Tax Scams To Beware Of

Even though tax season is over, it is still important to remain alert for any tax scams by groups pretending to be the Internal Revenue Service. Some of the most common types of scams perpetrated are telephone scams and phishing emails. While most of these scams seem to follow the same basic structure, you should be wary of ever disclosing important personal information like account passwords or your Social Security number to another party.

One of the most common types of scams perpetrated is a phone scam. It is important to note that the Internal Revenue Service does not call and leave automated messages, insisting that you call them back. Sadly, many times the victim is told that they could be penalized or even arrested if they don’t call back. These type of scams obvious play to people’s fears, but again the Internal Revenue Service does not call like that in the first place. Criminals can even make it seem like they’re calling from an actual IRS office. This leads many people to believe that the call is in fact authentic. Fraudulent callers have made it seem like they were calling from federal agencies, local sheriff offices and others to seem more legitimate to their victims, thus making it more likely that their victims will pay up.

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What to Know About Payroll?

For many small business owners, the process of payroll can be very bothersome and time-consuming. It can be even more so if you don’t have an outside firm doing it for you. The National Business Association conducted a survey in 2013 in which they determined that about sixty percent of small businesses process their payroll themselves. For obvious reasons like IRS penalties or possibly disgruntled employees, it is important to handle your payroll properly and with care. Here are some tips to make your payroll go as smoothly as possible.

One of the main things to determine in setting up a payroll system is whether you are going to pay your employees by salary or hourly. By having salaried employees, you can take a lot of the figuring out of determining how many hours your employees worked each month exactly and therefore how much they should be paid. If you do opt to pay your employees hourly, it is incumbent upon you to have some sort of dedicated system that tracks every employees hours worked.

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Tips for Tax Preparation in 2018

The more preparation you put into your tax prep year around, the more headaches you can save yourself come tax day. Taxes can seem complicated and overwhelming; the type of thing to avoid thinking about to the very last minute, but with proper planning, taxes can be a breeze. Here a few easy tips that you can follow year round to make tax time as easy and pain free as possible.

First, you can start by developing a habit of checking in on your finances monthly. By multiplying your monthly income by twelve, you can estimate if you will be in a higher or lower bracket come tax time. If you can tell that you will be making more money, enough to qualify for a different bracket, it may be wise to change your withholding status so that you don’t end up owing any money to the federal or your specific state. If you believe that you will be making less, enough to qualify for a lower tax bracket, you can still change your withholding status, but it may be best to wait a couple months in case you end up earning more so that you won’t end up owing later in the year.

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