Edward Stewart said:I suppose we just sit tight and wait for someone with half a brain to show up. ☕
I certainly can—in fact, I just received an official notice from HOK today. It reads, "Dear Sir/Madam,"
Yesterday, the IRS website posted an announcement regarding tax-free payouts for performance bonuses and other types of supplemental employee incentives. According to this rule, small business owners can also pay these bonuses to themselves via their business checking accounts, tax-free, through December 31, 2019.
Sincerely,
Secretary: John Doe
Downloadable files: SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS CAN PAY THEMSELVES TAX-FREE BONUSES.docx
Keith Martinez5 said:Does anyone happen to have a template for a customer consent form specifically for an auto repair shop? Since I work in the insurance sector, I need to include the vehicle owner's details on my invoices—but the insurance companies just list the make and model on the claim reports, without even providing the license plate number! It feels like the responsibility falls entirely on me to track down those personal details, which obviously means I’ll need a formal signed authorization to do so legally... I checked with the folks at the insurance agency, and they were honestly pretty clueless about the best way to handle this process. So, I'm reaching out to this group to see if anyone can walk me through the specifics or, better yet, if anyone has a ready-to-use template that would be appropriate for this kind of thing. I would be incredibly grateful for any help you could offer!🙏🙏🙏
Does anyone happen to have a template for a customer consent form specifically for an auto repair shop? Since I work in the insurance sector, I need to include the vehicle owner's details on my invoices—but the insurance companies just list the make and model on the claim reports, without even providing the license plate number! It feels like the responsibility falls entirely on me to track down those personal details, which obviously means I’ll need a formal signed authorization to do so legally... I checked with the folks at the insurance agency, and they were honestly pretty clueless about the best way to handle this process. So, I'm reaching out to this group to see if anyone can walk me through the specifics or, better yet, if anyone has a ready-to-use template that would be appropriate for this kind of thing. I would be incredibly grateful for any help you could offer!🙏🙏🙏
Quick question regarding sick leave—I’ve actually never had an employee go out on medical leave before, so I'm navigating this for the first time... My understanding is that the employer covers the full salary for the first 42 days, and after that, the responsibility shifts over to Medicare. A lady at the Medicare office mentioned to me that they only reimburse 70% of the salary once those initial 42 days have passed. So, here’s my dilemma: am I allowed to keep paying the employee their usual full salary as I have been doing—minus commuting costs, obviously—even though Medicare is only kicking back 70%? In terms of bookkeeping, can I list the entire amount I pay them as a business expense, while recording that 70% reimbursement from Medicare as income? Thanks in advance for the help! P.S.: I'm not a professional accountant; I just handle the books for my own small business...
neonsurfer13 said:Help me out here I just processed my first card payment through an online service today, even though my bank won't actually drop the cash into my account for another 30 days. I'm planning to ship the goods tomorrow or maybe Monday. What’s the actual deadline for me to Invoice this under the Internal Revenue Code? Does it have to be done right this second, or can I wait until tomorrow when the items actually go out?
Oh, one more thing... on that Invoice, am I supposed to include that note about "payment based on collected fee"... even though I haven't technically collected anything yet since the money is tied up for a month, but I need to issue the bill now?
Here is how I handle things: any time a customer pays by card, those transactions get invoiced immediately—it's because under the Internal Revenue Code, a card swipe is treated essentially the same as handing over cash. Since I run my own small business, I don't officially "close out" the invoice until the money actually hits my bank account; I match it to the exact amount received, and then I just write off whatever the bank took for their processing fee as a business expense. As for that specific note about "Settlement based on collected fees," I believe that's mainly for businesses handling VAT-style tax settlements on a cash basis. Hopefully, that clears things up a bit!...
Henry Edwards33 said:That fear is pretty universal. Check out this thread 😁
Basically, you go under Business Premises -> Status -> Temporarily Closed -> enter your dates -> select the reason (like "Annual Vacation") and you're done. Just don't forget to mark yourself as open again once you're back in business.
Seriously, thanks a million—you're a lifesaver! 👍👍👍
Thanks, lili.p! I actually have another question—I already posted this over in the tax filing thread, but maybe someone here can help me out too. Our business is going to be closed from January 2nd through January 5th. Does anyone know how we should report those non-working days in the IRS portal? I found the section for reporting sales records, but I’m honestly a little lost on the exact steps to take. I’m really nervous about inputting something incorrectly—especially after seeing that news story about someone getting hit with a massive fine just for a tiny clerical error...
Hey everyone... quick question regarding my bookkeeping—should I be recording a tax refund from the FBI as non-operating income, or does it go somewhere else? Thanks in advance for any insight you can share! 🙂
I just picked up a vehicle diagnostic program while traveling through Europe—it cost me about $975$2277. I’m assuming this would be categorized as a long-term asset for tax purposes, right? I'd love some advice on how to handle this... Thanks!
