How to avoid the post-holiday, year-end panic

Year end is here, and it’s a time small-business owners everywhere dread. The good news is, you DON’T have to panic. Grab yourself a cup of hot tea and take a look at a few of the big dates coming up, because knowledge is power, people:

JANUARY 15TH - 4TH QUARTER ESTIMATED TAX PAYMENTS DUE

For those small business owners who make estimated tax payments to the IRS (let’s be real—that’s most of us), your 4th quarter 2018 payments are due by January 15th. The amounts of your quarterly estimated payments was likely figured out several months ago by using one of two IRS worksheets: Form 1040-ES or Form 1120-W for Corporations. If you have no idea what any of these things mean, you either (A) have a professional someone making your life easy, or (B) have a New Years resolution to add to your list for 2019.

JANUARY 31ST - W-2’S DUE TO EMPLOYEES AND FORM 1099-MISC DUE TO RECIPIENTS

Here’s the good news: If you are a Keepbooking client you don’t have to worry about a thing. All you need to know is that all of those non-employee people you pay get to find out how much you paid them in 2018 with a handy form they use for their taxes. For those of you handling your 1099 processing yourself, this is the time of year when you ask yourself “WHY AM I DOING THIS MYSELF??”

It can be a painstaking process, so our advice is to jump on it right when you wake up from your post-holiday food coma in early January.

FEBRUARY 1ST - TAX-READY FINANCIALS READY!

This is another fun one for Keepbooking clients—we’ll be working hard to get 2018 financials ready for your review at the end of January. After a little bit of review to make sure everything’s where it needs to be, you’ll have tax-ready financials in hand at the beginning of February.