Feb
20

FreshBooks Review

It’s tax time. Which means it’s time to turn your shoebox full of receipts and bank statements into meaningful information your accountant can use to prepare your tax return. Let’s face it, most small business owners do not go into business because they enjoy bookkeeping. I’ve done some research and played around with a handful of cloud based bookkeeping services. Some of these online bookkeeping software solutions are too good to keep secret! Keep an eye on my blog for the next few weeks while I explore and review these cloud based accounting services. Today’s topic is FreshBooks.

Cloud Based Small Business Bookkeeping

FreshBooks

Cost: Free – $39.95/month

FreshBooks is a great online bookkeeping solution for small business owners. They started as an invoicing/billing service so those features are top notch. Small business owners can send professional looking invoices, set up recurring invoices and payments, receive online payments, track employees & contractors time, and have FreshBooks automatically send reminders to your slow paying customers. They can even help small business owners manage sales taxes.

FreshBooks doesn’t stop at the invoicing and billing side. They also have an expense tracking feature to help you manage small business’ expenses. To save on data entry time, FreshBooks also offers the ability to import your expenses from your bank or credit card company via a .CSV or .QBO file.

Best of all, it’s an online service meaning you have access to your financial information at anytime and from anywhere. Read on to get specific details on what I loved about FreshBooks and my wishlist.

What I LOVE:

    Invoicing and Billing Features:

    • Easy to use layout.
    • Customize your account with your logo and business colors.
    • Professional looking invoices that can be emailed, snail mailed, printed, or downloaded as a PDF.
    • Set up recurring invoices. All you do is enter the invoice once and then FreshBooks will automatically send your recurring when you specify.
    • Customers can click on your emailed invoice and pay your bill online!
    • Set up recurring credit card payments to be charged automatically.
    • Save time with your collections and have FreshBooks automatically send out reminder emails to your slow paying customers. Your automated emails are customizable, so they sound like they’re coming from you rather than being a computer generated email.
    • Ability to invoice in any currency
    • Ability to calculate and track sales tax.
    • Send estimates to prospective customers. Your customer can approve it online and then you can easily convert the estimate into an invoice.

    Time Tracking:

    • Provide contractors & employees with access to log their hours (they won’t have access to your financial data).
    • Time tracking also includes a start/stop timer to accurately track time spent on projects and jobs.
    • Easily convert time sheets into invoices.

    Expenses:

    • Expense tracker to enter and record your expenses.
    • Save time on date entry by automating your recurring expenses.
    • Ability to attach copies of your receipts and bills. No more messy shoeboxes or filing cabinets filled with receipts. Just snap a picture with your phone & you’re done!
    • Import your expenses from your bank and/or credit card company via a .csv or .qbo file.
    • Comes setup with a handful of most commonly used expense categories. You can also add your own categories for your specific business.
    • Ability to record an expense and then link it to an invoice, if the expense should be passed along to your customer.

    Financial Reports:

    • Financial reports that let you take a look at your small business profit/loss, see who owes you money, where you are spending your money, track revenue by client, track revenue by employee, time sheet reports, etc.

    Bonus Features:

    • Online service, meaning your financial records are stored in the cloud. Providing small business owners with access to their accounting data from anytime and from anywhere!
    • Access your business financial information from desktops, laptops, smart phones, tablets, and Macs.
    • Long list of add-on’s to customize your accounting needs. Some examples are Shoeboxed, PayPal, Google Apps, MailChimp, SalesForce, etc.
    • Plays nice with QuickBooks – you can imports your sales figures into QuickBooks.

Wish List:

  • I would love to see the ability to track bills, when bills are due, and accounts payable.
  • I’m surprised they are not set up to automatically download transactions from your bank, credit card companies, and PayPal. It does have the import feature, but automatic downloads are a great benefit for small businesses.
  • I would also love the ability to automatically categorize your imported expenses.
  • The ability to import into QuickBooks is an added bonus. I really wish the data could be imported via an .iif file, providing me with more sales data usability in QuickBooks.

