Small Business Services

The kind of record keeping system depends on your business and industry. Your local CPA can provide you with many options. When deciding what is necessary and what is not necessary the follwing questions should be asked: How will this record be used, how important is this information likely to be, is this information available elsewhere in an equally accessible form. A separate business checkbook is highly recommended for any operation. Too many people comingle their personal and business accounts. There are various "one write" or automated systems available to help simplfy the record keeping function.

There are four basics of marketing. (the four P's) Product is the item or service you sell. Price is the amount you charge for your product or service. Promote are the ways you inform your market as to who, what and where you are. Provide are the channels you use to take the product to the customer. A major part of marketing involves researching your customers to find out their need, and then fill it. Also, discover what your customers want and what they will be willing to pay for it.

The Internet has revolutionized the way the world does business on both a local and global level. From recruiting employees to gathering data on the competition, the ways businesses utilize the Internet are numerous, as are the benefits of the Internet to the business community. . Perhaps the most obvious benefit of the Internet is cost savings. Information at faster speeds saves time, which either saves or makes money. Many functions in the business process, i.e. bookkeeper, have been automated, which has helped to streamline processes and reduce the cost of labor. The Internet has been credited with providing a window into the global world. It allows anyone with a computer to think globally and has allowed the business world to forge international relationships with new vendors (to lower costs) and new customers (to increase sales). Today, communication is as easy as a mouse click, and much cheaper too. Anyone in the world can communicate with another person through text messages, emails, and even live video. For business, this means higher efficiency and quicker processing of sales

Yes. Unless Congress reinstates it, the credit for increasing research activities is scheduled to expire for research expenses paid or incurred after 2011. The credit was claimed on IRS Form 6765.

You should require all your independent contractors to fill out IRS Form W-9. Their social security or employer identification number will be listed on this document for your use on required forms to be filed with the IRS and other taxing authorities. A penalty can be levied against you, the employer for omission of this information on certain forms.

Yes. There are different penalty and interest calculations incurred for not filing timely, not paying and not paying timely, or when a balance due exists. You will want to avoid the failure to file by the due date when a balance due exists penalty. Therefore, file the tax return by the due date and pay whatever you can at that point in time to minimize your total penalty and interest calculations.

If the excavating and soil removal do not bear a direct association with the construction of a building, then the excavating, soil removal, grading, or landscaping, is generally considered part of the land cost. Land is not depreciable.

Use Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment Tax Return Form 940. Use IRS E-file to file and EFTPS to pay. Go to IRS.gov to E-file and www.eftps.gov or call 1-800-555-4477 to call for EFTPS The Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)is reported and filed separately from the Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return Form 941.

The law rquires you, the employer to verify that each new employee is legally eligible to work in the United States. Both the employee and the employer must fill out INS Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9. In addition to Form I-9, each new employee must fill out IRS Employee's Witholding Allowance Certificate Form W-4.