Accounting, Payroll, Taxes etc

[AAffordable]

I am going to do my own Accounting, Payroll, Taxes etc........ for 2007. I currently have been using Groundskeeper for my tracking and a tax preparer at the end of the year and will now have my brother working for me starting this year but am not sure what to get in terms of software to do all this.

I am a Sole Propriertership that will have one employ to pay by Printed check. I am looking for a Complete setup that can do all my accounting for taxes, Payroll, and if it would be easer use it for my tracking and not us the Groundskeeper.

Please Advise to any thoughts on the best way to go because I have been looking into Quickbooks but am a little confused as to if I would need the Pro2007& Accounting software and the Payroll Software or is there one that will do it all.

Also will I need a seperate business account for Payroll since I will have two kinds of checks to print one with single check for Payroll and one with 3 checks for normal bill paying. I am how check numbers would work since I would have the two different kind of checks.

Thanks
Donny

[GeorgiaLandscaper]

You need Quickbooks Pro. I am almost certian that it will print checks for payroll from it. I use it but do not cut check through it. Good luck.

[ahlgrenlandscaping]

Quickbooks Pro Contractor Does it all!

Estimates
Invoices
banking
checks
tax preparation
credit cards

[AAffordable]

Thanks for the input. I just did the Free Quickbooks Start-up to get the feel for it before going to the Pro come March when we start-up full speed. I have a few basic question below I am not sure of so if someone could please help it would be much apperiated.

1) With the Quickbooks Payroll does it do all the account seting up for the taxes that will be taken out of my employs checks or is there something I have to do before starting the Payroll software?

2) On the Quickbooks should I put my Personal Accounts on it or just the Business account?

3) Should I have a seperate account for Payroll or do all business out of the one and transfer money monthly to my personal account for personal bill? If so do I just mark the withdrawl on Quickbooks account register as Cash on hand withdrawl?

4) If I do a job on Dec. 25th and get paid for it in Jan. what year would that fall on for taxes?

5) If I pay a Business Phone bill in Jan. that was for service in December what year would that be considered for tax purposes?

6) Last question: For example if I made $50,000 and had $40,000 in business expenses would this mean I would owe very little taxes and how much Aprox. would it be on that amount.

[rustyt22]

1) yes, it has all the stuff in it for payroll. YOu just have to set it up.

2)no, business only. It will throw off all your income, expenses, etc if you mix them up

3) Tranfer $$ into your personal accoutn for personal expenses, mae sure to keep 25% of everything you transfer out in a savings accout to pay Uncle Sam. If youre going to transfer $1000 to your personal accout, transfer $750 to your personal acct and $250 to a saings account for your quarterly tax payments.

4) Depends on how your accountant does it..... accrual or cash method. Ak your CPA

5)Same as #4 and depends on when you get the bill, not when the service was for as far as I know.....but Im not a CPA.

6) Always save 25% of what you transfer out of business to your personal account for taxes. it may be a little more and may be a little less, but unless your profiting 50k or more, 25% should suffice.

Hope that helps! I had all the same questions when I started. A good CPA is worth his weight in gold though.....but make sure he's a GOOD cpa before he charges you the gold.....GOOD LUCK!!!

[AAffordable]

Thanks so much for answering these qustions because I am a little turned around with all the numbers and forms it takes.

Would you sugest even with having the Quickbooks to also have a CPA or just Export to Turbo Tax at the end of the year?

From what I get if you make $50,000 but pay out $50,000 in Business Expenses you would pay no taxes at the end of the year?
This is just an Example because I hope I profit some considering I would have personal Expenses to pay.
I also have Two Babbies and a wife to claim on Taxes and from what I here that will help with end of year taxes.

Thanks Again
Donny

[FloridaJoe]

Looks like you received all the info you needed.
Like they said, keep your personal accounts and expenses separate from your business. Set up an account for owners draw, each time you take money out, it will show as owners draw.
SETTING UP of Quickbooks is the most important part of using the software. Take your time and give things some thought befor starting to set up the software for the first time. If you are not familiar with setting up Quickbooks you can go to the Quickbooks page and they will give you local contact names for people who have been certified by Quickbooks. You can contact your local Quickbooks pro, and they can help with set up if you need help. There is no set price they charge, but most are pretty reasonable. I think the gurue here charged $20 per hour.

