I have to admit that when it came to Twitter I had to be one of the laggards that bought in. Now that I have finally setup an account (@TechAccountant) I am having a ball getting into the “groove” so to speak. What really jumpstarted my interest in Twitter was an article that I read before the end of the year in Entrepreneur that provided me with a roadmap on how to use Twitter and the benefits of using it for my business. Since then I have been tweeting virtually every day providing information that can help small business owners using technology to their advantages. In the process I have come across some rather interesting people who also use Twitter via a Linked In group. I also found out by accident that my online data backup has the capability to save my tweets and backup my Twitter account.
These are just a few of the fun tools that I have been playing around with for the first 15 days of the New Year. Be sure to post what tech tools you use for Twitter, LinkedIn or any other social media tool that you use.
Oh and if you have not noticed the name of the blog has changed to “The Tech Accountant” to better portray what the blog is all about. Still the same look and feel (for now), but lookout for more changes in the next 15 days of January and beyond.
The Tech Accountant
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Windows 7’s “Intuit”ion is Broke
I recently had a client that upgraded their computer systems to Windows 7 and as I was moving over their accounting system (they use Intuit’s QuickBooks) and going through all the problems with compatibility the client and I thought we had everything ready to go for 2010. Well hold on a minute there, we attempted to test the Remote Access with WebEx and found out that there was an issue with accessing the client’s computer. Thinking that this would be a simple fix I contacted support only to find out that QuickBooks Remote Access Service does not work on the Windows 7 operating system. One would think that two mega corporations like Intuit and Microsoft would be on the same page when it comes to systems and compatibility but as with most new software/operating systems releases, one does not know what the other is doing. We were provided with a workaround, but that “solution” did not work also.
Problems like the previous make me wonder why many small business owners use boxed accounting software instead of a true technology driven accounting solution. The majority of the issues that occur can be alleviated since the data is in the clouds (similar to online banking) and updates are done behind the scenes. There are rarely problems with an online accounting solution and many small businesses may need to investigate these solutions to compete effectively in the new decade.
B. N. S.
Problems like the previous make me wonder why many small business owners use boxed accounting software instead of a true technology driven accounting solution. The majority of the issues that occur can be alleviated since the data is in the clouds (similar to online banking) and updates are done behind the scenes. There are rarely problems with an online accounting solution and many small businesses may need to investigate these solutions to compete effectively in the new decade.
B. N. S.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Small Biz Advice for 2010 and Beyond
Now that 2010 is here, it may be time for many small business owners to take a look at ways to survive the New Year and the next decade. For the most part, small business owners need to think outside the box and devise totally different strategies for tackling the new market emerging from this recession. A survey of 750 small business owners for Discover Small Business Watch came up with ten tips that will help a small business owners learn how to succeed in the coming year/decade based on their shortcomings in the past. I personally like number 1, 2, 6, and 10 (and will continue to speak vehemently about implementing these strategies) although the whole list in and of itself is a great start for small business New Year’s resolutions. Just be sure to follow thru on the list.
B. N. S.
B. N. S.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Tax Season less taxing with technology
Happy New Year everyone out there in blog land! Now that the holidays are over everyone’s focus is now on going back to work, paying off those Christmas bills and the dreaded taxes. Luckily there are ways to make filing your taxes a little less stressing. Typically you have to compile all of your tax data, schedule a time to meet with your tax professional and then wait for the return to be prepared. If you are one of those taxpayers that loves technology, then the following process may be of interest to you.
Some tax professionals allow their clients to fill out online tax organizers that will assist in getting all of your tax data compiled and ensure that you don’t forget any important paperwork. Once the online tax organizer is completed you send the organizer back along with your tax information via e-mail. This is very dangerous since you would be sending your tax data over the internet unsecure. This is where a client portal comes into play. A portal is similar to logging into online banking whereas you would login to your own secure account, fill out your tax organizer and upload all of your tax information. Once you have completed these tasks, an e-mail would be sent to your tax professional notifying them that your documents are ready to process. By using this approach, you can cut out wasted time playing phone tag with your tax professional to schedule an appointment, or sitting waiting in their office for them to review your information….that is unless you enjoy sitting and waiting on your tax professional to review your data.
