Accounting for Sole Proprietors: Tax & Bookkeeping Tips

Just noticed a new service popped up on the IRS website regarding those U-RA forms.
I’m a bit lost—is this some new headache we small business owners are being forced to deal with now?
Does anyone have any actual info on this? Like, what are the deadlines, how do we even file this thing, etc.?

neonsurfer13 said:Just noticed a new service popped up on the IRS website regarding those U-RA forms.
I’m a bit lost—is this some new headache we small business owners are being forced to deal with now?
Does anyone have any actual info on this? Like, what are the deadlines, how do we even file this thing, etc.?

If you're registered for sales tax, then you'll need to file this alongside your regular sales tax returns. There is an entire thread dedicated to this right here on the forum, so it might be worth doing a little reading; there was a much more detailed breakdown posted previously.

My car isn't registered under my LLC. Can I still list parking fees as a business expense? The costs are legitimate and occurred while I was working...
Thanks

Brenda Chase3 said:If you're registered for sales tax, then you'll need to file this alongside your regular sales tax returns. There is an entire thread dedicated to this right here on the forum, so it might be worth doing a little reading; there was a much more detailed breakdown posted previously.

All I can find is a two-page thread about the technical side of the Green Party forms.
Is there anything else out there specifically about those Green Party filings?

So, does this mean it has to be submitted by the 20th of the month?

Look, as long as I'm paying my dues to the American Bar Association, fine. But when it comes to sending out critical notices like this, they're nowhere to be found. There isn't a single thing on their website regarding these Green Party forms.

Hey everyone,
does anyone know where I can find the Democratic Party attachment within the CDC form on the e-tax portal? I’ve gone through the whole form, but I just can't seem to locate that specific section—even though it's supposed to be a standard part of the CDC filing... For the other attachments, I know you just upload them as PDFs once you've submitted everything, but this one feels invisible... Any help would be much appreciated!🤷

neonsurfer13 said:All I can find is a two-page thread about the technical side of the Green Party forms.
Is there anything else out there specifically about those Green Party filings?

So, does this mean it has to be submitted by the 20th of the month?

Look, as long as I'm paying my dues to the American Bar Association, fine. But when it comes to sending out critical notices like this, they're nowhere to be found. There isn't a single thing on their website regarding these Green Party forms.

The Republican Party form basically mirrors the sales tax filings; it lists every single input invoice used to claim credit for input tax. This gives the IRS a clear view of which specific invoices you used to deduct taxes, identifying the suppliers by their EIN, the exact amounts, and so on.
Your accountant should have been briefed on this, but if you aren't working with one, you have to stay informed through various seminars and professional journals, just like we accountants do. Boeing actually released an update on this in their Associated Press section back on January 8, 2019.

Keith Martinez5 said:Hey everyone,
does anyone know where I can find the Democratic Party attachment within the CDC form on the e-tax portal? I’ve gone through the whole form, but I just can't seem to locate that specific section—even though it's supposed to be a standard part of the CDC filing... For the other attachments, I know you just upload them as PDFs once you've submitted everything, but this one feels invisible... Any help would be much appreciated!🤷

They actually phased it out starting this year, so if I'm reading this correctly, it's now just an optional attachment rather than being a mandatory part of the CDC form itself...

Nathan Kim5 said:They actually phased it out starting this year, so if I'm reading this correctly, it's now just an optional attachment rather than being a mandatory part of the CDC form itself...

Thanks!

Keith Martinez5 said:Thanks!

No problem at all... 🙂

If anyone could get back to me, I already posted this question once.

The car isn't registered under the business; it’s owned personally by the business owner. Can I still write off parking fees and daily parking passes as business expenses?
If it's allowed, what kind of documentation do I need... a contract, some sort of agreement, or something else regarding the vehicle?
Thanks.

