i havent filed taxes yet (help )

[bromfieldlawn]

this is my first year in biz , i made 32 k, is that good for my first year ? well i am having h&r block do my taxes next week . but i get this letter from the city i live in roanoke virginia by the way and they want me to list all my equipment computers etc and i have to pay them taxes too , thats crap , does anyone know what that tax rate is , you call down there they wont tell yah nothing ....i bought 2 new scags 61 inch zero turns a 48 inch zero turn and a 36 inch walk behing scags. 3 weedeaters and two blowers so you know what kind of money i talking about also i bought a new laptop to keep up with my accounts .. i have 50 accounts and i am struggling to make it threw the first year , and then this hits me . ... please help ...thanks a bunch ...... for reading my forum ...

[jimslawnservice1]

You Need to employ the services of a business CPA, Not H&R Block. Unfortunatley this will also cost you, but it will be right and save you money in the long run.

[blade2blade]

agreed. my cpa has been a tremendious help to me. saved me a bunch of money.

[bromfieldlawn]

Did You Hire Him Your First Year Of Biz ?
Its A Struggle ,(as We All Know, For All Of Us New To This, I Am Not A Lowballer, Either I Make It Or I Dont , I Dont Work For Free!!!! Just Need Some Pointers , Thanks All That Have Replyed..

[jimslawnservice1]

fortunatley my father is a CPA, so he advises me and handles the #'s. But a CPA won't be too expensive. If you know somebody and money is that tight see if you can work something out with them, ask any other folks you know with businesses who they use.

[cjm2783]

find a CPA that handles contractors and such. they can save you thousands in the long run. h+r doesnt care about you at all.

they want tell you that you can take the tax that you pay on your truck or trailer off or just the small things that will save you money.

GL,

cjm

[RRS]

Offer to do work on a barter system. You still pay taxes on what their income is worth (at least you're supposed to), but the price of your service is a tax deduction.

My CPA is an old family friend, but I do a lot of work for him.

[LLee]

I met with a CPA on sunday to start my tax returns. She offered tons of good info. When the subject of how much it would cost to prepare my returns came up she asked how much I paid H&R last year and I told her $160 and she said she would charge me $150 including the 1040C which I didn't have with H&R. She also said when the time was right she would get me incorporated at no charge just the fee's paid to the state. I'm sure she's hoping to get $ out of me for future services, but I really wasn't expecting it to be cheaper than H&R. You should really consider cancelling your appointment with H&R and talking to a few CPA's. They can also help you with the property tax issue as you will have to pay taxes on all that nice equipment you bought. With all that equipment you'll be making enough soon to more than pay a CPA.

[Scott]

you need to talk to a few other maintainers or even a few bigs dogs in your town and find out who they use and if they'd recommend them. Run away from HR and run to a CPA.

Starting off can be tough especially with buying all that equipment. Hopefully you have all those mowers paid off in under two more years. Sounds like you dove in head first.
Best thing I ever did was get a CPA and hire my wife for officework.

[allyardcare]

I was with you a couple of years ago. Scaired me to death but it wasn't that bad. Bought a business license ( services only, not retail so that I didn't have to file quarterly.) In TN unless you buy wholesale without tax and then charge sales tax to customer this way will work fine. Never use H & R, find an independent company to do your taxes. The court clerk's office helped me get the correct license and my tax people help me with the tangible personal property. It's not as bad as it seems. Just remember when you file your taxes to depreciate everything that you can. The tax people can help you with this. I did mine on 3 years. Now it's over and I'm looking at buying a truck this year.

Just fyi, by going totally legit (business lic, tangible per prop, and comm tag on truck and trailer) it cost me less than $150 annually here. Your tax people can help a lot more than you think. But I'm basically a one man show in TN so your circumstances could be different.

[Mo Green]

Get a CPA. The price you pay for having your taxes done will be far cheaper than being placed on the IRS radar for the next several years.

[Phil Nilsson]

Just Need Some Pointers , Thanks All That Have Replyed..

You don't need a CPA you need to get an education ... in taxes ... anybody can do a business return (if) you can read you can do a tax return ...

Landscape companies are (not) complicated ... very cut and dry

[GrassMaster]

We haven't filed yet either, No Big Deal...

We will file on April 15th like we do every year!

Don't worry about it, when they want some money they'll send somebody from IRS to talk to you. They are very Nice & Understanding people... If they are doing an audit go to their office, do not let them come to your place ever.

I have a Buddy that for over 10 or 12 years lets IRS contact him when they want money, no he doesn't file until they contact him about every 2 or 3 years.

Always make sure you keep a Good & Accurate set of books & for God Sakes make sure you have enough money to pay them... Straight out of my buddies mouth!

Just do not mess around with the State or Local Tax people, they have Major Attitude Issues & I know for a fact that the state folks carry Chains & Padlocks to lock you out if you try to beat the state out of money... It's happened 3 times in about 5 years at the Liquor Store next door. LOL they will not even let him shut his lights off!

[Stephen M.]

this is my first year in biz , i made 32 k, is that good for my first year ? well i am having h&r block do my taxes next week . but i get this letter from the city i live in roanoke virginia by the way and they want me to list all my equipment computers etc and i have to pay them taxes too... ...thanks a bunch ...... for reading my forum ...

It sounds like a "business and occupation" tax or a "property tax". Years ago when I got a call from our county assessor's office wanting "property tax", I said we don't own real estate. Imagine my surprise when they said, "yea, you do own property". Property taxes are paid every year on my tools of my trade. I don't mind since I use county services and roads. Somebody has to pay for those services.

[ohreallythanks]

this is my first year in biz , ....i bought 2 new scags 61 inch zero turns a 48 inch zero turn and a 36 inch walk behing scags. 3 weedeaters and two blowers also i bought a new laptop to keep up with my accounts .. i have 50 accounts and i am struggling to make it threw the first year , and then this hits me . ... please help

if you can afford to get all that in your first year it's hard for me to see where your struggle is with 50 accounts at hand........maybe hold off payment till your maint season starts if possible, sell one of those many mowers, downgrade to a pc and sell the laptop......my accoutant feels strongly that the later you file taxes the less chance you will get audited.......