Using technology can make your tax season less taxing.
B. N. S.
Some tax professionals allow their clients to fill out online tax organizers that will assist in getting all of your tax data compiled and ensure that you don’t forget any important paperwork. Once the online tax organizer is completed you send the organizer back along with your tax information via e-mail. This is very dangerous since you would be sending your tax data over the internet unsecure. This is where a client portal comes into play. A portal is similar to logging into online banking whereas you would login to your own secure account, fill out your tax organizer and upload all of your tax information. Once you have completed these tasks, an e-mail would be sent to your tax professional notifying them that your documents are ready to process. By using this approach, you can cut out wasted time playing phone tag with your tax professional to schedule an appointment, or sitting waiting in their office for them to review your information….that is unless you enjoy sitting and waiting on your tax professional to review your data.
Using technology can make your tax season less taxing.
B. N. S.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Celebrity Tax Problems – A Year in Review
With the economy being as tough as it has been this past year, many individuals have been too busy focusing on their own financial issues to really focus on the tax issues of others. Well luckily with a little research on the web and a review of all daily tax e-mail (yes I did keep the whole years worth), I am able to present a year in review of celebrity tax problems. You would think that with all the money these people make or have made that they would at least put some aside for Uncle Sam. Oh well guess not.
Some of the more famous (or infamous) on the list include:
• The Black Eyed Peas
• Sinbad
• Nicolas Cage
• Pamela Anderson
• “The Governator” Schwarzenegger
• Rapper Nas
• Rapper Method Man
• Boxer Floyd Mayweather
• Golfer Jim Thorpe
• Singers Foxy Brown and Toni Braxton
Wow typing this post makes me almost feel like a reporter on one of those tabloids TV shows. Be sure not to use any of these people’s accountants.
B. N. S.
Some of the more famous (or infamous) on the list include:
• The Black Eyed Peas
• Sinbad
• Nicolas Cage
• Pamela Anderson
• “The Governator” Schwarzenegger
• Rapper Nas
• Rapper Method Man
• Boxer Floyd Mayweather
• Golfer Jim Thorpe
• Singers Foxy Brown and Toni Braxton
Wow typing this post makes me almost feel like a reporter on one of those tabloids TV shows. Be sure not to use any of these people’s accountants.
B. N. S.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
The Return
It is the day after Christmas and so begins’ the start of the great return season. In this case the word return can take on quite a few different meanings. For some it will mean returning back to work to help those still on vacation. For the vacationers, it will mean going to the store and returning some of those unwanted gifts that were given and to some others it will mean returning to the shopping centers to look for bargains on items that are reduced for a quick sale.
For me, the return means a chance to get back to work, although by using technology, I am always one click away from accessing the tools I need to get tasks completed. The iPhone has been a great addition to many small business owners’ technology tools arsenal. While surfing the net yesterday, I came across this fun article of some of the best iPhone apps for 2009. The majority of theses apps are more for personal use however there are a few that can make one’s life a bit less confusing. Enjoy.
B. N. S.
For me, the return means a chance to get back to work, although by using technology, I am always one click away from accessing the tools I need to get tasks completed. The iPhone has been a great addition to many small business owners’ technology tools arsenal. While surfing the net yesterday, I came across this fun article of some of the best iPhone apps for 2009. The majority of theses apps are more for personal use however there are a few that can make one’s life a bit less confusing. Enjoy.
B. N. S.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Small Biz Hiring 2010
Here is an interesting article that I came across this morning regarding the steps small business owners should take when hiring for positions next year. I found the article to provide some very good ideas that many small business owners can benefit from. The advice to consider converting employees to independent contractors (IC’s) and/or hiring contractors is pretty sage, but I personally would seek out independent contractors outright. Converting employees to IC’s can be pretty dangerous and is frowned upon in the eyes of the IRS and other regulating bodies. The best advice in the article to me was the last suggestion to change your thinking and get away from the 8-5 work day. There is currently a change occurring in the working environment and many jobs can be done from the comfort of one’s home and at a cheaper price. This is definitely on way for a small business owner to save money in the long run. Let me know what you think small business owners.
