Monthly Archives: November 2015

Reducing the Tax Burden on your Business

The holiday season is fast approaching along with all the joys that come with it. But for business owners, the delights of winter also come mixed with worry and angst regarding the end of the tax-year. Owing taxes is something that every small business owner wants to avoid. Help in reducing business taxes is just one of the things we do well.

The best case scenario for every manager and entrepreneur is to reduce tax burdens as much as possible. We do so by mitigating their income taxes owed and possibly rethinking what business entity structure to utilize. Broadly speaking, there are several important things you’ll want to consider right away. This can be especially true for entrepreneurs who live in areas with relatively high taxes such as those near one of our three offices in Vienna VA.

Take a look at what can be deducted. It may seem as obvious as checking with the IRS (or their website) to see what you can write off . But also what you can’t. However you won’t really know for sure until you check with qualified tax preparers and experts like Business and Financial Solutions. The tax code can be complicated—especially as it related to how many deductions you can claim for your business. Work with a team of experts that have an understanding of the intricacies of tax law. And let us show you the best ways to navigate them. This is your best choice when it comes to mitigating the income tax you pay for your small business. Reducing taxes for non-profits and small-businesses is something we take very seriously.

Consider taking steps that reduce your taxable income. For example, take a look at sheltering some of your profits into retirement plans. Traditional IRAs and 401(k)s grow tax-deferred and therefore you can deduct the contributions. While there may be advantages to the Roth IRA as well, when it comes to reducing your tax burden today, traditional tax-deferred accounts are still the best way to go.

Deciding how to structure your business is one of the most important decisions you’ll make from a tax perspective. Because the setup costs, the complexity, and the amount (and way) you end up being taxed will all be contingent on how you opt to structure your company. Business and Financial Solutions (BFS) can help you navigate the differences between a C-Corporation, S-Corp, LLC, and more. We can help you look at whether a structural change is right for you. What deductions you claim, how you structure your organization, and how you prepare for your tax situation will depend on the region of the country you live in. BFS takes a customized approach to your tax situation to help you save as much money as possible.

Working with an accounting firm for the purposes of tax reduction is a practical approach. A business requires the expertise of an accounting firm and professional tax preparers. Why not get both under the same roof? Bookkeepers and tax preparation companies do not necessarily adequately have those skills needed for small businesses, and will have to be incorporated with the use of a good accounting firm.

Reducing Business Taxes

BFS proudly serves all 50 states and has physical offices in Vienna VA, Frederick, and Rockville MD. We can assist your company with professional bookkeeping, tax preparation and accounting services. We can help with filing amended income tax returns and show you how you can take care of back taxes and get on the right track with the Internal Revenue Service and state taxing entities. Learn more by calling us now at (855) 557-2222, or email us at info@bfswebsite.com.

The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Accounting Support – a small business perspective

Being ready to make big decisions are, almost by definition, the most important function of any small business owner. Therefore, whether it’s basic bookkeeping services or complex accounting, it can seem trivial. And it can be difficult to keep up with how the day-to-day chores and errands. Yet these are important. So there has to be kind of standard operating procedure, right? This is certainly the position that inexperienced leaders of many organizations have taken. That applies to a restaurant franchise owner, an office manager, or a non-profit CEO. It applies to practically every small business. Let’s take a look at outsource accounting.

Don’t take that the wrong way! You still have to delegate!

There are a number of situations where being bogged down by details and protocols can hurt efficiency. And these cause one to lose sight of the big picture. Having a person (or team) be in charge of something that is important, often complex, and—in many cases—tedious, like bookkeeping seems like a no-brainer when you as business owner know that you have a myriad of other concerns on your plate… so why do so many managers try to do their own bookkeeping and accounting?

Business and Financial Solutions (BFS) is an accounting and business development firm. We have several offices in the Washington DC area. They include, Rockville, MD. Our organization has seen owners and CEOs of LLCs, S-Corps, and non-profits try to do their own accounting and bookkeeping…

Internal accounting

Having an in-house accountant can be extremely expensive. Managers know that if they do it themselves, they won’t have to pay someone else to do it! It’s quite natural for a manager to realize that bookkeeping is important and they can save money by doing it themselves. And while it can seem like a great way to avoid hiring your own accountant, the corners you cut can end up costing you in the end. Because mistakes almost always crop up. QuickBooks turns out to be more confusing for them than they realized, and worst of all, they end up spending so much time working on their bookkeeping, they aren’t able to spend as much time properly running the rest of their business.

