Home: Message List - Event: Tax tips for your small business

Event: Tax tips for your small business

SBOCTeam — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:01:20 GMT

Community Members,

Please join us in welcoming Barbara Weltman to your Small Business Online Community. Barbara is one of the nation's leading authorities on taxes and small business and she is here today to answer your questions about business taxes. Today Barbara will be using the screen name bigideas4biz

About Barbara:

Barbara Weltman is a contributing writer for Inc.com, PINK magazine and New York Enterprise Report, and is a sought-after media commentator who has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Reuters, Forbes.com, Marketwatch.com, WABC-TV, Fox News, CNNRadio and CNBC. Barbara is also a top selling author and has written the titles "The Rational Guide to Building Small Business Credit" which features a foreword by Dun & Bradstreet, "J.K. Lasser's Small Business Taxes" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting a Home-Based Business."

Barbara's also publishes the highly-popular newsletter, "Big Ideas for Small Business". The online publication addresses the unique needs and interests of the small business community and explores market-impact issues such as health insurance, energy costs, and employee retention. For more information about Barbara log on to http://www.barbaraweltman.com/

Logistics for events:

Please start posting tax related questions to Barbara Weltman. Remember the community guidelines; stay on topic and be professional.

The event will be moderated to queue the questions for our guest. After a question is posted it may be delayed and/or moved into a queue. You do not need to repost. Your question has been received but is in a queue waiting for the guest to respond to.

Barbara will attempt to answer as many questions as possible; however she may not get to all questions.

We will start with a few of the advance questions that many of you have posted, along with tax questions posted in the last week.

Prior to relying on any legal, tax or financial advice or recommendations provided herein, you are advised to consult with your attorney, financial adviser and/or tax professional to verify the information provided and to determine the applicability of any federal, state or industry specific laws and/or regulations that may apply to you. Bank of America or Barbara Weltman shall have no liability for legal, investment, finance and/or tax decisions based on the information provided.

Re: Live Q&A with Barbara Weltman from 2-5PM Going On Now!

clnshirtz — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:35:39 GMT

Thanks SBOC team, this was a great read

Re: Live Q&A with Barbara Weltman from 2-5PM Going On Now!

Ed O'Gee — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:25:36 GMT

Thanks Barbara for responding to my question.

Re: Live Q&A with Barbara Weltman from 2-5PM Going On Now

BDS INC — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:33:30 GMT

Thanks Barbara,

That is what I thought. Thanks community team for putting on this event.

Re: Live Q&A with Barbara Weltman from 2-5PM Going On Now!

SBOCTeam — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:04:34 GMT

Barbara, our next question comes from sbuser and the user asks:

I recently started a computer consulting company and registered it as an LLC. I am thinking of working for a client pretty soon as a contractor. As a single owner/member of the LLC and as the only working person, should I become an employee (W2) and pay myself salary or treat myself as an independent contractor (1099)? Which one is more beneficial and allows me to pay less taxes?

Re: Live Q&A with Barbara Weltman from 2-5PM Going On Now!

SBOCTeam — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:50:21 GMT

Barbara, the next question comes from LT Lawn Care and the user asks:

I bought into a pre-paid legal plan last year, initially for my personal use but because of a potential law suit that was threatened against my business, I used the service at times for the business as well. My question is can I write the $39.99 a month premium off as a business expense, given I did use the service for my business too?

Re: Live Q&A with Barbara Weltman from 2-5PM Going On Now!

SBOCTeam — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:25:48 GMT

Barbara,

This next question was asked previously by user Tinman and he asked:

What is the benefit of leasing a car thru your business as opposed to purchasing a car and claiming business mileage for the tax year? I've heard many say lease the car for a business but have not gotten an answer as to what exactly are the benefits.

Re: Live Q&A with Barbara Weltman from 2-5PM Going On Now!

SBOCTeam — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:12:23 GMT

Barbara,

User rusty50 asks:

I have an insurance business & I own my building. I recently added a 1650 sq foot addition on the building. Can I expense any of the costs related to this building addition on my income taxes? For example, can I expense permit fees, architect fees, or surveying fees?

Re: Live Q&A with Barbara Weltman from 2-5PM Going On Now

SBOCTeam — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:14:08 GMT

Barbara our next question comes from Luckiest, the community's top contributor and he asks:

Question. Social Security Benefits - If we (my wife and I) put our Social Security Benefits into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), does that save us from being taxed on the Social Security?

Re: Live Q&A with Barbara Weltman from 2-5PM Going On Now!

SBOCTeam — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:26:18 GMT

Barbara, our next question comes from another of our top contributors, Ed O'Gee and he asks:

This year we contracted two workers who were recently incarcerated, to do some manual work for our firm. These guys were paid as contractors, but my question is, I know what I paid them is included in our overall labor costs, but is my firm also eligible for a tax credit since we provided work to recently released ex-offenders?