14Mar 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Company Short on Cash? This is the bill to pay FIRST!

Be A Better Bookkeeper, IRS Information, Payroll Tips
Is your company short on cash and wondering which bill to pay first?   That bill should be your payroll taxes! At one point or another, every business is going to be short on cash and will be faced with the challenge of figuring out which bill they should pay first.  The first bill that you absolutely have to pay first is your is your payroll tax bill - otherwise it is going to cost you dearly in the long run! Below is a real example, taken from the March edition of The General Ledger, a monthly newsletter from the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers. To deal with its financial problems T Corporation decided to pay several creditors, putting off for two quarters paying employment (payroll) taxes and filing related returns. …
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28Feb 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Your QuickBooks Company Data File, the IRS and You

Be A Better Bookkeeper, General QuickBooks News, IRS Information, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup
Yes, it's true.  The IRS can *LEGALLY request a backup of your QuickBooks (or Peachtree) company data file if you are being audited. BACKGROUND: In 2010, the IRS purchased somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 licenses for the QuickBooks 2010 Premier Accountant Edition from an ISP (Inuit Solutions Provider) and not directly from Intuit as it is made to look in announcements (SEE NOTE BELOW). Approximately 1,100 agents were trained to utilize QuickBooks and these agents have been instructed to obtain a copy of the taxpayer's data base for the year under examination ONLY when it is necessary.  This method of examination of taxpayer records will not be used in all cases -- however, it will be up to the examiner. When requested, the electronic files should be provided on a…
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24Feb 2011 by Denise Duplinski

Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums

From Our Guest Bloggers, IRS Information
On March 30, 2010, President Obama signed the Health Care Reconciliation Act which added a tax credit for employee health insurance expenses of small employers for taxable years beginning in 2010 through taxable years beginning in 2013. The tax credit is available if: (1) the employer has fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) (2) the average annual wages per FTE  is less than $50,000, and (3) the employer maintains a “qualifying arrangement” The credit is fully available to an employer with 10 FTEs and average annual wages of $25,000. The credit phases out pro rata so that an employer with 25 FTEs with average annual wages of $50,000 is not entitled. Number of Employees for the Taxable Year The number of FTEs is determined by counting employees who perform…
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08Feb 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Embezzlement, It CAN Happen To You – Tips For Prevention

General QuickBooks News, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup
As a busy business owner it is quite easy to fall into the bad habit of simply turning over your business’s accounting to someone else; because your time is best spent in the field and not in the office doing paperwork.  Not only is this a bad habit, it can also become a dangerous situation. In the course of my bookkeeping career, now over 30 years, I’ve seen many instances of employee theft – from the simple act of people taking home office supplies in the fall for their children, employees giving themselves unauthorized raises, bookkeepers embezzling money from the business, accountants “cooking the books”, and even family members “making a mess of things”. Whether it's theft of money, supplies, inventory, equipment, or intellectual property, nearly every small business will…
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01Feb 2011 by Nancy Smyth

Payroll Tip-What’s Your Responsibility for Unclaimed Paychecks?

Payroll Tips
Unclaimed or returned paychecks are a real hassle; just ask any bookkeeper, especially one in the construction industry.  They mess up your bank reconciliations because they are always outstanding; and seriously, what are you supposed to do with them other than throw them in a desk drawer and hope you remember where you put them! Can the company keep the money? Can you just void the checks and be done with it? As a bookkeeper or business owner do you know what your responsibilities are for handling unclaimed or returned paychecks? The answer is pretty simple -- NO, you cannot keep an uncashed or unclaimed paycheck; believe it or not, you MUST turn them over to the state where that person last worked.  Oh, it gets even better; you can…
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25Jan 2011 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Payroll Tip – Tracking Union Fringe Benefits

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage, Payroll Tips
Setting up and tracking Union Fringe Benefits in QuickBooks can be a fairly straightforward task, after all Union Fringes are just a specified hourly dollar amount that the company pays to the Union on behalf of the employee. Union fringes often consist of contributions to Vacation/Holiday, Health & Welfare, Pension, Training, and sometimes Travel & Subsistence, Savings, or Fund Administration.  Depending upon the Union that you are dealing with, some of the fringe benefits could be subject to payroll taxes, while others are not. Most of the time fringes are calculated and paid based on the number of hours the employee works on the jobsite, occasionally, however, they are a based on a percentage of gross pay. Regardless of how they are paid (based on an hourly amount or a…
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17Dec 2010 by Nancy Smyth

Straight from the IRS – Social Security Tax Reduced to 4.2%

IRS Information, Payroll Tips
12/17/2010 I just received the following email which is of interest to ALL employers and payroll personnel. Payroll Tax Cut to Boots Take-Home Pay for Most Workers; New Withholding Details Now Available on IRS.gov WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service today released instruction to help employers implement the 2011 cut in payroll taxes, along with the new income-tax withholding tables that employers will use during 2011. Millions of workers will see their take-home pay rise during 2011 because the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 provides a two (2) percentage point payroll tax cut for employees, reducing their Social Security (FICA) tax withholding rate from 6.2% to 4.2% of wages paid.  This reduced Social Security withholding will have no effect on the employee's future Social…
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13Dec 2010 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Bookkeeping Tips – Why Do I Need to Keep “Books”?

