Critical Notice: Changes to IRS Reporting Regulations for 1099-Misc Tax Year 2011

Direct notice from Intuit for my QuickBooks clients and friends.  If you don’t use QuickBooks please forward this notice to others that do:

If you have paid 1099 contractors or vendors in the past year using payment forms other than cash or check, you need to be aware that the IRS has issued new reporting regulations for tax year 2011 1099-MISC form. These regulations will exclude payment types such as credit cards, debit cards, and those from third party payment networks, like PayPal, from the 1099-MISC form that will instead be reported on the new third party form 1099-K.

For more information on the new regulations and how they impact your business click here:  http://www.payroll.com/1099_em.

To help comply with the new regulations using your QuickBooks 2009, 2010 or 2011 you have three options to choose from:

In tax year 2011, if you only paid a few 1099 vendors with credit cards, debit cards, or third party payment networks, like PayPal, you might consider the manual option.

1. Manually find and exclude the appropriate payments by following the steps here.

 

In tax year 2011, if you paid more than a few 1099 vendors with credit cards, debit cards, or third party payment networks, like PayPal, we suggest purchasing the QuickBooks 1099 Assistant or upgrading to QuickBooks 2012 to access the updated 1099 Wizard.

2. Purchase the QuickBooks 1099 Assistant (a downloadable app) to help identify and exclude the appropriate payments from your QuickBooks 1099-MISC forms; the Assistant will supplement the existing QuickBooks 1099 printing and filing features. To find out more about the QuickBooks 1099 Assistant and how to purchase it for $0.99, click here.
OR
3. Upgrade to QuickBooks 2012 which has, among many other features, an updated 6-step 1099 Wizard that will help identify and exclude the appropriate payments from your QuickBooks 1099-MISC forms. For more information on the updated 1099 Wizard, click here.
To purchase QuickBooks at upgrader pricing directly from Intuit, check out this page.

 

If you have questions and are unable to find the answer you need from Intuit Support sites, please contact us at (775) 720-3282 or www.marie-gibson.com

by Marie on January 18, 2012

An Appetite for Double-Dipping – How to Protect Yourself!

As we move solidly into this new year, we want to take a look at our systems and make changes that will help us run our business profitably, safely and securely. The beginning of the new year is the time that feels like we can do anything….like we can do everything… and changes are so much easier now.

Improving our systems to reduce fraud and employee theft is imperative for a business owner. Becoming a victim of fraud is a horrible experience and we never think it will happen to us. However, if it does happen, it can wreak financial damage, sometimes significant enough to put us out of business. It’s a time-consuming business disruption which often involves accountants, lawyers, credit bureaus, bank executives, and IRS and state tax agents (our favorite people, right?). Worst of all, it’s a betrayal by one or more fellow human beings, sometimes relatives; an intimate violation that can leave us emotionally scarred for quite a while

The purpose of today’s article is to get you thinking about this business threat, demonstrate some common ways your accounting system can be used to hurt you, and urge you to make a plan to protect yourself against fraud so you reduce your chances of becoming a victim.

Here’s a partial list of just a few common ways that someone with access to your accounting system can make off with your money.

Paying bills you don’t owe

For example, if your business and your bookkeeper both owe Pacific Gas and Electric, make sure the check that is written from the business account is going to cover your account balance and not theirs. It’s a common fraud act to pay personal bills from the company account and although it seems like it might be a relatively small amount, it can add up quickly.

Also watch out for repeat requests for reimbursements of the same receipts as well as overstated expenses; or watch for vendors that you don’t recall. The easiest way to watch for this is to look at the original invoice and initial it when you sign the checks. Yes-that means that when you sign the checks that you should look at them and scan the associated invoices.

read more about protecting your business from accounting fraud

by Marie on January 13, 2012

The Secret Sauce to Saving Time

Is finding enough time to do everything you need to do one of your top five small business challenges? If so, you’re not alone; just about every entrepreneur lists ‘time’ as a challenge that they face today in running their businesses. It’s not uncommon to feel stressed and overwhelmed at everything that you need and WANT to do.

Plenty of time management books will help you use your time more productively, but who has time to read a whole book these days? Instead, here are some quick tips to help you work smarter, ease any stress, and tame the time monster.

The 4 “D”s

You might have seen a strategy that allows you to evaluate how to handle each task or e-mail as it comes across your desk. Click on this link to see mine:

by admin on September 7, 2011

Tracking Bills in QuickBooks, Worth the Effort

Next to payroll, paying bills is probably your least favorite task in business.  However, QuickBooks makes it a heck of a lot easier with its Bill Pay feature! You don’t have to use this feature – you can keep stacking bills on your desk, scrawling the due dates on a paper calendar, and using the Write Checks feature, but the automated bill process will make your life much simpler.

If you’re using QuickBooks, you’ll want to start taking advantage of the numerous tools that QuickBooks offers to track your accounts payable, including the ability to… Read More Here

by admin on September 2, 2011

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