JM

[OLD HAT]

From what I get if you make $50,000 but pay out $50,000 in Business Expenses you would pay no taxes at the end of the year?
This is just an Example because I hope I profit some considering I would have personal Expenses to pay.
I also have Two Babbies and a wife to claim on Taxes and from what I here that will help with end of year taxes.

Thanks Again
Donny

I think you might be confusing company income taxes and personal income taxes.
You pay company taxes on any profit the company makes, from what I understand
you pay personal income taxes on your wages.
I might be wrong on this, but I do know you have to keep the company expenses seperate from personal.

[AAffordable]

Damn you guys are great on helping a fellow company out.

I have the Free Quickbooks starter that allows up to 20 customers but plan on upgrading to pro in the next month.

What I have done is put my business account balance in from my checkbook regester as of the day I started using Quickbooks since I have had no income yet this year.
I plan on depositing every penny that is made from the business and cycle into the personal accounts (savings, checking etc....)

How do I label it when I want to remove money from the Business account to the personal account on Quickbooks and have it track corectly since there is no set up for personal account on it.

I will transfer all extra to personal at the end of the year since it will be profit?

Does quickbooks have a program that will track personal and work with the business so I can transfer to personal from business and have it track that under our personal?

Thanks

[OLD HAT]

run any business money through the business.
if you need personal money out of the account, write a check to yourself, then you have a paper trail, I would assume you can deduct labor to yourself from the business.
dont forget to keep some money in the account at the end of the year for stuff you will need at the first of the next year. Advertising, accountant, fuel to use on estimates, parts, ins., etc.

[rustyt22]

Whether you write a paycheck to yourself counting as expenses or not doesnt matter, because the business income will all be taxed as your wages anyway, unless you've got a weird setup. Its pretty simple though. Just go to your account list, hit create new, put equity in the drop down box, and name the account "owner's drawings". Whenever your write checks to yourself, just put in the Account "owner's drawings" so it records it in that account. Your CPA will be able to handle it from there.

I would not use turbo tax because a good CPA is worth much more than just end of the year taxes. He can depreciate your truck and equipment in different ways, help give you advice as far as when to buy equipment and vehicles to get the best tax break, get your money back for the road taxes you pay when you buy equipment fuel that isnt to be used on the road, etc. etc. CPAs are one of the greatest investments you can make if you get the right one.

[rustyt22]

Does quickbooks have a program that will track personal and work with the business so I can transfer to personal from business and have it track that under our personal?

Thanks

No, just business. Use Quicken or MS Money for personal money.

I think you might be confusing company income taxes and personal income taxes.
You pay company taxes on any profit the company makes, from what I understand
you pay personal income taxes on your wages.
I might be wrong on this, but I do know you have to keep the company expenses seperate from personal.

Yes keep them seperate. The company, when a single member LLC or a sole proprietor, is always taxed as an individual. For ex., if business makes 50k net (gross income minus company expenses), it will be taxed as if the owner of the business had made 50k working at a job. Taxes will include all of the employee taxes such as Social INSecurity, FICA, etc.

If you took money out to pay personal bills, that will be counted as business income. So, lets say you take out 40k during the year for personal expenses, but leave 10K in the business account for next year's capital. The business owner will still owe taxes on the 50k even though he only took out 40k for personal stuff.

This is what I understand from my CPA, but thats why you need a good CPA to explain the "living, breathing document" we call the Tax Code. :laughing:

From what I was told a year or so ago, 10 different accountants could look at the same figures and come up with 10 different bottom lines for the goverment to tax you on, and 7 of them still be correct by the tax law. Can you say FAIR TAX?? hahaha

[AAffordable]

Thanks again for all the advice. I found a certified Quickbooks accountant in my town on the Quickbooks site that has been dealing with small business for 20 years that is do to come out and get this going for me on Tuesday. She charges $35 per hour and said it should be max a two hour set-up. One of the first things she said on the phone was about writing off different things that I would have never thought of. She also has a copy of Quickbooks premier Contractor 2006 New in box that was purchased for a cliet that did not pick it up she is seeling to me for $100 and from what I see on Ebay they sell for $200-$300.