Overall, FreshBooks is a great bookkeeping program. As small business owners know, cash is king! FreshBooks shines in the invoicing/billing customer area, which is key to helping generate cash flow. Their expense tracking features are lacking, but the expense tracking features are adequate for a small business to be able to use FreshBooks as their stand alone bookkeeping software. I love the fact that FreshBooks sales data can be imported into QuickBooks via an Excel file, making it an incredible billing/invoicing tool for small and mid-sized businesses.

Disclaimer:
The links above are affliate links and I get paid if you click on them and sign up for FreshBooks. However, the statements above are my own opinion and I did not receive compensation for writing this review. All content is provided for informational purposes only.

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Michelle Edwards, CPA - QuickBooks Consultant Written by Michelle Edwards, CPA
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor

Michelle Edwards, CPA is the owner of Trailhead Accounting Solutions CPA, LLC, an Erie, CO based CPA firm focused on providing small and mid-sized businesses with day-to-day accounting, bookkeeping, and business solutions. Michelle is a CFO turned consultant who loves working with small businesses and entrepreneurs. When she’s not crunching numbers, she can be found hiking, remote camping, gardening, quilting, and hanging out with her family.


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Nov
14

Top 3 Benefits to Correctly Recording Credit Card Charges into QuickBooks

How to Posting Credit Card Charges into QuickBooks

The other day I wrote a guest blog about “Entering Credit Card Charges into QuickBooks, the Right Way!”. One of my main goals working with clients is to teach them the correct way to use QuickBooks. QuickBooks is a great tool for small business owners, but you must know how to use it. In my guest blog post, I taught you the best way to record your credit card payments in QuickBooks. Today I’d like to talk about the top 3 benefits to using this method to record your credit card receipts into QuickBooks.

  1. Always Know How Much You Owe!
    If you are good about keeping up with your bookkeeping tasks and recording your credit card charges as they occur, you will always know the balance on your credit card. This avoids surprises when your monthly credit card statement arrives and helps you plan for your upcoming cash outflows.
  2. Accurate Financial Statements!
    Let’s face it, quite a few small businesses do not have the luxury of paying their credit card bill in full every month. This method for posting credit card charges into QuickBooks, allows the small business owner to choose the credit card transactions to pay this month and which ones will have to wait until next month to pay. QuickBooks will keep track of the amount still owed and the transactions still owed to your credit card company. Thus providing you an accurate accounts payable figure on your balance sheet.
  3. Save Time!
    The third benefit for posting credit card charges correctly to QuickBooks allows the small business owner the opportunity to quickly look up transactions. Let’s say you’re trying to figure out how much you typically spend at the big box retailer for office supplies. By recording the credit card charge to the correct vendor, you can quickly pull up that big box retailer and figure out how much you spent. This saves a ton of time over scrolling through every single credit card payment looking for those office supply charges. Some bills have them, some do not, and now you’ve just wasted a ton of time searching for these charges. Let’s face it, which small business owner does not love to save time!

There you have it. The top 3 benefits to using the correct way to post credit card charges to QuickBooks. Not only does it allow you to plan for your upcoming cash outflows, it provides business owners with accurate financial statements, and best of all it saves time! Give it a try and let me know how you like using this QuickBooks tip!



Check out my QuickBooks Tutorial about “Entering Credit Card Charges into QuickBooks, the Right Way!”..



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Michelle Edwards, CPA - QuickBooks Consultant Written by Michelle Edwards, CPA
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor

Michelle is the owner of Trailhead Accounting Solutions CPA, LLC, an Erie, CO based CPA firm focused on providing small and mid-sized businesses with day-to-day accounting, bookkeeping, and business solutions. Michelle is a CFO turned consultant who loves working with small businesses and entrepreneurs. When she’s not crunching numbers, she can be found hiking, remote camping, gardening, quilting, and hanging out with her family.


