A Business Question

[Warren Fisher]

Tom,

A couple of things that the others haven't addressed.
1. You can use a cell phone as your business phone.  When you do,  you can put
the number in the yellow pages and your customers will find you where ever you
are immediately and you can make an appointment right then.  No phone tag!  The
business line charge goes away.  The in-state long distance charges go away
also.  All the line maintenance goes and all the other mickey mouse charges they
throw in as well.  Most of us get 500-1000 minutes a month and unlimited long
distance or at least more than I've ever been able to use.  Try it,  you'll love
it!

2.If you use Quicken for your books and checkbook, you can categorize business
income and expenses and pull a profit and loss statement later on just your
business items.  This way you can run every thing in one account if you want.  I
have a household account that my wife keeps track of and a commercial account
under my business name that has no service charges if I keep the balance above
$2000.  I have my Social Security coming into the account so that the minimum
balance is maintained and transfer the funds to the household account or savings
when there is a surplus.  These funds are NOT categorized so they never show up
in the business records.  It really is a smart program!

3. Quicken will also keep track of sales taxes (gross income & collected tax) and
all I have to do is ask it how much money was taxable and how much tax I should
pay when it is due and print out a report to back up my remittance.

4. Your business and personal income tax filing do go in together but there
should be a separate section for the business that becomes a line item on your
main report.  You can write off a ton of stuff with a business!  If your tax man
isn't doing this, you're paying way too much tax!  Keep all your expense receipts
in envelopes by month with your bank statements.  If you ever get audited, you'll
wish you had.  Do not write off credit card statements unless everything charged
with the card is a business expense.  They'll get you for that.

Hope this helps,

Warren

Tvak@AOL.COM wrote:

> My bank has been grumbling about the number of checks I deposit, suggesting I
> might need to open a business checking account.  Since personal accounts are
> free, and since I do business under my own name, I'm not eager to do this.  I
> would have to register as a business with the county first.  (I did actually
> a register as a small business with the county when I started out, but I no
> longer use that company name.)  For years, as a pianist I collected checks
> from various parties and it never occurred to me to register as a business.
> I play the piano, they pay me.  Now I tuned the piano, they pay me.  Why
> bother registering as a small business?  They write a check to me, and I
> deposit it in my checking account.

One good reason for a business account is, if you get a check with your business
name as the payee, nobody can cash the check if you loose your wallet.  The only
thing they can do is deposit it in your account or throw it away.  The only way
you can get cash out of it is to deposit it then write a check for cash.  Nobody
else can get anything out of it.  Then have your customer write another and stop
payment on the original.  You will have to pick up their "stop payment charges"
to be fair.

>
>
> Where I live you must register a business with the county to get a listing in
> the Yellow Pages.  My registration under the previous company name qualifies
> me even though I am now listed just by my name.  I'm not really interested in
> going through the expense and hassle of registering as a business again.
>
> If I may ask, how many of you have registered as a small business?  Is there
> any advantage or disadvantage to being a small business versus an individual?
>  Are taxes handled the same way?

No, see above.

>
>
> BTW, with tax season coming up, can any of you in the Chicago area recommend
> a good tax guy who is familiar with tuner's deductions, expenses, etc.?
>
> Thanks for any advice,
> Tom Sivak

--
Warren Fisher RPT
fish@Communique.net
1422 Briarwood Dr.
Slidell, LA 70458-3102