I made a quick stop at the post office this morning to send out my 3rd quarter estimated tax payments. This estimated payment is based on the amount of taxes I owed last year for my sole proprietorship. If you, too, need to make these payments, don’t forget to get them in the mail today.
Posts Tagged IRS
The Deadline Has Been Met
Apr 14
I finished my taxes tonight! They will be mailed out tomorrow, and that will be that. A few thoughts about my 2007 taxes.
- Having a CPA do my taxes was worth it (got some very good advice).
- Estimated tax payments would prevent year-end headaches.
- Writing large checks to the government isn’t fun.
- E-filing is way easier and better for the environment than printing and mailing in forms (next year I will be e-filing).
I stopped by my CPA’s office this morning to pick up my taxes. Unexpectedly, I owe $3,800 to the feds and $500 to the state I live in. At the beginning of 2007, I changed my withholdings with the expectation of offsetting the taxes I would owe. It appears those changes didn’t do as much as I expected them to. I did a few rough calculations before sending my paperwork and tax-related materials off to the CPA and my math showed that I would owe very little, if anything. I must have miscalculated or forgot to include something. To be sure, I checked over the forms tonight when I got home from work and they all appear to be correct.
This is not the first year that I’ve owed a sizable amount to the IRS. Although I have the money to pay the taxes, it still hurts a little to part with it. The main reason I end up owing each year is due to the income I make on the side from Web development work and several Web sites I run. I could lessen the sting each April by making quarterly payments, but I’d rather make the money work for me during the year in a high-yield savings account. I may have to rethink this strategy.
I need to make some time to meet with my CPA to see what steps I can take to reduce my tax bill in the future.
If anyone out there has some tips or ideas, I’d like to hear from you.
Tax preparation isn’t a whole lot of fun, but I don’t have to tell you that. In years past, I’ve been able to pull things together in a fairly short amount of time. This year, for whatever reason, has been a completely different story. I guess a combination of late forms and procrastination has delayed the entire process.
At last – I can finally say they’re ready to be shipped off to the CPA.
The whole process has put the spotlight on my less than stellar business record-keeping. I’ve been meaning to get everything that pertains to the business imported and categorized in Quicken. Doing that will allow me to easily get the information together that my CPA needs. It would also allow me to track my business expenses a little more closely.
I have a complete and efficient system for my personal expenses and accounts. The business accounts need the same thing. I guess I know what I’ll be working on next week – or maybe the following week.
Anybody have tips on getting started with a proper system for the business?
I was over at Consumerism Commentary reading some of the new posts, and I saw a post by Sasha titled, “5 Stupid Financial Mistakes I Made in 2007: Underutilizing Financial and Tax Advisors.” At the end of the post, she talks about not enlisting the help of a tax accountant to look over her taxes – rather she did them herself. I can honestly say that I’ve made that same mistake a few years in a row. I thought that I knew all there was to know. Boy, was I wrong – I missed out on a lot of deductions and always ended up paying in. I decided to change things up this year, so I finally sat down with a CPA and we went over my situation. He opened my eyes to many deductions I could have taken in years past. I should have seen him earlier – I would’ve saved money and been out of debt sooner. Hind sight is always 20/20…
Lesson learned: Sometimes it helps to enlist the help of a professional.
