September 2020

Co-Mingling-Funds-How-it-Works

Co-Mingling Funds – How it Works

Last week we discussed in a FB post the idea of co-mingling.  Today we are going to get into more detail about this important subject! 

As a reminder, co-mingling funds is when you combine or otherwise entangle your personal funds with your business funds. Some common examples of this is paying personal bills with the company credit card or drafting personal house expenses from the company account or visa-versa. Using personal funds to pay business bills directly. 

Keeping your business and personal finances SEPARATE by using the proper accounts for your business income and expenses is VERY important. Among the best benefits of this is increased clarity in your business finances, as well the protection of your personal assets in the event that your business was sued. Many business owners do not realize that they can (in effect) negate the protection of their LLC by choosing to co-mingle funds. There are many precedents where the courts decided that because the business was co-mingled with personal finances, the personal assets were up for grabs too! 

What you can do instead of co-mingling funds when you need to pay a personal bill from business funds or pay a business bill with personal friends? There are a couple of ways.

Co-Mingling Funds – How it Works Read More »

100-EXTRA-HOURS

100 EXTRA HOURS!

Did you know that according to a NSBA survey the average business owner is spending over 8 hours a MONTH working on federal business taxes and finances? That doesn’t even include the other financial tasks like state taxes, invoicing, accounts payable, receipt management and the million other smaller financial tasks you have to do EVERY day!

Let’s do the math…. That’s over 100 hours a year! OR the equivalent (assuming a 50 hour week!) of letting your business run itself TWO WEEKS per year!

Two weeks! That’s a pretty good amount of vacation time, or time to do that extra project around the house you’ve been wanting to do, or time to learn that new skillset or attend that conference or seminar you’ve been thinking of, or ________________________ you fill in the blank!

What would YOU do with TWO WEEKS OFF every year? How would that change your life?

On top of that, just imagine a life with:

No more spreadsheets on Saturdays!

No wondering if you’re making a profit!

No stressing at tax time to pull together financials at the last minute!

Organized and consistent bookkeeping.

We can give you that! At Abacus, we stress the numbers so you don’t have to. We take care of our client’s financial needs and give them the peace of mind that they deserve.

100 EXTRA HOURS! Read More »

Part-2-Dont-miss-the-boat…-again.

Part 2 Don’t miss the boat… again.

Last week we discussed three of the most commonly missed tax deductions that business owners often forget to deduct (or maybe don’t realize they are tax deductible) and this week, we are going to the final three that in our opinion, consist of the top missed deductions.

Again, we like to remind our readers that they should always consult with a tax expert to ensure that their taxes are done properly and that they have maximized their deductions to the fullest.

ICYMI (common blog/social media lingo for in case you missed it) here is the link for last week’s blog where we review the first three. https://chooseabacus.com/dont-miss-the-boat-and-no-you-cant-deduct-that-boat/

Continuing the list from last week:

4.Car & Truck Expenses

A lot of times business owners think it’s not worth the hassle to deal with mileage if they are not
consistently using their vehicle for work purposes but even just a few trips a month can add up to a large deduction at the end of year.

There are two methods for deducting vehicle expenses- actual or standard mileage. With actual you keep track of the actual amount you have spent for gas, repairs, car payments, etc. and use the % for business vs. personal miles to calculate the deduction.

Part 2 Don’t miss the boat… again. Read More »

Dont-miss-the-boat…-and-no-you-cant-deduct-that-boat

Don’t miss the boat… and no, you can’t deduct that boat!

The financial world tends to spend a lot of time discussing taxes- there’s a reason for that! The IRS tax code is complex and confusing for many business owners. To further complicate things, often financial experts disagree on its interpretation creating LOTS of room for confusions and mistakes. We recommend making sure you have a great tax expert on your team to help you navigate through the muddy waters of tax time. (We partner with an expert-OR we can provide a referral if you need one, etc)

In the meantime, we can provide some tips for you as you go about your daily business deciding what is (or isn’t) a tax deductible expense.

In our blog today, we want to share some of the most commonly missed tax deductions.

1.Education and Conferences

Did you go to a business conference? Take a course or coaching program? Buy an instructional book? Anything educational that is related to your field of work is tax deductible.

Just be sure to keep a copy of the receipts and a description of the conference or workshops you attended in case there is ever a question of legitimacy.

Don’t miss the boat… and no, you can’t deduct that boat! Read More »