Well, yea, death and taxes… they are inevitable. We all will die (morbid, I know) but hopefully later than sooner. Regardless of how well you prepare and how well you take care of yourself, there are never any guarantees in life – you WILL DIE.
Similarly, if you are an entrepreneur or heck, a member of the working class, there is little to any way out of taxes. You will work your butt off every day, 40 hours + a week and will be lucky to see 80% of that since the government has their hand out for social security, federal and state income taxes, Medicare and depending on where you work, your HR may have your benefits taken out (but this is a good thing when it comes to total tax). In the end, there are loopholes, but you will still have to deal with it – taxes.
Bottom line – It is how you prepare that can make the difference.
If you live your life to the fullest, love those that are around you every day, prepare a will and have life insurance (essentially) to help take care of those that are left behind, it can make a difference. It won’t make your passing any better for them, but can help. If you are waiting to live your life after “this” happens and “this” never happens and you pass, you may be missing out on many things.
Whether you are an employee or an entrepreneur, live your life to the fullest, live like you have no tomorrows because you never know if this is your last today. As morbid as it is, speak with your insurance agent about a living will, especially if you will be leaving someone behind and be prepared for those “what-ifs”. Working 80 hours a week for your business won’t get you to a special gate in the heavens, or whatever you believe, it will put you one step closer to more money, maybe, but also higher stress, less enjoyment out of life (likely) and less time with those you love.
Be sure you take time out for yourself and spend time with those you love. Life has no guarantees
Taxes are inevitable
How you prepare every day or month of the year can determine how you can manage during the beginning of tax season. If you do nothing, sure you could still manage, but you will be spending more time trying to find all of those darned receipts and write-offs.
Wouldn’t you rather be prepared? Here are some thoughts to help
- Take daily/weekly/monthly steps to prepare your books or records for tax time.
- Ask a bookkeeper or virtual assistant for other tips
- You can file away receipts that are noted in a spreadsheet for later reference
- Write on receipts as you get them to help you remember who that lunch was with, and why
- Save other write-offs in other folders for easy organizing – medical expenses, insurance, credit cards, bank statements, home office bills for easy reference
- Note monthly or annual expenses in a column of your spreadsheet so you can recollect if you had noted it every month (use the folders to find the exact amount)
- Don’t forget your business formation fees, chamber or organization fees, meals to attend these events
Sure, there are plenty of other business expenses you will want to write off and it will depend on your business, your role and etc, but the point is to plan ahead and prepare throughout the year as “extra time” just doesn’t exist when it comes to working parents and entrepreneurs.
Don’t forget to outsource
You can always outsource your tax preparation or organizing to a virtual assistant, tax professional, bookkeeper and the like and write those expenses off.
Small business owners are my passion
So, this one was a little off my normal blog but thought it was appropriate for small business owners, such as you, and I want to help you with your business. We need to stick together and help each other out however we can. It’s tough being a single working parent or entrepreneur.
Lastly, I want to help your business grow! If you need help with putting your business in front of more virtual eyes, I can help you with search engine optimization, paid ads on Google and social media marketing whether I do it for you or I teach you how you can do it that is up to you. Don’t forget, those services are tax write-offs! 😉
Hope this was helpful. Your time is valuable and should be spent wisely. I don’t know about you, but working on my taxes as part of my daily routine is definitely more ideal than working on it for 40 + hours a week until it’s done come tax season.
Hope you are blessed this year with a prosperous business, healthy life and are surrounded and loved by many! Please feel free to share your tax organizing or death preparation tips below. 😉
~Kristen
Nice advice, Kristen. I pretty much do all the things you suggested. I do still have to spend some time at the end of the year but nowhere nearly as much as if I didn’t keep with it daily and monthly. I’m still looking for “extra time.”
So glad that you are on top of things Beth! Great job… and yes, I agree, I don’t spend NEAR the amount of time during tax season because I do little bits all year long. 🙂
I SWORE that this year I would be even more dedicated with getting my tax items put away promptly and not wait a month … or 3… to get caught up on them. My next goal is to hire a bookkeeper to do the task for me since I hate it so much. I mean REALLY hate it, lol. This just inspired me to keep pushing and make sure that I get it done!!
Yea, I hear you… tax time can be overwhelming just with the organizing. I have added.. .my expense receipts spreadsheet task to my WEEKLY calendar. I know I won’t get to it weekly, all the time… but I figure I will at LEAST once a month… and that is MUCH better than annually… PLUS… I have better chances of NOT missing out on deductions!
Great tips on how to organize our lives! There’s a lot to take away from this article.
Thanks Lumbie! Glad that you found it useful
All good tips. So important to keep info organized, for taxes and to just to keep on track. We are in the process of getting lots of miscelanneous records organized and while at it, I get to throw out papers, clean out drawers & closets and why do I hold on to old sneakers?
Too funny Ros… why DO you hold onto old sneakers? When I get new ones it’s because the old ones are falling apart… or I keep them for lawn mowing or something.
Good stuff. Too many small business owners (particularly those just starting out) don’t realize that many legitimate business expenses can be written off on taxes. It also helps to have the attitude that spending on our business is an investment. Good stuff.
Yes, so very true… we can write off a lot more than we think… mileage to those lunches, paper, pens, heating for the HOME office and etc… a lot of things that will add up fast too!
Love that you shared these tips. As a small business owner, and a BUSY one, receipts often get lost in the clutter. My assistant is helping me get organized this year to help with exactly this problem. We went through my old filing cabinets and found receipts and paperwork from 2005.. now that’s scary! Purging the old junk while getting organized was a great start to 2015.
Yes Holly… I do the same thing… it’s like emptying out my filing cabinet.. tossing what I no longer need to save after a year and storing annual stuff, like taxes with tax stuff.
Yes! To do every month: file, sort, file, enter. File sort, file, enter. Save time at tax time. A promise to me!!
Excellent promise Sharon
I try to have electronic versions of everything so I don’t have to keep a lot of paper. I know that requires trusting the company you use for backing up data will always be around and never lose your information but the really important stuff I keep on a USB drive just in case all else fails. And if that doesn’t work, well, let’s hope I never have to worry about it 🙂
That is great to have Beth! I have always been told to have 2 backups and at least one of those on a cloud… still working on that. I have an external, but what happens if the house burns down… eeek, need the cloud one too. Great job and yes, let’s hope we NEVER have to worry about that! 😉
Great information Kristen. I just signed up for QB online and it helps me organize so much better.
That is great Candess… QB will be great for you to stay on task with your accounting needs, I am sure.
Good practical advice, Kristen. I use to be mired in paperwork when I went to put the tax info together.. If you take the time to set up a file system and a weekly update, tax prep is easy and you get to spend some quality time enjoying life. That’s worth a margarita or two.
Quality time and a margarita… very valuable indeed! LOL Thanks Joyce!