From one-person entities to Fortune 500 companies, no business can escape the dreaded task of bookkeeping. While it’s definitely not one of the more glamorous parts of the job, bookkeeping is at the heart of small business success, which means errors can be crippling.
To avoid the financial headaches that come with bookkeeping mismanagement, it’s important first to be aware of the pitfalls that can ensnare you. Continue reading
by Joe Heinrich, SCORE Seattle
Congratulations!! You’ve grown your small business so much that you need help, and so you’ve hired your first employee. Now you’re confronted with the task of paying that employee properly in accordance with IRS regulations and State of Washington statutes, along with making payments to taxing authorities and reporting to them periodically. And now you’re stomach’s churning!!
To correctly pay an employee in Washington, the employer needs to deduct the following taxes from the employee’s pay and report and remit timely these amounts to the relative taxing authorities:
There may be other withholdings from the employee’s pay, such as garnishments for child support, contributions to a retirement plan, donations, and the like. Continue reading
by Johnnie Hawkins, CPA
Parker Mooers & Cena, Silverdale
Starting in 2020, Washington will be the fifth state in the nation to offer paid family and medical leave benefits. This benefit offers partially paid leave to care for yourself or a loved one in times of serious illness or injury, to bond with a new child joining your home through birth, adoption or foster placement, and for certain military-connected events if you have a family member in active duty service. This isn’t like paid sick leave; you will file your claim with the Employment Security Department (ESD), and your payment will come from ESD. Typically, you’ll have access to up to 12 weeks of paid leave.
Premium collection starts on Jan 1, 2019. In 2019, the premium is 0.4% of wages, or $3.85 per week for someone making $50,000 a year. Employers can either pay the full premium or opt to withhold a portion of the premium from their employees. Employers who choose to withhold premiums from their employees may withhold up to 63 percent of the total premium, or $2.44 per week for an employee making $50,000 annually. The employer is responsible for paying the other 37 percent. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the employer portion of the premium but must still collect or opt to pay the employee portion of the premium.
You can learn more about the program at www.paidleave.wa.gov/employers or contact us with questions at 360-692-8808. Continue reading
If you operate a sole proprietorship or single-member limited liability company (LLC), tax time can be worrisome, especially if you’re doing your own taxes.
A little preparation and you’ll likely find there’s nothing much to worry about.
What is the Schedule C Form?
At its core, the Schedule C is nothing more than a profits and losses worksheet for sole proprietors and single-member LLCs (as long as the LLC hasn’t elected to be taxed as a corporation).
Before jumping into the details of Schedule C, it’s important to note that if you have $5,000 or less in business expenses, you may be able to file a Schedule C-EZ instead. Schedule C-EZ is a similar but much simpler form. It’s worth taking a moment to look at the list of requirements at the top of the form to see if your business qualifies.
The rest of this article, however, focuses on the more complex Schedule C. Continue reading
Mention those two little words to almost any small business owner, and you’ll see them flinch.
Very few business terms get as cool a response. And sadly, those two little words (both of them four-letter words, interestingly enough), are the #1 reason small businesses fail. They take out more small businesses than any other factor.
In fact, 82% of small businesses fail due to cash flow problems. Continue reading
by Joe Heinrich, Volunteer Business Mentor, Seattle SCORE
Most small business owners are perfectly aware of the Federal, Washington and city taxes they are obliged to pay. However, the one that tends to fall through the cracks is the local Personal Property Tax on businesses by the county in which the business is located. This article explains what personal property is, how to self-report a business’s personal property, how the tax is assessed and how much a business may have to pay in Personal Property Tax.
Taxable Personal Property typically includes items used by a company to conduct business. Examples of personal property which may be assessed include furniture, fixtures, electronic equipment, telephones and machinery. Leasehold improvements and leased equipment are also included as personal property. However, personal property does not include property which is attached to a building or to the land which a business owns as that is considered “real property”.
Exempt personal property includes inventory (i.e., items owned to be resold or used as raw materials to products to be manufactured and sold) and vehicles used on the roadways. Continue reading
From the Washington Department of Revenue website…
There is a misconception that services are not subject to sales tax. This article clarifies that some services are indeed subject to retail sales tax. Following is a listing of services that are subject to sales tax when provided to consumers.
Construction services (WAC 458-20-170)
