I’ve been working as a CPA for over a decade.

I gained my experience working for two mid-sized, local CPA firms.

While I am now self-employed, I still do a lot of my paid work for one of these firms as an independent contractor.

Yet, I am telling you that if you own a small business, you should look elsewhere for your tax and accounting needs.

Keep reading to find out why and what I suggest as an alternative.

Making “quarterly” estimated tax payments…it’s one of the burdens of owning a small business or being self-employed.

As an employee, you collected a steady paycheck and had your taxes withheld from each one.

Ideally, you got to the end of each year, had enough withheld and didn’t owe any more money to the government when you filed your personal income tax return.

As a small business owner, things have changed.

You are supposed to calculate and pay in your estimated taxes every few months.

And while you’ll often hear these payments referred to as quarterly estimated tax payments, they’re not actually made quarterly.

Confused?!

Keep reading and I will break it all down for you.

You’ll learn why you are supposed to make estimated tax payments, how much you are supposed to pay, when you should make them, what happens if you don’t and more.

One of the biggest changes in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the new tax bill) is that the amount of the standard deduction has nearly doubled.

This change will have an impact on most middle class Americans, including many who typically itemize their deductions.

You may be unsure how this could impact you.

Keep reading to find out.

The new tax bill, The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 as it is formerly known, will result in lower tax bills for most American taxpayers.

However, there is a segment of the workforce that will be negatively impacted by the changes.

If you are an employee who previously took a deduction on your personal tax return for employee business expenses, you may see your tax bill go up starting in 2018.

Read on to find out what the employee business expense deduction is, what is changing and what you can do about it.

The Form 1099-MISC…generally recognized as the form that you, as a small business owner, send to independent contractors who you pay over $600.

It’s true that this is the most common use for the form, but there is a little more to it than that.

You should probably be sending them to some individuals and businesses that you haven’t been sending them to.

Read on to learn more about what the 1099-MISC is, who you should be sending it to, when they are due and more.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (referred to as “the new tax bill” throughout this post!) will have an impact on every American taxpayer.

You’re probably wondering how it will impact you.

In this regularly updated post, I will field questions on the new tax bill throughout 2018.

Submit your question by clicking the button below or by finding me on Facebook or Twitter.

My favorite part of the new tax bill is the 20% deduction for small business owners.

It’s not quite as generous as the 40% tax rate cut the big corporations received, but it will have a noticeable positive impact for most small business owners.

Of all the changes, this one may also be the most complicated for “higher income” small business owners.

Fortunately, most small business owners I work with will be able to take full advantage of this new deduction.

Keep reading to find out who is eligible for the deduction, how it is calculated, the maximum you can make before this new rule becomes more complicated and more.

Part 1 of this 3 part post introduced the new tax bill, rated each major change and suggested that, if you aren’t already self employed or running a small business, you might want to give some serious consideration to making a change.

If you haven’t read Part 1, you should check it out.

In this second part, I will layout several examples of how the changes in the tax rules will impact average, middle class Americans.

I also demonstrate how much each person would save on their income tax bill if the income they were earning from their job was instead earned from self employment or a small business they owned.

If you haven’t heard, a new tax bill has been passed that will impact every American taxpayer in some way.

What you may not quite grasp yet is how it will impact you.

You’ve probably heard some sound bytes on the news and may have even formed something of an opinion on the changes, but there’s a good chance that you don’t totally follow exactly how the new rules will impact you.

If this is the case, you’re in luck.

I’ve created this three part, easy to digest explanation of what the new tax rules are and how they impact you if you consider yourself a middle class American.

December is a chaotic month for most people.

The holidays, while joyful, produce their own set of stress and financial burdens.

And for many small businesses it is the busiest and most important and profitable month of the year.

However, if you run a small business it is also an important month for tax planning.

In December, you can look back on how your business did and make year-end decisions based on this to get your tax bill down.

In this post, I will highlight a few easy ways to pay less taxes by implementing some simple year-end tax planning strategies.

Health insurance isn’t cheap and can be a huge burden if you are running a small business and don’t have another resource for obtaining it.

Fortunately, there is a deduction available for self-employed health insurance premiums for many small business owners.

Unfortunately, it isn’t available for all small business owners and, even if you are eligible for the deduction, some inequalities exist in how much of a deduction you receive compared to how health insurance premiums are handled for traditional employees.

There are also some special rules and record-keeping requirements you need to keep in mind if you take advantage of this deduction.

There is a misconception among many people that taking advantage of the home office deduction immediately throws up red flags with the Internal Revenue Service.

While this may have been the case at some point in the past, in my decade-plus career as a practicing CPA I have definitely not experienced this to be the case.

So, if you’re eligible for the deduction you should absolutely take it!

Of course, that naturally leads to the question “Are you eligible for the deduction?”.

Fortunately, small businesses, which are often home-based, are often eligible for the deduction.

Read on to find out if you are eligible for the deduction and, if so, the options available to you for calculating it.

“Do I need to form an LLC?”

As a CPA, this is one of the most popular questions I receive when someone is just starting a small business.

It is also the subject of this post, where I dive into the various ownership and legal options available to you and your small business.

The auto expense deduction could be incredibly valuable for your small business, but you need to know what auto expenses or miles are deductible so that you can take full advantage of it without taking more than you are eligible for.

If you want to know what expenses or miles qualify for an auto expense deduction, why home-based businesses are typically at an advantage when it comes to this deduction and how you could save thousands of dollars in taxes by taking full advantage of it, keep reading.