Brenda Chase3 said:The Republican Party form basically mirrors the sales tax filings; it lists every single input invoice used to claim credit for input tax. This gives the IRS a clear view of which specific invoices you used to deduct taxes, identifying the suppliers by their EIN, the exact amounts, and so on.
Your accountant should have been briefed on this, but if you aren't working with one, you have to stay informed through various seminars and professional journals, just like we accountants do. Boeing actually released an update on this in their Associated Press section back on January 8, 2019.

Alright, thanks... by the way, I handle my own books.
So, from what I gather, this only applies to domestic invoices—meaning stuff from suppliers right here in the States, right?

Hey everyone!

Quick question about scholarships! So, we’ve been paying a scholarship to our daughter—she's a full-time student, but starting back on October 1st, 2018, she switched over to part-time status... (though we didn't really mention 🙂 at the time). The issue is, she kept receiving this tax-free scholarship even though she technically lost eligibility once she wasn't a full-time student. From what I can gather, a dependent can stay on the books until they land a job, or is it something else??? How do we fix this mess now? Everything was filed with the IRS as a non-taxable scholarship... Is there any way to actually
this? If anyone knows how to handle this, please help a parent out!

Olivia Cruz86 said:Hey everyone!

Quick question about scholarships! So, we’ve been paying a scholarship to our daughter—she's a full-time student, but starting back on October 1st, 2018, she switched over to part-time status... (though we didn't really mention 🙂 at the time). The issue is, she kept receiving this tax-free scholarship even though she technically lost eligibility once she wasn't a full-time student. From what I can gather, a dependent can stay on the books until they land a job, or is it something else??? How do we fix this mess now? Everything was filed with the IRS as a non-taxable scholarship... Is there any way to actually
this? If anyone knows how to handle this, please help a parent out!

I actually went down to the FBI office to ask an advisor, and they told me the scholarship money could be returned to the business account and the tax forms could be voided/corrected..
I'm just not totally sure about the dependency coefficients for kids, so I wanted to pick your brains—does anyone know if a part-time student counts as a "child" or just a "dependent"?? Since he has two kids (so far he’s used a 0.7 coefficient for the first child and 1.00 for the second).. but now, if the daughter is treated as a dependent (0.7), and the son is treated as the first child (also 0.7)..

Olivia Cruz86 said:I actually went down to the FBI office to ask an advisor, and they told me the scholarship money could be returned to the business account and the tax forms could be voided/corrected..
I'm just not totally sure about the dependency coefficients for kids, so I wanted to pick your brains—does anyone know if a part-time student counts as a "child" or just a "dependent"?? Since he has two kids (so far he’s used a 0.7 coefficient for the first child and 1.00 for the second).. but now, if the daughter is treated as a dependent (0.7), and the son is treated as the first child (also 0.7)..

The FBI advisor didn't have a clue about the child multipliers 👎

A kid counts for the tax break as a child until they land their first full-time job
After that, they're just a dependent (0.70)

Jack Young said:The FBI advisor didn't have a clue about the child multipliers 👎

A kid counts for the tax break as a child until they land their first full-time job
After that, they're just a dependent (0.70)

So, yeah, she was totally clueless... she doesn't even get what a part-time student is—she thinks it means you're working while studying...
And the lady behind the desk told me I had to switch them to a dependent relative the second they enrolled in part-time classes...
But the Law is crystal clear: kids are dependents as long as they're in school full-time until they start working. And look, that matters because the coefficients are completely different!
They’ll probably call me back once they actually bother to check, and then I'll be able to show them how it's done... 🙂

neonsurfer13 said:All I can find is a two-page thread about the technical side of the Green Party forms.
Is there anything else out there specifically about those Green Party filings?

So, does this mean it has to be submitted by the 20th of the month?

Look, as long as I'm paying my dues to the American Bar Association, fine. But when it comes to sending out critical notices like this, they're nowhere to be found. There isn't a single thing on their website regarding these Green Party forms.

Keep an eye on the Green Party threads here, but honestly, you should be checking the IRS pages first. They have the actual filing instructions and everything else right there on their site.