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Oct
06

Inspirational Quotes From Steve Jobs That Every Entrepreneur Can Learn From

Steve Jobs
1955-2011


A sad day in history, it has been announced that Steve Jobs, the co-founder and former CEO of Apple, has passed away. The memory of Steve Jobs’ intelligence and innovation will live on forever. My heart goes out to his family and friends who mourn their loss. What an amazing man who changed the world through technology.

In honor of Steve Jobs, here is a list of my favorite inspirational quotes from Steve Jobs that every entrepreneur can learn from.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” ~Steve Job’s Stanford University Commencement Address, June 2005

“I want to put a ding in the universe.” ~Steve Jobs

“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” ~BusinessWeek interview, May 1998

“We’ve gone through the operating system and looked at everything and asked how can we simplify this and make it more powerful at the same time.” ~ABC News , Steve Jobs on the Mac OS X Beta

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” ~Think Different, Apple

“A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.”
~Steve Jobs

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.” ~Steve Jobs

Keep on innovating, thinking outside of the box, and moving business and the world forward. RIP Steve Jobs, thanks for your amazing contributions to our universe.

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Michelle Edwards, CPA - QuickBooks Consultant Written by Michelle Edwards, CPA
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor

Michelle is the owner of Trailhead Accounting Solutions CPA, LLC, an Erie, CO based CPA firm focused on providing small and mid-sized businesses with day-to-day accounting, bookkeeping, and business solutions. Michelle is a CFO turned consultant who loves working with small businesses and entrepreneurs. When she’s not crunching numbers, she can be found hiking, remote camping, gardening, quilting, and hanging out with her family.


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Sep
18

QuickBooks 2012 – Loaded with New Features!

QuickBooks

QuickBooks is headed to stores near you! Intuit just announced the release of QuickBooks 2012 and will be available for purchase at the end of the month. QuickBooks 2012 is loaded with new features! These tools will not only save you time, but will help keep your small business organized, and will provide your small business with better financial reporting options. Read on to see if QuickBooks 2012 is right for your small business.

  1. Organizational Tools

    • New Calendar Functions
      New and improved calendar features allow small business owners to view appointments, set payroll tax reminders, estimated quarterly estimated tax payment reminders, bill due dates, invoicing reminders, and to-do lists. An easy way to keep your calendar all in one place!
    • A Lead Center
      An entire center dedicated to tracking, following up, and keeping track of your potential customers! Great new tool incorporating CRM features into QuickBooks.
    • An Improved Document Center
      This new QuickBooks feature is my favorite! QuickBooks 2012 allows users to attach supporting documentation to your QuickBook transactions and save them directly to your local computer! No more Intuit external storage limits or data storage fees. The document center is an easy way to organize and create a paperless accounting system. Keep your bills, deposits, W-9′s, business cards, bank statements, contracts, agreements, etc. all in one place – in QuickBooks!

  2. Financial Reporting Made Easier

    • User Generated Reports
      Custom financial reports just got easier! QuickBooks 2012 includes a feature allowing small business owners to search a library or more than 1,000 custom, user-generated reports. This is a great way to see what numbers your competition is looking at and what reports accountants are preparing for their clients.
    • Improved Excel Integration
      Don’t you hate it when you spend your precious time formatting QuickBooks exported reports in Excel, only to have to reformat the report again next month? Intuit heard your calls for help and offered small business owners a solution in QuickBooks 2012. Now you can format your reports in Excel, save the report, and next month you can import new data to the report while keeping your personalized formatting options in place.

  3. Save Time

    • One-Click Transactions
      Save time by entering customer data once. Your customer’s information will now be available in various QuickBooks transaction forms.
    • Batch Invoicing for Time & Expenses
      Provides small business owners with the ability to invoice multiple customers for time and expenses all at once, using the improved QuickBooks batch invoicing feature. Please note, this is not available with QuickBooks Pro 2012.
    • Batch Timesheets
      Everyone can benefit from payroll time saving features! The Batch Timesheets feature will allow entreprenerus the ability to process multiple employee and vendor timesheets in a batch. A great time saving tool for those employees and vendors who work the same hours.

