Saturday 24 December 2011

Turbo tax Home and Business- Is it for you?

If you own a company, you obviously know that you need to file business income tax returns. But if you work and run your business from your home and don’t have any employee except yourself, preparing taxes becomes a lot easier. That said you should have a basic understanding about tax structures and what taxes are before you start managing your accounts and books yourself. To resolve this problem, numerous software products, like TurboTax home and business have been launched by IT companies.

When they commence a start-up, many entrepreneurs and businessmen think about question like what costs they can and cannot deduct while filing their taxes. A simple rule which you can easily follow is that tax deductions need to be made from both the normal expenses and indispensable expenses of the business.

There are innumerable areas from where the home-based workers can abstract taxes. For example, you can withhold taxes from fields like supplies, advertising, travel and meals, insurance, repairs, rent and wages that are expended on your business. You can also deduct the money which you have used for the business related utilization of your home and car. For a more comprehensive list of all the deductions for different categories, you should go through IRS Publication 535. This document can be easily accessed online at the official IRS website.

You must keep all the written receipts and records of your expenses, which you have done throughout the year. This simple step will make your life a lot easier when it comes to filing taxes. TurboTax home and business is a good option for book-keeping because it is easy and simple to use and organizes both income and expenses, so that preparing income tax returns is easy and quick. People should use a separate credit card for business expenditures and a different credit card for their personal expenditure.

Although a tax professional should be hired when there are complicated or huge company tax returns, you can easily do small tax returns yourself. There are many home and business software packages like TurboTax home and business software available in the market, which include both programs for preparing personal returns and corporation business returns. Buying multiple programs like these together can get you big discounts.

For those who prefer not to download anything, Tax Act by the government has a tax preparation solution which can be easily completed online without any need to download or buy any software.

Usually when people or businesses opt for an expert professional to prepare their tax returns, tax return preparations cost upwards of $500. So there is a huge cost savings if you decide to do the work yourself. On the other hand, tax consultants normally know about a lot of tax deductions which you would miss if you file your tax returns on your own. Also by hiring professionals, you can save a lot of time which you will otherwise spend in filling out forms. TurboTax home and business basically gives you the advantage of both the worlds.

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