B. N. S.
B. N. S.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
QuickBooks Updates and Downgrades
In a recent post, I mention the problems many QuickBooks users were having with the new R9 update for QuickBooks 2009. The problem with the update was so bad that many QuickBooks users decided to downgrade their software back to the R8 update and work from there. The problem caused a great deal of frustration for many of the accountants that use QuickBooks to service their client’s books due to many accountants upgrading their system, only to find out that they could not use the data sent from clients on their system.
QuickBooks did however, respond to the issues with the R9 update (see their response here) and made available a new update (R10) that should fix the issue. Actually the R10 update is more of an oops we screwed up and here is our solution, instead of an update. Now that the R10 update has been released, some accountants on the discussion boards seem to be having similar issues as the R9. One particular issue is the compatibility with earlier versions. We tested the R10 update in our office and noticed that it is not backwards compatible with earlier updates (i.e. R8) as we were not able to open client files from R8. Maybe the update issue is not completely over QuickBooks so there may be some late evenings for all of us trying to fix this problem.
This is just another example of why a cloud based accounting solution may be the best fit for your small business. There are no updates to be done since the software is on the internet and updates are completed at the enterprise level and do not affect your day to day operations. Let me know what you think.
B. N. S.
QuickBooks did however, respond to the issues with the R9 update (see their response here) and made available a new update (R10) that should fix the issue. Actually the R10 update is more of an oops we screwed up and here is our solution, instead of an update. Now that the R10 update has been released, some accountants on the discussion boards seem to be having similar issues as the R9. One particular issue is the compatibility with earlier versions. We tested the R10 update in our office and noticed that it is not backwards compatible with earlier updates (i.e. R8) as we were not able to open client files from R8. Maybe the update issue is not completely over QuickBooks so there may be some late evenings for all of us trying to fix this problem.
This is just another example of why a cloud based accounting solution may be the best fit for your small business. There are no updates to be done since the software is on the internet and updates are completed at the enterprise level and do not affect your day to day operations. Let me know what you think.
B. N. S.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
The 2009 Look Back
With the year coming to an end, I thought this would be a great time to take a look back at some of the major developments that have affected the small business community the past year. This is just a quick review of some of the developments that we have read about and some that we have actually implemented in our firm. One interesting factor that we found was how different regulating bodies define the term small business and how those definitions affect a small business owner’s strategy going into the New Year.
Economy
While the economy has continued to decline for many small business owners, there are quite a few “indicators” that say that the economy is looking up for the small business owner. According to recent posts, the Small Business Administration is attempting to increase the assistance to small business owners and has redefined their definition of what constitutes a small business. The SBA also has a great deal of qualification factors for their financing programs so be sure that your small business will qualify for the programs offered. Since small businesses make up the majority of the economy, until those businesses have access to the necessary capital to expand; the economy for small business owners will continue to lag in 2010.
Taxes
The tax situation for the small business owner can be a strange beast considering there are different strategies that can be applied depending on the size and industry of your small business. Couple the tax code with the state of the economy, and it makes the road to recovery quite rocky for the small business owner. Although there is a great deal of tax incentives out there for small business owners, many are having a hard time implementing them without the help of additional funding. One example is the depreciation deduction. Many small businesses would like to purchase additional equipment and technology, to take the tax break, but without the necessary funding those deductions fall to the wayside.
Technology
Technology can be one of the better developments this past year for the small business owner. With technology changing virtually daily, there is always someone out there introducing a product that can make the small business owner lives run a bit less hectic. This past year there were quite a few introductions in Web 2.0 technologies that can help the small business owner increase their reach and web presence. More and more small businesses are starting to embrace the cloud computing or Software as a Service (SaaS) model as online data storage and software hosting solutions gains in new business. The use of smart phones has continued to see gains as even individuals are starting to use them to organize their personal lives. I personally see the trends in technology to continue to advance at more and more small businesses see the benefits of technology. Right now our firm can update information on social media sites, service accounting clients, and have anytime access to our data from our smart phones and I personally would not have it any other way.