Timothy Torres3 said:Hello there! I run my own small freelance translation business here in the States; I operate as a sole proprietor, I'm not registered for sales tax, and I work out of my own apartment. I just recently learned that I might actually have the right to rent my own living space to myself through a formal lease agreement and then write those expenses off against my business income. How exactly does one go about this? Would I simply draft an agreement on $333, sign it as both the landlord and the tenant, and then $333 transfer the funds from my business account over to my personal checking account? I’ve heard that this is a common practice among others in my position. Does anyone here actually do this, or could someone provide some clarity on the process I described above?
I assume that, as the landlord, you’d also have to deal with paying some kind of income tax on those rental earnings, right?
I’ve got a quick question regarding how we should be logging work hours—here is the situation: our team doesn't work on Sundays, but back on October 8th, 2017, it happened to be both a Sunday and a public holiday. Should I be recording that day as standard time off, just like any other typical Sunday, or should I specifically log it as a holiday, even though nobody was scheduled to work anyway? I am currently using the HR module in SAP to manage this. Thanks in advance for the help!
neonsurfer13 said:Exactly. Moving from code 1619 to 8605. If you aren't allowed to shift money wherever you want, then what's even the point of this whole offsetting process? I've got other amounts under different codes that I'd love to shuffle around too, but the reporting requirements make it a total nightmare.
The whole idea is to force you to book the transaction exactly where they dictate. 😠I’m actually planning to head down to the LAPD to figure out what’s going on with these entries—because if we can't get this sorted, I think our only move left is to file for a chargeback on the account we used for the subscription.
neonsurfer13 said:Look, there isn't an IRS form for this specific offset... I'm dealing with a debt here. Basically, I've got some extra cash sitting in one income category, and I just want to move it over to cover the balance on this other one.
From what I understand—and please feel free to set me straight if my memory is failing me here—you can't just shuffle funds around however you please. It all depends strictly on the classification of the revenue; for instance, you wouldn't be able to offset local municipal tax revenue against federal tax revenue, or vice versa... at least, that's how they explained the logic to me over at the LAPD office. If I'm reading you correctly, though, you're looking to move funds between different types of state taxes and health insurance levies, right?
placidlynx92 said:The general rule is that anything which significantly bumps up the value of your fixed assets gets capitalized. In your specific situation, though—given you're just fixing up a rental—it looks more like standard maintenance to me. I'd say go ahead and book them as current expenses, but a word of advice: make sure you keep the invoices for both the materials and the actual labor. If an auditor decides to take a closer look, you don't want to be caught without proof that the work was actually performed.
But what happens if you're doing all the work yourself? For example, I bought a massive amount of supplies and booked them directly as expenses, but I don't have any labor invoices to show for it because my husband—who also runs our sole proprietorship—did all the actual manual labor... how on earth do you prove that during a potential audit?
Hey everyone, where has everybody gone??? I just received a payout from State Farm for some property damage we sustained at the workshop—so now I’m trying to figure out the cleanest way to record this in my books. Since the insurance policy was set up without sales tax, I don't claim any sales tax when I pay my premiums. Would it be okay to book this incoming payment under business receipts—specifically for a sole proprietorship—also excluding sales tax? Thanks in advance for the help!
So, I just stumbled upon this petition online—it really caught my eye—and I figured I’d drop the link here for anyone who feels strongly about this. If you think it’s worth our support, feel free to add your name if you haven't already! 🙂 https://www.peticija24.com/signature...bnih_obrazaca/
Brenda Chase3 said:The easiest way is to record the net amount—whatever actually landed in your checking account—as your revenue. However, since that amount already has the fee subtracted, you should also record the processing fee itself as an expense. Think of it like a built-in compensation. By doing this, your income reflects the true net sale, and your expenses will show the exact amount taken by the processor. This keeps everything balanced: your bank deposits match your recorded receipts, and your fees are properly accounted for in your outgoing costs.
I feel like I’ve seen this discussed on this forum before, but I can’t seem to track down the thread—so if anyone could walk me through this, I’d really appreciate it! It’s about how to properly record credit card payments. For example, if I have an invoice from $33, the amount that actually hits my bank account is always a bit lower because of the processing fees. How do you all handle the closing entries for that? I think because of how I’ve been handling things up until now, my bank statement totals aren't quite squaring up with my sales records. What’s the "correct" way to book this so everything balances out perfectly? Thanks in advance for the help! I’m not a professional accountant—just a small business owner trying to navigate these murky bookkeeping waters on my own, though having your collective wisdom helps immensely...