Keith Martinez5 said:Hi everyone,
Has anyone here actually successfully submitted their payroll tax filings for a small business for January 2019? I tried running everything today—I followed all the guidelines provided by Microsoft to the letter—but when I try to process it for the sole proprietor, I just keep hitting an error wall.
The system says: "For the total amount, the value in column 12 must equal the base amount divided by the number of days in the month multiplied by the number of insured days."
Then it adds: "For the receipt code, the amount in column 12.3 must be equal to the product of the contribution base and the prescribed Social Security rate."
"For the receipt code, the amount in column 12.5 must be equal to the product of the contribution base and the prescribed employment insurance rate." "For the receipt code, the amount in column 12.4 must be equal to the product of the contribution base and the prescribed occupational health insurance rate."

I’m honestly stumped—I don't see where the math is breaking down. I set the base at $5,491.20 with a combined 20% rate (15% + 5%), plus the standard 16.5% for Social Security... and I left the occupational health and employment insurance fields at zero.
Thanks so much for any help!

My filings were actually approved using these exact figures:
Social Security Part I: $823.68; Social Security Part II: $274.56; Healthcare: $906.05
/Base amount: $5,491.20.

0041 3 31 0
5801 1 01/01/2019-01/31/2019

Jack Young said:The FBI advisor didn't have a clue about the child multipliers 👎

A kid counts for the tax break as a child until they land their first full-time job
After that, they're just a dependent (0.70)

Good luck to me,🤦I listed my first and second child as deductions—specifically 0.70 and 1.00.
I have two adult children: one is a college student, and the other is unemployed—well, they work for our family business, but isn't officially on the payroll.
As of this year, they are both listed on my tax withholding. So, what am I supposed to do now? Since I calculated my January salary using the 0.7 and 1.00 coefficients?
Do I need to file a corrected W-2?
What should the coefficient actually be for two adult children who have already been employed? 1.40?

I’m stuck in a situation where I need to void part of an invoice or the whole thing, and honestly, I have no clue how to handle it.
Basically, a customer paid me last month for two different items. One item is sitting in my inventory ready to go, but the other one—which also had a shipping charge attached to it—is totally out of stock.
Since I can't fulfill that second part of the order, the customer wants to back out of that specific purchase, so I need to get their money back.
Here’s the headache: I need to cancel the invoice, but I still intend to charge them for the shipping since they're still getting that first item from the other order.
So, what's the move? Do I just issue a full credit memo for the entire invoice and then send over a brand-new invoice just for the shipping fee, or is there a better way to do this?

Either way, I definitely need to void the original invoice and the entry for that second item, mostly because I need a fresh invoice to keep the warranty dates accurate.

I’ve been pouring over the IRS instructions, and even though this was touched upon earlier in this thread—specifically on page 223—I’m still feeling a bit lost regarding 🤔 where exactly one is supposed to enter the depreciation amount within Part II ("Expenses") of the PPI form.
Item II.9. states that the total expenses are calculated as 1+2+3-7-8. Now, Item II.4. ("write-off rate expenses") seems like the logical place for depreciation, but since it isn't added to the sum, the figure doesn't actually impact the total expenses, which ultimately means it doesn't touch the net income. So, where (and more importantly, why) should the depreciation amount be recorded? Should it go under II.3 ("in-kind expenses") or II.4 ("write-off rate expenses")? (I recall a fellow forum member previously suggesting it belongs in II.4)
I didn't have any depreciation to deal with in previous years, so I never really noticed this quirk, but I seem to remember from a few years back that the breakdown of receipts and expenses was much more intuitive—it showed subtotals alongside depreciation, making the total expense figure, and consequently the final total (income = receipts - expenses), perfectly clear.

Since I’m already burning through my ink 🙂 I have one more question... when entering the depreciation percentage into the DI form on the IRS website, does the number of decimal places matter? (For instance, I have 7 months of a 2-year depreciation cycle, which would work out to 29.16666% of the value). Does that mean next year I'll be entering 29.17 + 50, or just a flat 50% for 2019?