  4. Improved Inventory Center
    Intuit has added some much desired inventory improvements. QuickBooks 2012 includes an inventory center, centralizing all inventory functions to one center. If your small business is interested in accounting for your inventory on the FIFO (first-in first-out) method or you need the ability to track inventory based on serial numbers, check out QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions. Keep in mind you will also need to subscribe to Intuit’s Advanced Inventory Feature for these inventory tools to work with QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions.

As you can see, QuickBooks 2012 is loaded with new features! Small business owners, entrepreneurs, homepreneurs, and mompreneurs can all benefit from the time saving, improved organizational tools, better financial reporting options, and updated inventory center options included with QuickBooks 2012. Please note, this blog post only relates to the US version of QuickBooks 2012 and may not include all the new features. Please contact Intuit for more information about QuickBooks 2012.

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Michelle Edwards, CPA - QuickBooks Consultant Written by Michelle Edwards, CPA
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor

Michelle is the owner of Trailhead Accounting Solutions CPA, LLC, an Erie, CO based CPA firm focused on providing small and mid-sized businesses with day-to-day accounting, bookkeeping, and business solutions. Michelle is a CFO turned consultant who loves working with small businesses and entrepreneurs. When she’s not crunching numbers, she can be found hiking, remote camping, gardening, quilting, and hanging out with her family.


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Sep
07

Top 8 Things You Need to Do When Starting A Business

Starting A Business

Entrepreneurship is reaching record highs these days. A combination of people wanting to create their own destiny, people desiring a flexible schedule, and the unemployed that need to start working again fuels this entrepreneurship growth. If you are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, here are the top 10 things you need to do when starting a business.

  1. Create a Business Plan
    Business plans are a great way to organize your ideas and put your dreams on paper. Business plans force you to evaluate every angle of your business, helping you decide whether or not your business ideas might work. Business plans help you research your competition, price your product, create a marketing strategy, generate a budget, and think about an exit strategy. They are also required if your business is going to need outside funding. Don’t get me wrong, a business plan will not guarantee success, but it will lead you in the right direction and will alert you to potential troubles once your business is up and running.

    Tip: a good business plan grows and changes with your business. Once your business is up and running, make a habit of reviewing your business plan on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. See if you are on track to reach your initial goals and update areas where you business took a different direction.

  2. Decide on a Business Structure
    You will need to decide the type of business entity you would like to create. Your business structure choices are: Sole Proprietorship, Limited Liability Company (LLC), Partnership, Corporation, or an S Corporation. Choosing a business structure is not a task to be taken lightly. It is important that you understand the pros and cons to each structure. Some structures offer better tax benefits, while others are much more simpler to operate. Some structures are better for individuals while other structures offer better benefits for business partners. The IRS has lots of information on their website about the various business structures. Individual states also have their own requirements and conditions for business structures. I advise you to contact your CPA to assist in helping you decide on a business structure that best fits your specific and unique needs.

  3. Employer Identification Number (EIN)
    Contact the IRS to obtain your EIN (Employer Identification Number). You will need to fill out Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number, which can easily be done at IRS.gov. Even if you plan to operate as a sole proprietor, I recommend obtaining an EIN so you don’t have to use your Social Security Number on your business transactions.

    If you plan to hire employees, you will need to register with your state(s) to obtain an Employer Unemployment Insurance Tax ID and a state wage withholding ID. Check with your state’s Department of Labor and Department of Revenue for information about your state’s employer identification number requirements.

  4. Register Your Business with the State
    Corporations, s corps, limited liability companies (LLC), partnerships, sole proprietors, and non-profits need to be registered with the state(s) you plan to operate in. You can register your Trade Name and Doing Business As (DBA) with your State’s Secretary of State’s office as well.