Be sure to post some of your comments about this past year or what you feel will be the driving forces for small businesses in 2010. As for my opinion, I think that if small businesses look for ways to streamline their operations with the use of technology, and think outside the box when it comes to marketing the road to recovery can be a bit smoother in 2010.
B. N. S.
Economy
While the economy has continued to decline for many small business owners, there are quite a few “indicators” that say that the economy is looking up for the small business owner. According to recent posts, the Small Business Administration is attempting to increase the assistance to small business owners and has redefined their definition of what constitutes a small business. The SBA also has a great deal of qualification factors for their financing programs so be sure that your small business will qualify for the programs offered. Since small businesses make up the majority of the economy, until those businesses have access to the necessary capital to expand; the economy for small business owners will continue to lag in 2010.
Taxes
The tax situation for the small business owner can be a strange beast considering there are different strategies that can be applied depending on the size and industry of your small business. Couple the tax code with the state of the economy, and it makes the road to recovery quite rocky for the small business owner. Although there is a great deal of tax incentives out there for small business owners, many are having a hard time implementing them without the help of additional funding. One example is the depreciation deduction. Many small businesses would like to purchase additional equipment and technology, to take the tax break, but without the necessary funding those deductions fall to the wayside.
Technology
Technology can be one of the better developments this past year for the small business owner. With technology changing virtually daily, there is always someone out there introducing a product that can make the small business owner lives run a bit less hectic. This past year there were quite a few introductions in Web 2.0 technologies that can help the small business owner increase their reach and web presence. More and more small businesses are starting to embrace the cloud computing or Software as a Service (SaaS) model as online data storage and software hosting solutions gains in new business. The use of smart phones has continued to see gains as even individuals are starting to use them to organize their personal lives. I personally see the trends in technology to continue to advance at more and more small businesses see the benefits of technology. Right now our firm can update information on social media sites, service accounting clients, and have anytime access to our data from our smart phones and I personally would not have it any other way.
Be sure to post some of your comments about this past year or what you feel will be the driving forces for small businesses in 2010. As for my opinion, I think that if small businesses look for ways to streamline their operations with the use of technology, and think outside the box when it comes to marketing the road to recovery can be a bit smoother in 2010.
B. N. S.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
igot Business Apps
So the iPhone is quickly becoming a viable business technology tool and many small businesses, entrepreneurs, and individuals are beginning to see the many great uses for the smart phone versus the Blackberry. I recently came across an article on PCMag.com that outlines some of the best business apps for the iPhone and a brief description of each app. Some of the apps I have tried and some I am in the process of downloading. I was a bit surprised to see the AT&T virtual receptionist app and was curious why the carrier did not advertise this app a little more when one purchases the iPhone. Oh well. Enjoy reading the article and feel free to comment or post some of your favorite iPhone apps.
B. N. S.
B. N. S.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Software Bowl Championship Series
The end of the college football season is near. This weekend marks the start of the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) selection with the conference championship games beginning. There are a lot of great teams out there that have worked very hard to get to their conference championship games and the day is sure to be a very exciting one. Many of the coaches that have been in the driver’s seat all year have to continue to coach at a high level to ensure that their teams don’t get complacent and think that they are entitled to the champion crown (as I write this post Pitt is beating the favorite Cincinnati).
The same can be said for many of the small business accounting software vendors that are vying for the small business accounting market. Now that Microsoft has withdrawn their offering from the small business accounting market, the major player Intuit’s QuickBooks may feel that the battle is all but won. If I were the head coach for the QB team I would have to tell the troops to hold on one minute and don’t get complacent. There is still a great deal of competition out there (the major competition is Sage’s Peachtree Accounting) and although QB is a great product, they still have problems with executing software updates (see R9 update issues) and compatibility issues with the new Windows 7 operating system.
