Countdown to April 15th Starts Now.National Association for the Self-Employed Offers Tools, Tips for Tax Time WASHINGTON -- With three months to go until this year's tax filing deadline, many small business owners probably haven't even thought about their taxes yet. But the next 90 days will go a lot faster than you think, says Keith Hall, national tax advisor A tax advisor is a financial expert especially trained in tax law. Some countries require tax advisors to verify the balance sheets of companies above a certain size. Individuals usually require tax advisors to minimize taxation, to avoid learning the details of tax law in for the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE NASE National Association for the Self-Employed NASE National Association for Self-Esteem NASE National Academy of Scuba Educators NASE National Association of School Executives NASE Nonacoustic Submarine Effects ). Hall says a common mistake that many micro-business owners make is waiting until the last minute to begin preparing their taxes. "Putting off doing your taxes only increases the likelihood that you'll make needless mistakes and miss legitimate deductions you could be taking," said Hall. "The best advice I can offer is start early and get organized. Start with last year's tax return. If you had income or deductions on last year's return, there's a good chance you'll see the same for this year's return." Hall says January is the perfect time to start pulling together the papers you'll need for tax filing. Documents including W-2s, 1099s, bank interest statements, and investment account statements can be assembled now to help support the numbers on your tax return. Other practical tips from Hall and the NASE include: * Find the right professional. If you plan to use a professional tax preparer, get referrals from friends, co-workers, even clients. Speak to several different professionals. Find someone with the right experience in your type of business and ask about fees and timing. * Avoid shortcuts See Win Shortcuts. . Take the time to go through the forms and instructions. Save time with online preparation or the use of tax preparation software, but don't take any shortcuts with the information. And check your math. * Save Tax Dollars with a Retirement Contribution. Contributions to most retirement accounts such as IRAs, SEPs, etc., can be made right up until April 15. With an SEP 1. SEP - Someone Else's Problem. 2. (tool) SEP - A SASD tool from IDE. plan, you can contribute as much as 20% of your Schedule C earnings to your own retirement and get a full tax deduction Tax deduction An expense that a taxpayer is allowed to deduct from taxable income. tax deduction See deduction. . * Look for all Deductions. Among the most common deductions overlooked by micro-business owners is the use of their automobile, retirement options and the home office deduction. The NASE recommends that micro-business owners start looking into available resources for tax preparation help now to avoid the last-minute crunch (1) To process data. See number crunching. (2) To compress data. See data compression. 1. (jargon) crunch - To process, usually in a time-consuming or complicated way. . One of the most helpful resources is the IRS An abbreviation for the Internal Revenue Service, a federal agency charged with the responsibility of administering and enforcing internal revenue laws. website (www.irs.gov), which provides access to numerous detailed publications to meet virtually every need. The National Association for the Self-Employed (www.nase.org) also offers valuable tax assistance through its own Tax Talk program, offering free tax advice for the self-employed. Small business owners can visit http://taxtalk.nase.org/taxtalk.asp to submit their questions and get fast, knowledgeable answers to tax questions from CPAs at the NASE. About the NASE The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) is the nation's leading resource for the self-employed and micro-businesses, bringing a broad range of benefits to help entrepreneurs succeed and to drive the continued growth of this vital segment of the American economy. The NASE is a 501[c] (6) nonprofit organization Nonprofit Organization An association that is given tax-free status. Donations to a non-profit organization are often tax deductible as well. Notes: Examples of non-profit organizations are charities, hospitals and schools. and provides big-business advantages to hundreds of thousands of micro-businesses across the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . For more information, visit the association's Web site at www.nase.org. |
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