tax preparation for your own small business

You're a business owner who takes care of your own books and you're confused about overtime pay. That's understandable, as many owners try to avoid this situation as much as possible. However, you should still understand the basics of overtime pay in case it ever becomes a problem. Understanding When Overtime Is Necessary Workers who are under the age of 16 are limited by the number of hours they can work, but anyone over that age is not limited in the number of hours he can work in a week.

The self-employed who work at home enjoy several perks as a result of their position, like the short walk to work and the lack of annoying cube-mates. As a trade-off, those who have themselves as a boss need to be extra careful when it comes to their financial dealings. Most people know about the benefit of using their homes and vehicles as tax "write-offs," but this class of workers often comes to the attention of IRS auditors, resulting in the dreaded audit.

When you start your own small business, it comes with lots of new opportunities and responsibilities. One way to fulfill both of them and make sure your business stays open for as long as possible is to start off with good record keeping. While it's not very exciting, record keeping could make a world of difference to your ability to keep your company in the black. So, how can you create good records from the beginning?

If you have still not done your taxes, you have a short amount of time to get them done. Here are a few things that you need to be aware of as you file your taxes this year. There Are New Health Insurance Forms One of the biggest changes you will notice as you file your tax returns is the health care section. If you have insurance, you should have received either a Form 1095-A, 1095-B or 1095-C.

If you run a small business that takes payments via a third-party network company -- that acts as a go-between that takes the customer's payment and places it in an account for you -- you know that the past few years have seen some changes to how your income is reported to the IRS. One of the biggest changes is the 1099-K, a relatively simple form that these processors are now required to send to the IRS and you when you hit a certain threshold.

If your tax refund was held -- or you were notified that it would be held -- for your spouse's debt, it's vital to take action to avoid further problems. The IRS has a method for protecting your hard-earned refund from your partner's obligations. It's called Injured Spouse Allocation, and here's a quick guide to how to use it.  What is It? Injured Spouse Allocation is for situations in which only one of the spouses -- who both have income -- on a Married Filing Jointly return is obligated to pay a particular debt.

Whether you're a new business owner who doesn't want to handle payroll processing on your own or you're a long-time business owner who simply needs to switch to a new service, the process can be a little bit unnerving to say the least. This is particularly true for start-ups who have no idea what type of information they need to do payroll or what the payroll service will need from them.

The chances of a tax return being lost in the mail or, upon receipt, lost or misplaced by the Internal Revenue Service are rare. While remote, the possibility of the return being lost does exist and could happen. Self-employed persons could end up facing accusations of "failure to file" if there is no record of a submitted tax return. As time passes, the IRS may file a "substitute for a return"