Makes a small business owner wonder if there is a small business software title that can execute processes virtually flawlessly and not give the small business owner problems every year. I did come across a SaaS product (software as a service) that may provide small business owners with everything they need to operate their business from anywhere and efficiently. I will be test driving the product called WorkingPoint and provide a little more insight into how well it works versus a problematic off the shelf software product. More on that next week but until then back to the football games at hand.
B. N. S.
The same can be said for many of the small business accounting software vendors that are vying for the small business accounting market. Now that Microsoft has withdrawn their offering from the small business accounting market, the major player Intuit’s QuickBooks may feel that the battle is all but won. If I were the head coach for the QB team I would have to tell the troops to hold on one minute and don’t get complacent. There is still a great deal of competition out there (the major competition is Sage’s Peachtree Accounting) and although QB is a great product, they still have problems with executing software updates (see R9 update issues) and compatibility issues with the new Windows 7 operating system.
Makes a small business owner wonder if there is a small business software title that can execute processes virtually flawlessly and not give the small business owner problems every year. I did come across a SaaS product (software as a service) that may provide small business owners with everything they need to operate their business from anywhere and efficiently. I will be test driving the product called WorkingPoint and provide a little more insight into how well it works versus a problematic off the shelf software product. More on that next week but until then back to the football games at hand.
B. N. S.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Cutbacks and Loan Offers
I as was going through my morning reading yesterday I came across two articles that may be good news for many small business owners. The first is hopefully a sign that the small business economy is on the way back to recovering. According to a report by ADP, small businesses are still slashing jobs, but they are at a smaller rate. The economy may be on the rebound for Wall Street, but as unemployment numbers continue to climb, the recovery takes a little more time to affect the small business owner. Since the rate of job cuts for small businesses is going down somewhat, this may be a good sign that small business owners can again be productive in the coming months.
Another article is sure to assist small business owners in the recovery, the only problem is many small business owners don’t even know about this new program. A recent survey by the George S. May International consulting firm indicated that over 75% of small businesses were not aware of the new SBA loan programs that were included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The ARC (American Recovery Captial) loan program allows small businesses deferred payment loans up to $35,000. The only problem is many small businesses had no clue about the program. This may be a good time for those small businesses that need assistance to stop by your local SBA office and investigate securing one of these loans. Now that you know about the loans, there is no reason to miss out on the program.
B. N. S.
Another article is sure to assist small business owners in the recovery, the only problem is many small business owners don’t even know about this new program. A recent survey by the George S. May International consulting firm indicated that over 75% of small businesses were not aware of the new SBA loan programs that were included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The ARC (American Recovery Captial) loan program allows small businesses deferred payment loans up to $35,000. The only problem is many small businesses had no clue about the program. This may be a good time for those small businesses that need assistance to stop by your local SBA office and investigate securing one of these loans. Now that you know about the loans, there is no reason to miss out on the program.
B. N. S.
Monday, November 30, 2009
What I did for vacation
Now that the Thanksgiving holiday is behind us, many people are focused back on work and getting the best deals for the upcoming holiday season. Just before the start of the Thanksgiving holidays’ I had the pleasure of receiving a rather nice gift from Sage, the company that makes the Peachtree Accounting product. I would like to take time out to thank Gia Robinson over at Peachtree for sending me a copy of their Quantum Accountants’ software so that I could make the transition to their product from Microsoft’s Office Accounting. The Peachtree Quantum Accountants Edition is one of the most robust accounting software packages on the market so I was excited about loading it and learning my way around it.
My excitement was quickly changed into frustration since it took me all last week to get the software loaded (finally completed early this am). There were quite a few things that I had to do before I got the software to load and here are some of the problems (with error codes) and solutions that were provided by the Peachtree Users Group on LinkedIn, Peachtree Community, and Microsoft Support.
Error 1628 – This error is caused when the install is interrupted and does not complete. This was the easiest error to fix since the only solution was patience. The installation of Quantum took almost four hours for me so when it appears that the installation is hung, be patient and let it continue to run.
