Consultant Training #8: TAXES

It's almost that hated time of the year for me.  Tax season. (Shiver)  My husband owns his own business and now I do too, so we never get a tax return...we pay!  I hate taxes! (Really, who loves them?)  But it's important to know what things you should save and what things are write-off-able (I just made that word up, wink, wink.)  Here are somethings that I do/ save to help me prepare for that dreaded day... April 15th.

1.)  I keep a white envelop in the glove box of my cars.  On the outside of it, I write all of the miles I use traveling to work related places.  On the inside, I put any receipts I get that are work related and from my SR debit card.  (So when I run to Office Max to make copies of the price list, or to the post office to mail a host packet out, the receipt goes right into the envelop, instead of into my purse...where it could be lost for all eternity!)

2.)  I print off and file all Invoices of anything that I've purchased from Shelf Reliance, such as my Q each month, personal orders, supply orders, or host benefit orders.  These are all tax write offs!

3.)  Anytime I make a deposit or withdrawal from my business account, I also stick the receipt from that transaction in the envelop.  I usually will write on the top of the receipt what the money was from or going towards.

4.)  I have a separate bank account and debit card for my SR business - obviously. This helps keep things separate from my personal accounts.  Each month I print off my bank statement and using the receipts from the envelop in my car, reconcile my account.  Then I staple all receipts for that month to the back of it.  This gets filed in my yearly tax file for my accountant.

An accountant can help you figure out what other things are able to be written off.  Usually there is a certain amount for your home office that can be written off for the use of electricity, phone, and internet use.  I'm not an expert on all that kind of stuff, but hopefully your accountant will love you as much as mine loves me, if you do the above steps!

* Remember to sign up for Convention!  It's 100% write-off-able!  Consider it a vacation that can ALL be written off!  It's totally worth it, and fun all at the same time!

- Cami