What CPAs and Enrolled Agents like Gibson understand is that even though small business owners are among the hardest working individuals in the country, they lack the specialized knowledge and experience to perform bookkeeping work in a way that is efficient and comprehensive. Accounting is often complex and it’s easy for the layman to let important elements to get lost in the details.

A better alternative than in-house accountants

For many small business and non-profits, the best route is to work with seasoned professionals. Outsourcing your bookkeeping and receiving accounting support from a firm of seasoned professionals might be an economical option. But without the added cost and complications of hiring your own in-house person or team. Business and Financial Solutions swears by this platform. It is as an excellent (and increasingly used) vehicle for getting excellent results. Yet, there are less cost of money or headaches. Though we serve clients in all 50 states, make sure that whatever firm you work with, they are:

Equipped with modern accounting and bookkeeping software and knowledge (including up-to-date tax law)
Comprised of seasoned accountants, enrolled agents, or CPAs.
Built on a well-established track-record of excellence and integrity. (check out their website and verify that they’re legitimate!)

Call us now and learn more at 855-557-2222. And find out how niche firms like BFS are exactly the solution you’ve been waiting for!

The Easy Way to Get Help Updating Your QuickBooks Files

For accounting and bookkeeping software packages, QuickBooks continues to be the biggest name in town! Though setting it up sometimes presents a challenge for new users. Often, it is necessary to get a business accounting firm to assist you. For QuickBooks Help, you can count on Business & Financial Solutions.

It’s important to stay up to date with the happenings and details of your business. Likewise, it’s crucial to stay current with the accounting software you rely on to ensure your organization runs properly. Installing the latest patch updates from QuickBooks to your software is important. As these are done to catch bugs, smooth out functionality, and patch ongoing issues. These updates, which are automatically available for download are quite different than updating your company file. After you update your installation to a new version of QuickBooks (such as from QBW 2013 to QBW 2014), you’ll need to update your company file to reflect this new version. This ensures that you can view your old data with the new software version you installed.

Unless you were born with a floppy disk in your hand, it may not be exactly intuitive how to update your QuickBooks files. (without having the fear that you’ll accidentally delete or damage the data). Despite QuickBooks offering a fairly robust support page, it’s not something the average business owner wants to spend a lot of time trying navigate and figure out. This is where Business & Financial Solutions comes in.

We help make running your company easy by providing guidance and accounting expertise. And we provide resolve to a number of QuickBooks related questions and issues. That includes advanced tutorials on how to update to new versions after they’ve been installed. We leave you with tips and tricks for increasing efficiency. And we leave you with a greater understanding than you’d otherwise gain from a Google search through real, in-person guidance and assistance.

“Teach a man to fish…”

There are several nice features about QuickBooks. One is that the software update forces you to make a backup copy of your QuickBooks data. That’s right. Before your version is updated, you are required to run a backup. If you use any connected services such as payroll or credit card processing then there are requirements there too. QuickBooks then requires you upgrade versions at least every 3 years. However, it may be worthwhile and necessary to upgrade every year.

For others (depending on your circumstances), it might be simplest, as well as cheapest, to let this version endure as long as possible–though be cautious of losing customer support with older versions). Here at BFS, we have specialized knowledge and experience to help you update, install, fix, or simply maintain your QuickBooks software and data files.

BFS an accounting firm that offers a smart vehicle for you to outsource some or all of your accounting and QuickBooks process. Our firm can help train you and your staff on optimizing not only your software, but your entire accounting process in a way that lets you focus on what matters most: running your business. Give us a call now at call (855) 557-2222. for more information on updating your QuickBooks files, streamlining your accounting process, and kick starting your organization’s efficiency into overdrive!

For additional information or help please contact us at info@bfswebsite.com

We have offices in Vienna VA, Rockville and Frederick MD and proudly serve clients in all 50 states.