Be A Better Bookkeeper, General QuickBooks News, QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup
The primary purpose of using QuickBooks to keep books is to provide financial and management information in order for you to run your business, make sound business decisions, and to prepare your taxes. Most business owners are very worried about generating income; however, running a business involves a lot of other tasks.  You will need to invoice customers, record payments from customers, pay your own bills to outside vendors, perhaps manage inventory, and analyze your financial data to see where you need to focus your efforts next.  QuickBooks is a tool that you can use to automate the tasks you are already performing as a business owner or to set up a new business. Financial Management is the process of: Running your business Recording money coming in Recording money going…
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06Dec 2010 by Nancy Smyth

Prevailing Wage Fringes-Taking a Credit for Health Insurance

Certified Payroll/Prevailing Wage
Taking a Health Insurance credit against the full prevailing wage fringe benefit and reporting it correctly on the Federal WH-347 Certified Payroll Report can be very confusing.  This question was asked by a reader who recently requested our 4 Ways Contractors Pay Prevailing Wage Fringe Benefits eBook. This is an issue that has been extensively belabored in our office (by me). We are an open shop, but sometimes do jobs with a union agreement.   We do a lot of prevailing wage jobs and private work. We offer all of our employees health insurance - the company paying 75% of the monthly premium and the employees paying the remaining 25% through employee deductions. It gets so confusing and reading all the blogs etc. does not clarify it for me.  I must…
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03Dec 2010 by Nancy Smyth

#QuickBooks for Contractors Freebie Friday Tracking Subcontractors Insurance

Free & Fee-Based QuickBooks eBooks
Each Friday, here on the QuickBooks for Contractors blog,  we will be offering a free QuickBooks related eBook, offering tips, tricks, and training – so stayed tuned, visit often or sign up to have our posts delivered daily via email. This week’s eBook provides information and tips for setting up a system to track Subcontractors Workers Compensation and General Liability Insurance expiration dates. When a contractor works on a construction project and he/she hires subcontractors; one of the things that he is required to keep on file is a CURRENT copy of each subcontractors Worker's Compensation Insurance Policy and a copy of their General Liability Insurance. Keeping track of expiration dates and making sure that you always have a copy of the current policy on hand, can be a daunting…
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01Dec 2010 by Nancy Smyth

Starting a New QuickBooks File? Benefits of the EasyStep Interview

QuickBooks Setup & Cleanup
When you use the EasyStep Interview to create a new QuickBooks company file, you will be asked questions about the type of business you own as it walks you through the process of setting up your business in QuickBooks.  Your answers will be used to help you get started quickly , by setting up the appropriate accounts and lists.  It will take you about 30 minutes to go through the EasyStep Interview. Creating a new company file in QuickBooks is easy and you can access the new file wizard in many ways. From the File menu, choose New Company If you have been working in a sample company file, click the Start your new company file now button on the upper right corner of the Home page. From the No…
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03Nov 2010 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks Payroll Tips – Getting Ready for W-2 Processing

Payroll Tips
A QuickBooks Payroll Subscription makes processing W-2's pretty much a piece of cake at year end; however, there are still some things that you need to do to properly prepare for W-2 processing. It's not too early to start thinking about year end payroll activities, below are some year-end payroll tips to help you out. By December 1, 2010: Ask employees to verify their name and SSN BEFORE you issue your W-2's. Remind employees that if there is a change in their filing status due to marriage, divorce or dependents (birth, adoption, child turning 21),  they may want to file a new W-4 for 2010. When a name is changed, continue to use the old name until the employee presents you with an updated social security card or the SSA…
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05Oct 2010 by Nancy Smyth

QuickBooks 2011 – New Balance Sheet by Class Report – Part 11

QuickBooks 2011 - What's New?, Reports
The Balance Sheet by Class Report was first introduced with QuickBooks 2011, however, it is also available in QuickBooks 2012, 2013, and 2014; has specific requirements for handling many or our normal day-to-day transactions. These requirements remain unchanged from the original introduction in QuickBooks 2011.. In this last installment of our 11-part series on the Balance Sheet by Class Report, we'll discuss how you cannot use the Funds Transfer window to transfer funds between classes - instead you will have to make a journal entry to transfer funds between classes. As we discussed in Part 2, accounting professionals and end users will need to change their procedures when creating journal entries so that they were balanced, by making sure that when creating a journal entry that Debits MUST equal Credits…
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