  5. Sales and Use Tax License
    Businesses that sell products, goods, food, etc. need to apply for a sales tax license from the state(s) in which you plan to operate. Some states even tax services. You can check with the state’s Department of Revenue for specific information pertaining your individual business. Contrary to popular belief, internet businesses are required to collect and submit sales tax as well. With the state governments strapped for cash, many states are starting to enforce collection of sales tax on internet transactions. Sales tax can be a tricky subject and gets complicated quickly when nexus comes into place. I recommend you contact your CPA to help figuring out what state(s) your business is required to collect and submit sales tax.

    Use Tax – Depending on the state(s) and county(s) in which you live and/or operate a business, consumer use tax can be required to be paid by businesses and residents on purchases that were not taxed when purchased. Some examples include Internet, mail, and/or phone orders. Check with your CPA or your state to determine whether you owe use tax.

  6. Local Business License and Permits
    Many cities, towns, and counties require businesses to register and obtain general business licenses. In addition, building permits, liquor licenses, contractor licenses, professional licenses, home occupational licenses, special event permits, etc. may be required by your state, city, town, and/or county as well. Don’t forget to look into these additional licenses and permits to ensure your business is operating legally.

  7. Insurance
    Business insurance is a necessity to help protect you and your assets. In general, you will want to carry a general business liability insurance policy. If you have employees or hire subcontractors, you will also be required to carry a Workman’s Compensation Insurance policy. An insurance broker is a great resource and can help you get your business insurance set up.

  8. Set Up a Bookkeeping System
    As your business starts making and spending money, you will want to have a system in place to track your income, expenses, bills to be paid, receivables, loan payments, cash, etc. With today’s technology, there are several great and inexpensive bookkeeping software options available. Check out QuickBooks, Sage Peachtree, Outright, FreshBooks, and Wave Accounting.

Keep in mind this list of the top 8 things you need to do when starting a business is a general list. Every business is unique and has individual needs. Please consult with professional advisors regarding your individual business. Most importantly, have fun and enjoy your entrepreneurial adventure!

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Michelle Edwards, CPA - QuickBooks Consultant Written by Michelle Edwards, CPA
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor

Michelle is the owner of Trailhead Accounting Solutions CPA, LLC, an Erie, CO based CPA firm focused on providing small and mid-sized businesses with day-to-day accounting, bookkeeping, and business solutions. Michelle is a CFO turned consultant who loves working with small businesses and entrepreneurs. When she’s not crunching numbers, she can be found hiking, remote camping, gardening, quilting, and hanging out with her family.


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Aug
07

How to Convert a QuickBooks Mac file To QuickBooks Windows File

QuickBooks Mac vs. QuickBooks Windows
Mac’s are gaining in popularity. The only problem, what happens when your CPA continues to work on a Windows computer? Don’t let the difference in operating systems scare you away from your favorite QuickBooks bookkeeper. Intuit has made it easy to convert your QuickBooks Mac file to a QuickBooks for Windows file, and then back again.

The process of sharing your QuickBooks file with your accountant is called “round-tripping.” In a nutshell, round-tripping means your QuickBooks file will go from your Mac, to your CPA’s Windows PC, and then back to your Mac again. Let’s learn how round-tripping works in the Mac vs. PC world.

QuickBoks Mac

  • File –> Backup to a QuickBooks for Windows.
  • In the Save As field, enter a name for the QuickBooks file. Make sure the company file name does not include any special characters, such as !@#$%^&*().
  • Save the backup file. Saving it to your desktop makes it easy to find later.
  • When the password window appears, enter a password to password protect your QuickBooks file. You may leave the fields blank if you do not wish to have a password protected file.
  • A .qbb file will be created and saved to your Mac. An instructional PDF file will also be created to help with the Windows conversion.
  • Send the .QBB file and instructional PDF file to your Windows user via the CPA’s portal, USB stick, flash drive, CD-Rom, etc.