Error 1639 – This error was caused by an invalid command line argument that dealt with a Microsoft Installer problem. The fix for this error was to go to the Microsoft site and download the most recent version of Microsoft Windows Installer. Be sure to download the right version for your operating system.
Operating system issues seemed to have been causing the most problems. My computer was initially updated with Windows Vista SP2 and that proved to be a problem so I downgraded back to Vista SP1. I also had problems with deleting the prior partial installs so I also used Windows Installer Cleanup utility and Revo Uninstaller to clean up the leftover files and registry. There was also a particular file that Revo and Cleanup did not delete and that was an INI file located in C:/Windows that had to be deleted before another install could be completed. After all this was done and I was patient with the clean install, Quantum was finally loaded.
Now I guess I can spend the rest of the day going thru the training CD.
Thanks to all the help I received from Microsoft (Thinesh and Pressanna) and everyone on the LinkedIn Peachtree users group, and Peachtree Community for all your assistance even during the holidays.
B. N. S.
My excitement was quickly changed into frustration since it took me all last week to get the software loaded (finally completed early this am). There were quite a few things that I had to do before I got the software to load and here are some of the problems (with error codes) and solutions that were provided by the Peachtree Users Group on LinkedIn, Peachtree Community, and Microsoft Support.
Error 1628 – This error is caused when the install is interrupted and does not complete. This was the easiest error to fix since the only solution was patience. The installation of Quantum took almost four hours for me so when it appears that the installation is hung, be patient and let it continue to run.
Error 1639 – This error was caused by an invalid command line argument that dealt with a Microsoft Installer problem. The fix for this error was to go to the Microsoft site and download the most recent version of Microsoft Windows Installer. Be sure to download the right version for your operating system.
Operating system issues seemed to have been causing the most problems. My computer was initially updated with Windows Vista SP2 and that proved to be a problem so I downgraded back to Vista SP1. I also had problems with deleting the prior partial installs so I also used Windows Installer Cleanup utility and Revo Uninstaller to clean up the leftover files and registry. There was also a particular file that Revo and Cleanup did not delete and that was an INI file located in C:/Windows that had to be deleted before another install could be completed. After all this was done and I was patient with the clean install, Quantum was finally loaded.
Now I guess I can spend the rest of the day going thru the training CD.
Thanks to all the help I received from Microsoft (Thinesh and Pressanna) and everyone on the LinkedIn Peachtree users group, and Peachtree Community for all your assistance even during the holidays.
B. N. S.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
You Can’t Say That
This morning a friend and business associate of mine sent me an e-mail asking me “have I heard about this”. There was a link attached and it took me to a blog that contained information that many internet marketers really need to know about. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), there are some new guidelines that will be going into affect beginning December 1st that will shake up how advertisers use testimonials, blogs, and celebrity endorsements for the advertising efforts. I did get a chance to do a little research on the FTC site and I read the blog about the switch, and it appears that the new guidelines will make it tough for most advertisers to use any kind of testimonials (or anything else) in their marketing efforts without doing statistical research. Research will be cost intensive for the small business marketer thus many ads will have to pull the testimonials. I am really interested to see how the FTC will enforce the new guidelines and there were already comments on the blog I read of ways to get around the new guidelines.
I would really like to hear some of your thoughts out there in blog land, so be sure to read the new FTC guidelines, and the blog and come to your own conclusions.
B. N. S.
I would really like to hear some of your thoughts out there in blog land, so be sure to read the new FTC guidelines, and the blog and come to your own conclusions.
B. N. S.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Balance Coverage
Recently I have posted a great deal about the versatility of the iPhone and how it can make running a small business easier. Well I came across this new article on the LinkedIn iPhone users group that states that the main feature of the iPhone (the phone) is flawed. I do find it odd that the article is from Cnet UK and not the states. I would greatly like to hear from some of you out there in blog land with iPhones that are having “phone” problems. There have also been some discussions on the LinkedIn group that many have been having problems with dropped calls on their phones. Check out the article and see if you can relate. Personally no problems here (knocking on wood).
