then hiring a professional is the best thing you can do.

They Help Avoid Pitfalls Associated with Tax Filing

Professionals are there to help you save money! Many people are perplexed when they find out that they have to pay some sort of penalty because well, they forget to meet the corporate tax deadline. This is not to suggest that they cannot make errors too. We all do, it’s just that they are less prone to do so.

They Assist With Future Audits

If you are lucky enough to strike a chord with a reliable financial advisor, particularly those who are experienced in tax issues, then you can benefit from the relationship in future too. They can be asked to check your financial dealings with your realtor, mortgage broker, banker, etc., giving you guidance for the whole year round. They can also answer your questions, personal or business-related, to make sure that you take smarter and tax-saving decisions.

They Know How to Reduce the Tax Amount or to Secure a Bigger Return

Majority of the people are not aware that they are allowed to deduct medical expenses under most conditions for a loved one if the person is not their dependent. Tax preparers, on the other hand, have an idea of loopholes where you can legally avoid paying extra tax.

They Are Up to Date with the Changes in Tax Law

Having the relevant credentials and knowledge base does not stop them from continuing to learn and staying abreast of what’s happening in the industry. It’s their forte after all; besides, they’ll only be as good as they claim if they are familiar with the current changes in the tax law pertaining to individuals and businesses alike. It’s a way they can verify if you are in compliance. That’s a bonus you can benefit from now, can’t you?