April 7th, 2011 by Larry Keltto | Posted in Accounting
A new, onerous 1099-reporting requirement for small businesses and solopreneurs is about to be repealed. The reporting mandate was tucked in last year’s health-care reform legislation.
On Tuesday the U.S. Senate passed The Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act, H.R. 4, by a vote of 87-12.
The bill now has been passed by the House and Senate and will go to President Barack Obama. The White House has said he will sign the legislation.
The bill repeals Section 9006 of last year’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in which business owners, starting next year, were going to be required to use 1099 IRS tax forms to report all transactions greater than $600 each year.
September 30th, 2010 by Larry Keltto | Posted in Accounting
This is a guest column written by Deb Howard Greenleaf, a solopreneur who provides virtual accounting and bookkeeping services to small businesses and other solo professionals nationwide.
Deb Howard Greenleaf
Visit www.greenleafaccounting.com/blog for more bookkeeping and tax tips from Deb, or follow her on Twitter: @dhgreenleaf.
Beginning in 2012, solopreneurs will be facing dramatic changes in 1099 reporting, but we’re not quite sure exactly what those changes will be!
Thanks to an easily missed provision of the new health care bill passed in January (H.R. 3590, section 9006), all businesses will be required to send 1099-MISC forms for all payments to vendors. This is a significant change from previous requirements:
July 8th, 2010 by Larry Keltto | Posted in Accounting
This is a guest column written by Deb Howard Greenleaf, a solopreneur who provides virtual accounting and bookkeeping services to small businesses and other solo professionals nationwide.Deb Howard Greenleaf
Visit www.greenleafaccounting.com/blog for more bookkeeping and tax tips from Deb, or follow her on Twitter: @dhgreenleaf.
You may be a solopreneur whose business is up and running. You’ve closed on some sales and spent some money. At some point, though, you need to tend to bookkeeping chores.
Or you may be an established solopreneur who has a nagging discomfort about your books. You’re wondering if your bookkeeping practices are adequate.
June 16th, 2010 by Larry Keltto | Posted in Accounting
There was a TV ad in the 1970s for Trident gum that claimed, “Four out of five dentists surveyed recommend sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum.” (If you’re close to my age, you remember the ad well.)
To paraphrase the ad, I think it’s safe to say that four out of five English majors surveyed who have to do their own small-business accounting would prefer WorkingPoint.
WorkingPoint is Web-based accounting software that is going after the small-business market: solopreneurs, freelancers, consultants and service providers.
April 12th, 2010 by Larry Keltto | Posted in Accounting
If you are starting out as a solopreneur, I cannot overemphasize the importance of hiring an accountant who understands your business. Do your homework and get a good one—it’s absolutely worth it.
Here’s an excellent piece on how to choose an accountant who fits your needs. This is a critical point from the article:
“Imagine this scenario. You hire an accountant based on the assumption that he understands the basics of your business. Then, you find out that he’s never had a client like you before. Instead, he’s only prepared tax forms for wealthy individuals that don’t own businesses. Avoid that possible disaster by asking who the accountant works with.”