QuickBooks Windows

  • In QuickBooks for Windows, click File –> Restore.
  • A Restore Window will appear. Select the .QBB file and choose a location to save the restored file.
  • Click Restore.
  • To convert the file, you will need to type the word “yes” to continue with the conversion.
  • Once the file is converted, the file will open in the Windows Version of QuickBooks. QuickBooks is now ready to use on the Windows PC. Your accountant may review the file and make any necessary changes.
  • When the file is ready to be sent back to the QuickBooks Mac user, click File –> Utilities –> Copy Company file for QuickBooks for Mac.
  • The converted QuickBooks file will be saved as a .QBB file with the word “MAC” in the file name.
  • Save the backup file. Saving it to your desktop makes it easy to find later.
  • Once the backup process is complete, you are ready to send the .qbb file back to you the QuickBooks for Mac user via the CPA’s portal, USB drive, flash drive, CD-Rom, etc.

QuickBooks Mac

  • In QuickBooks for Mac, click File –> Open Company.
  • Choose the .QBB file you would like to restore.
  • Click Open.
  • When asked if you want to restore a QuickBooks for Windows file, click OK.
  • Name the restored file.
  • Click Save.
  • Now you are ready to work in your QuickBooks file again on your Mac.

Tips:

  • Keep in mind, most information is supported and can be converted between Mac and Windows. However, there are a handful of reports and data that is not supported. Please compare your restored converted file against your original file to ensure your new file is not missing any reports and/or data.
  • The Mac and Windows users must use the same version of QuickBooks. For example, QuickBooks for Mac 2011 can be converted and opened in QuickBooks for Windows 2011. Intuit also recommends both Mac and Windows be operating on the most current QuickBooks release.

    • As you can see, “round-tripping” a QuickBooks file is not complicated and makes for a simple solution when working between Mac and Windows users.

    ____________________________________________________________

    Michelle Edwards, CPA - QuickBooks Consultant Written by Michelle Edwards, CPA
    Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor

    Michelle is the owner of Trailhead Accounting Solutions CPA, LLC, an Erie, CO based CPA firm focused on providing small and mid-sized businesses with day-to-day accounting, bookkeeping, and business solutions. Michelle is a CFO turned consultant who loves working with small businesses and entrepreneurs. When she’s not crunching numbers, she can be found hiking, remote camping, gardening, quilting, and hanging out with her family.


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Jun
30

Colorado Sales Tax Updates, Effective July 1, 2011

Small Business Owner at Cash Register

Ca-Ching! Great news for Colorado businesses – the State of Colorado is restoring their State Sales Tax Service Fee (aka Vendor’s Fee), effective July 1st, 2011. The State Sales Tax Service Fee will be 2.22%. According to Colorado’s Department of Revenue’s website, “the service fee may be claimed on timely filings and paid sales tax returns submitted on or after July 1st, 2011. Beginning with sales tax returns for June 2011 and 2nd quarter 2011 returns due July 20th, 2011.” In a nutshell, if you if you file and pay your sales tax returns on time, you may take this 2.22% state sales tax vendor’s fee credit.

Here’s the link to Colorado’s Department of Revenue for additional information. Colorado Department of Revenue – July 1, 2011 Sales Tax Rate Changes

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Michelle Edwards, CPA - QuickBooks Consultant Written by Michelle Edwards, CPA
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor

Michelle is the owner of Trailhead Accounting Solutions CPA, LLC, an Erie, CO based CPA firm focused on providing small and mid-sized businesses with day-to-day accounting, bookkeeping, and business solutions. Michelle is a CFO turned consultant who loves working with small businesses and entrepreneurs. When she’s not crunching numbers, she can be found hiking, remote camping, gardening, quilting, and hanging out with her family.


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Jun
23

IRS Increases 2011 Mileage Reimbursement Rate

IRS Increases 2011 Mileage Rate

Effective July 1st, 2011, the optional standard mileage rate is being increased to 55.5 cents/mile. This new rate will be in place from July 1st, 2011 through December 31st, 2011. Typically the IRS only increases the optional standard mileage rate once a year, but decided to help tax payers with the increased cost of gasoline.

For the first 6 moths of the year (January 1st – June 30th, 2011), the optional standard mileage rate will stay at the the previous 51 cents/mile rate.

