The IRS continues to focus their audit activities in key small business areas. The wise business owner is well advised to be able to defend the following five areas to keep the IRS at a comfortable distance:
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Avoiding the Wrong Decision - Selecting an Accounting Method for Your Media Business - Cash VS Accrual Accounting
Posted by Jack Craven on Tue , Dec 29 , 2015
In the first year of a startup business, you, as a business owner, will need to make certain elections for tax purposes. These start up tax choices (elections) establish precedents for tax years to come. An important election you will make is selecting an accounting method for your business. The two methods commonly used are cash basis accounting or accrual basis accounting. You may be reading this and thinking, “What do cash and accrual basis mean?” and “What difference does this make to me and my business?”
Making the wrong decisions could cause your business to become just another failure.
Simply put, as our whitepaper explains, under cash basis accounting, a business owner such as yourself recognizes revenue and expenses (and pay taxes) when you receive or pay cash. Under accrual basis, you recognize income and expenses (and pay taxes) when they are earned without regard to being paid. In the attached white-paper, we provide media company tax tips and advice.
Many accountants automatically suggest that all of their small business clients automatically adopt cash basis accounting. As we discuss on the whitepaper that follows, this should not automatically be the case for many media and entertainment companies. The remainder of this paper explains cash basis versus accrual basis accounting and how they impact your business.
Selling your business can be an emotional and life-changing event. On the “big day” of sale, hopefully, you may realize a once in a lifetime payoff. It could be that you have spent years building the business. Alternatively, your business could be a relatively new growing interactive business that you are cashing out.
We have put together some useful information on Selling Your Business. Our guide contains the following:
- Who to speak with to get an idea on the value of your business
- What kind of attorney is best for helping you sell your business
- How to think going into the selling market
- How to be flexible
- How to spruce up your business
- How to think ahead to the future
As an entrepreneur, you work hard for your money. There is almost nothing worse than experiencing pilferage, embezzlement, and other types of misappropriation. Internal controls are extremely important to the entrepreneurial company.
Read MoreIt's getting hot outside, and you probably don't want to think about tax planning. But we have put together some summer tax tips so that you can get the most out of your 2015 return.
Before you head off to the beach, please take a look below at what we have prepared.
Read More- Bonus depreciation. You can expense 50% of the cost of new property you acquired and placed in service during 2014.
- Section 179. The immediate expensing limit for new and used property purchased and placed in service during 2014 is $500,000. This is a substantial increase from the $25,000 deduction under the prior tax law. Your total Section 179 deduction is limited when you purchase $2 million or more of assets during the year.
- Qualified improvements. You can use a 15-year straight-line depreciation method for improvements to leased buildings, restaurant property, and the interior of retail establishments.
- Commercial building energy-efficient improvements. If you made improvements to your commercial building that helped reduce utility costs, you can claim a deduction of up to $1.80 per square foot.
- Residential energy-efficient improvements. Did you buy qualifying storm windows or doors for your home during 2014? The credit of 10% of the cost of improvements is back, up to a lifetime limit of $500.
- Charitable contributions from IRAs. When you’re age 70-1/2 or older, you could make a 2014 tax-free distribution to a charity from your IRA.
- State and local sales tax deduction. If you itemize, you can claim a 2014 deduction for these taxes instead of deducting state and local income taxes.
- Qualified tuition expenses. The law reinstated the above-the-line deduction of up to $4,000 for expenses you paid in 2014 for higher education for yourself or other family members.
- Teacher classroom expenses. If you’re a teacher and you paid out-of-pocket for books and certain other materials for use in your classroom, you can claim an above-the-line deduction of up to $250 for 2014.
Cut Your Taxes in 2014: Don't Miss Out on Your 179 Deduction
Posted by Jack Craven on Thu , Dec 04 , 2014
The end of another year is quickly approaching, and it’s once again time to take the proper steps to reduce taxes on your personal and business returns. Tax planning strategies for 2014 includes accelerating deductions and deferring income.
It's that time of year again to begin taking the steps necessary to reduce taxes on your personal returns. Below we have put together some tips to ensure you make the most of this planning time.
The end of another year is fast approaching, and it’s once again time to take steps to reduce taxes on your business returns. We know this can be a difficult process so we have put together some information below to help.