B. N. S.
B. N. S.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Get more miles out this app
Small business owners that use an iPhone and are looking for a more tech savvy way to keep track of their mileage may get a kick out of this new app. Tap2Track by Intuit was recently updated on Nov. 5th and can calculate your mileage from starting point to destination using GPS. Once the trip is complete, the app will also e-mail you a copy of the mileage details for your IRS records. Pretty cool huh?
When the app was recently introduced on one of the accounting discussion lists that I belong to, there was a great deal of skepticism from some of the “tech challenged” members citing various IRS rules and Tax Court decisions regarding the use of technology to maintain mileage records. The IRS typically requests that taxpayers maintain a written mileage log for trips and Tap2Track is not written. I personally think that the app will pass the IRS’s test since technology is the way of the future. Just recently the Congress requested that tax preparers who file more than 10 returns must file those returns electronically, so I think small business owners will have no problem using this app for their mileage tracking.
B. N. S.
When the app was recently introduced on one of the accounting discussion lists that I belong to, there was a great deal of skepticism from some of the “tech challenged” members citing various IRS rules and Tax Court decisions regarding the use of technology to maintain mileage records. The IRS typically requests that taxpayers maintain a written mileage log for trips and Tap2Track is not written. I personally think that the app will pass the IRS’s test since technology is the way of the future. Just recently the Congress requested that tax preparers who file more than 10 returns must file those returns electronically, so I think small business owners will have no problem using this app for their mileage tracking.
B. N. S.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Wish List for Home Offices
Are you a small business that operates out of your home? Or maybe you are thinking about starting a small business from your home. If you fall into any of the previous categories, then the article I came across yesterday is for you. Get a little bit of additional insight into what technology tools you will need to make your home office operate efficiently. Personally I was a bit surprised to see that the article did give a little bit or coverage to the new way of working (that I really love)….cloud computing. Be sure to take a look at the technology that is out there now to make your home office operate like a big corporation, but with a smaller budget. Put these on your Christmas lists home business owners.
B. N. S.
B. N. S.
Monday, November 09, 2009
A new tech toy
As many know, I am always looking for technology that can help small business owners and individuals work smarter and not harder and this weekend I came across another remote access tool that may prove to be a jewel for some. The software is called Laplink and it allows secure remote access to your PC’s from anywhere with an internet connection. Another great feature of the software is that the software can be used with any device including smartphones (you know I love that), laptops, and even gaming consoles (Nintendo Wii). Be sure to stop by the Laplink website and check out the screenshots and the interactive tour. Although Laplink does not advertise like the other remote access programs (Gotomypc and Logmein), it may be a viable competitor to the others.
B. N. S.
B. N. S.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Tax updates this week
Last week I had the pleasure to sitting on a panel for the Atlanta Professional Business Network and the topic was taxes and small business. The discussion at one point moved toward the current tax laws and how they will affect the upcoming tax season. Many tax laws were set to expire and as we spoke, Congress was thinking of extending and few. Well the Senate has spoken and here are some of the results:
• The home buyer tax credit was extended and open to additional taxpayers
• Unemployment benefits have been extended
• Net operating losses can be carried back 5 years for 2008 -2009 tax years and,
• Failure to file penalties for S-Corps and partnerships have been increased
Here are just a few of the major tax updates that many taxpayers can use (once the President signs into law on Friday) for the rest of this year and next. Be sure to stop by the IRS site or speak to your tax advisor for more details.
B. N. S.
• The home buyer tax credit was extended and open to additional taxpayers
• Unemployment benefits have been extended
• Net operating losses can be carried back 5 years for 2008 -2009 tax years and,
• Failure to file penalties for S-Corps and partnerships have been increased
Here are just a few of the major tax updates that many taxpayers can use (once the President signs into law on Friday) for the rest of this year and next. Be sure to stop by the IRS site or speak to your tax advisor for more details.
B. N. S.
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