The medical/moving mileage rate also increased to 23.5 cents/mile for the last 6 months of the year.

The rate for providing services for charitable organizations did not increase. The reason being the rate for providing services to charitable organizations is set by statute, not the IRS. The standard mileage rate for providing services for charitable organizations will remain at 14 cents/mile.

For additional information, please see IRS Announcement 2011-40.
____________________________________________________________

Michelle Edwards, CPA - QuickBooks Consultant Written by Michelle Edwards, CPA
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor

Michelle is the owner of Trailhead Accounting Solutions CPA, LLC, an Erie, CO based CPA firm focused on providing small and mid-sized businesses with day-to-day accounting, bookkeeping, and business solutions. Michelle is a CFO turned consultant who loves working with small businesses and entrepreneurs. When she’s not crunching numbers, she can be found hiking, remote camping, gardening, quilting, and hanging out with her family.


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Jun
14

Phone Number Update

In order to simplify our office and offer a better customer experience, we are updating our phone system. As of June 1st, 2011 we will no longer be accepting calls at 303-586-1651. To reach Trailhead Accounting Solutions, please call us at 720-295-4272.

Thanks!
Michelle

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May
15

Small Business Health Care Tax Credits

Small Business Health Care Tax Credit

Did you know that your small business could be eligible to receive tax credits for offering health insurance benefits to your employees? The Small Business Health Care Affordability Tax Credits are made possible by the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010. Hopefully your tax preparer checked to see if your small business qualified for the tax credit in 2010. If you missed out in 2010, there are more opportunities to earn the tax credit through 2013. It was estimated that about 4 million small businesses would qualify for the health care tax credit in 2010.

History
The Small Business Health Care Tax Credits were created to help small businesses and small tax-exempt organizations offer health insurance benefits to their employees. The credit is designed to encourage small businesses to offer health benefits for the first time or to help them maintain the current benefit plans they already have in place. The credit specifically targets small employers that employ low-income and moderate-income workers.

Amount of the Tax Credit

  • 2010 – 2013:
    • Small Businesses: Eligible employers can receive a tax credit of up to 35% of the business’ annual health insurance premium costs.
    • Tax-Exempt Organizations: Eligible tax-exempt organizations can receive a tax credit of up to 25% of the organization’s annual health insurance premium costs.
  • 2014 – Beyond:
    • Small Businesses: Eligible employers who purchase insurance through the new Health Insurance Exchanges can receive a tax credit for 2 years of up to 50% of the business’ annual health insurance premium costs.
    • Tax-Exempt Organizations: Eligible tax-exempt organizations that purchase insurance through the new Health Insurance Exchanges can can receive a tax credit for 2 years of up to 35% of the organization’s annual health insurance premium costs.
  • Phase Out: The tax credits phase out when your small business employs between 10-25 full time employees and when you pay your employees average annual wages between $25,000-$50,000.

Employer Eligibility Rules

  • Employ fewer than 25 full time employees
  • Pay average annual wages below $50,000
  • Employer must cover at least 50% of the cost of the health insurance premiums
  • Both for profit businesses (taxable) and non-taxable organizations can be eligible
  • Household Employers may also qualify for the tax credit in 2010-2013.

Receive the Tax Credit
To calculate your small business or tax-exempt organization’s health insurance tax credit, fill out Form 8941, Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums. Then you will include the tax credit on your annual business tax return.

Resources
The White House Health Reform Information Center
IRS – Health Insurance Tax Credit FAQ’s
IRS Form 8941

____________________________________________________________

Michelle Edwards, CPA - QuickBooks Consultant Written by Michelle Edwards, CPA
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor

Michelle is the owner of Trailhead Accounting Solutions CPA, LLC, an Erie, CO based CPA firm focused on providing small and mid-sized businesses with day-to-day accounting, bookkeeping, and business solutions. Michelle is a CFO turned consultant who loves working with small businesses and entrepreneurs. When she’s not crunching numbers, she can be found hiking, remote camping, gardening, quilting, and hanging out with her family.


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