 The #1 Reason You Pay Too Much TaxPublished Date: 2005-02-06 10:54:18 WorkOnInternet.com
1) Our elected politicians created the complicated and convoluted monster known as the U.S. Tax Code, and this monster takes our money away. 2) Public Enemy #1 (The IRS) takes our money away. 3) Tax preparers are too busy preparing tax returns to help us take advantage of all the complicated and convoluted tax loopholes, leaving us to fight a losing battle against The Monster and its evil watchdog, the IRS. Am I making any sense yet? Well, there's one more reason I'd like to suggest, and it is really the only factor that you and I have complete control over: Poor recordkeeping. There's not much we can do about Reasons #1 and #2. And there's a limit to how much we can do about Reason #3. But there is a tremendous amount we can do to maintain better tax records -- and this, more then anything else, is the Number One reason why small business owners and self-employed people pay more tax than necessary. Let me now prove it to you by asking this question: Whether or not you've already filed your tax returns this year, how did your business do last year? [By "business" I'm referring to any type of small or home- based business venture, full-time or part-time, including the self-employment activities of America's greatest economic treasure, The Sole Proprietor.] Did you have a profit or a loss? Do you even know whether you had a profit or loss? If I called you up on the phone right now and asked you how much profit (or loss) you made in your business last year -- at least 5 people out of 10 wouldn't have a clue. If I asked you right now to tell me how much profit (or loss) you made LAST MONTH, I know for a fact that 9 out of 10 couldn't tell me. And chances are that when Tax Time rolls around each year, you won't even know how much profit you made last year for at least a month or two -- after spending days and untold stressful hours trying to fix your record-keeping nightmare. I deal with this scenario every day: The typical small business owner or self-employed person is stressed out about taxes because his/her records are in shambles. You know what I'm taking about, don't you? Receipts scattered in five places, and you've long forgotten what they were even for. Hand-scribbled notes in your day timer. A checkbook. Twelve months worth of receipts from three different credit cards. And now you've got to figure out how to put it all together into some kind of coherent manner in the next few weeks so you can prepare your own return or give it all to your accountant without him laughing in your face because of the total disaster your records are in. And most folks wouldn't even dare think about what would happen if the IRS came calling for an audit. The IRS would laugh all the way to the bank at the record-keeping disaster they find. (Ever been audited? If not, be sure to read the article, "A Close Encounter of the IRS Kind -- How To Audit-Proof Your Tax Return Forever!") at http://www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com/close-encounter.html Most self-employed folks use a variation of the "shoe box" method -- they throw all their receipts, cancelled checks, bank deposit slips and anything else business-related into a box and then come March (or April!) they dump it out and try to figure out what the heck was what -- for about 5 days straight. Is this any way to run a business? Isn't it time you got organized? And the easiest way to do that is to automate your bookkeeping. You are using a computer right now, correct? Then do yourself a favor and throw away any manual bookkeeping system you've used before and start keeping records on the computer. There are several good programs on the market -- Quicken and Quickbooks are the most well known. Here's another one I highly recommend -- it's called Internet Tax Helper and it's by far the easiest bookkeeping program I've ever seen. You can check it out here: http://www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com/software Quicken and Quickbooks are excellent programs, but I've seen many people become quite frustrated with those programs, too -- especially Quickbooks. If you don't have any accounting or bookkeeping experience, both Quicken and Quickbooks can make your head spin (especially Quickbooks and Quickbooks Pro; unless you have an accounting background, I urge you to stay away from those two programs). Here's why I like Internet Tax Helper. If you are self-employed or run a small business and you do the books yourself, this is the program you need. Nothing fancy or confusing. Incredibly easy to learn. You'll save hours with this program, and when you're done, you'll have all the info you need to do your tax return. If you take your "tax stuff" to an accountant, he'll love you for using this program. Not only will Tax Time be much easier, but you'll finally know how your business is doing at any point during the year. No more guessing about The Bottom Line. Never forget this simple fact: Most people pay more taxes than they should. The #1 Reason -- unreported deductions! When your record-keeping system is messy, you end up paying hundreds and even thousands of dollars in taxes that you should not have paid. I only recommend products that I've used myself. And I've used Internet Tax Helper and can tell you it's so much easier to use than anything out there. Want to save yourself hours of record-keeping frustration? Then I urge you to download and try the Internet Tax Helper for yourself because it makes the frustrating, boring and unproductive chore of bookkeeping so simple, fast and easy to do. With this program, it will take you a fraction of the time to get everything organized. And since it is specifically designed for the small and home-based biz owner like yourself, it is easy to get started saving time and money. Making money is one thing. Learning how to keep it is another. An automated recordkeeping system like Quicken, Quickbooks, or Internet Tax Helper is the best way for you to keep more of your hard-earned dollars. To learn more about Internet Tax Helper visit: http://www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com/software ============================================================ Wayne M. Davies is author of 3 tax-slashing eBooks for the self-employed, available separately or as a 3-volume set, "The Ultimate Small Business Tax Reduction Guide". http://www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com/ultimate-guide To get your free copy of Wayne's 25-page report, "How To Instantly Double Your Deductions" visit: http://www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com
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