Quickbooks Help Save Small Businesses Money at Tax Time

By Jed Totus and Nancy Froelich
Many small businesses use Quickbooks for their bookkeeping software. It is a fabulous way to maintain financial records in a convenient way, especially around tax time. If done correctly, your Quickbooks file should make tax time a breeze. However, if you have made small mistakes in recording throughout the year, you may be paying more taxes than you owe. Overpaying is never a good thing for a small business, so to avoid this situation you should have a qualified consultant review your files to look for mistakes you may have made during the year.

One way an error can happen when a business owner contributes their own money to their business. It happens now and then that you may have to use your money for a business expense. If this money is simply recorded as income, it will be taxed. This type of income must be specified as an owner contribution to the business within your Quickbooks file in order to avoid being taxed. Don't make this mistake and find yourself paying tax on your own money.

Often, instead of giving money to use for your business, a business owner will loan money to their business. These are funds that will be paid back to the owner, possibly at a more stable financial time in the business. Remember, you only pay sales tax on income not on loans or contributions. Record this type of credit as loan so it will not be mistakenly taxed as income.

Many business owners use credit cards to make purchases for their business. Quickbooks is able to sort these charges and recognizes them as expenses for your business if they are recorded correctly. Suppose you purchase new office furniture from a superstore and simply record the total amount spent. Quickbooks needs to know what type of expense this was so that it could be correctly classified. This would be an office expense, and would be a tax deduction for your business. Take the time to specifically record credit card charges rather than just a one-time charge to your credit card company in order to receive accurate deductions.

Quickbooks also keeps track of how much sales tax you will need to pay to the state comptroller each year. However, if you have not recorded each of your income and expense transactions correctly, the sales tax payment may be too high. For each sale to customer, the amount of the tax must be recorded separately from the cost of the item. The amount you will pay to the comptroller will also need to be correctly recorded through the 'Pay Sales Tax Liability' window.

Finally, a common mistake people make both in business and in personal finance is incorrect recording of ATM or debit card purchases. It's easy to swipe your card making a quick transaction and be on your way. It is crucial to record each debit or ATM use correctly. Think of it as each time you use a debit card, it's just like writing a check and must be recorded just like a check would be.

Anyone who uses Quickbooks knows the value of this software. It makes the business owner or bookkeepers job much easier. However, it is always a good idea to have an experienced Quickbooks help consultant review your file at tax time to make sure you are not paying too much