19 of the Best Tax Filing Resources for Startups & Small Businesses

Like most of today’s business owners, you probably don’t spend a lot of time sifting through the IRS’s website for tax-saving tips. But chances are, unless you’re already a CPA, you still have a lot to learn about saving your business money on taxes.

If you’re already using a software like Quickbooks or Xero or even have an accountant or bookkeeper throughout the year, you’re off to a good start. But when tax season rolls around, those who don’t have a back-office solution that includes tax preparation and filing (like indinero) there’s more to be done to maximize your deductions, protect yourself from painful penalties, and achieve ultimate tax-filing efficiency.

Social Sharing Image: 19 of the Best Tax Filing Resources for Startups and Small Businesses

Below you’ll find a list of indinero resources I’ve curated based on reader feedback, the number of shares, and general website analytics that indicate entreprneuers out there are finding them especially useful. I’ve included descriptions to provide a full picture of what each resource focuses on so you can determine what will be the most helpful for you as you journey into tax season or start prepping your business’s strategy for ultimate savings in years to come. Enjoy!

For your business’s most efficient tax filing season, download our free 3-piece business tax pack here.

Use These Helpful Resources to Prepare Your Business for Filing Taxes:

1) 92 Tax Deductions Every Small Business Should Know About

If you’ve ever dug through IRS.gov looking for an answer to your question, you probably realized that they aren’t ones for cutting to the chase. You also may have noticed that when it comes to finding a comprehensive, straightforward list of tax deductions for small businesses, the IRS is pretty darn silent. So, instead of putting you through hours of hunting, we’ve done it for you and uncovered 92 potential small business tax deductions—and 11 that you shouldn’t even think about claiming.

Read More: Which ones has your business been missing out on?

2) Research and Development Tax Credit Playbook for Startups

As long as your expenses are related to developing new products and technology, it’s likely you’re eligible for the R&D tax credit. Because today’s startups are typically focused on creating their own niches or finding original solutions to old problems, they are in an excellent position to take advantage of these tax credits. Use this post to learn more about the credit and consult the bonus guide to start claiming your business’s activities!

Download the Business Owner’s Manual to Claiming the Research & Experimentation Tax Credit

3) Build Your Own 2018 Business Tax Calendar

Even the busiest business owner can say on top of their taxes when they know what’s coming their way! Add the relevant dates in this infographic timeline to your calendar, so you can be the king or queen of compliance all year round. Your business will be in great shape with the IRS!

Grab your calendar & pencil in these key dates and deadlines.

4) Sales Tax Fundamentals for Businesses Who Sell Online

In this guest post from Mark Faggiano, founder & CEO of TaxJar, he explains how eCommerce businesses can successfully navigate the sales tax landscape. Learn how to determine the sales tax actions your online retail business is responsible for so you can avoid paying penalties and facing other consequences.

Read More: And don’t forget to file your sales tax return!

5) The Entrepreneur’s Business Tax Pack [3-Piece Resource Kit]

Download the Entrepreneur’s Tax Pack to get your business ready for tax season. The full pack includes:

  • [Checklist] Getting Your Books in Shape for Taxes—This handy checklist guides you to the financial reports you’ll need to file your taxes and claim your deductions. Huge time saver!
  • [Guide] Tax-Savings Strategies for Entrepreneurs—30 pages of essential information on filing deadlines, how to avoid penalties, retirement plans, and the home office deduction
  • [Workbook] Fill Before You File—Use this workbook to organize your data so your tax preparer can help you avoid potentially painful fees and penalties.

Get your pack here

6) Should You File a Business Tax Extension This Year?

There’s plenty of perfectly acceptable reasons you might need to extend your taxes. For the record, the indinero tax team understands: “Extensions are a regular and often necessary part of filing taxes because they allow business owners additional time to gather and organize their tax return information, and ensure that there is adequate time for tax return preparation.” This article will help you weigh the pros and cons of electing the tax extension for your business.

Is the extension right for your business?

7) 3 Pricey Tax Penalties Any Small Business Can Avoid

This probably doesn’t come as a huge shock, but one of the most common questions we get from business owners is about saving money on taxes. The good news is, there are lots of ways for small businesses to lower their tax obligations. And while some do require more legwork than others, three of the most common tax penalties are also the easiest to avoid:

Look here for deadlines!

8) 8 Small Business Tax Deductions You Don’t Want to Miss

Identifying tax deductions can be quite taxing for people who do it themselves. If you’re an indinero client – we do it for you, but whether you file your annual tax returns yourself or hire a professional, here are eight tax deductions that are definitely worth looking into for your small business or startup:

Read More: Could you be saving your business money with one of these deductions?

9) What to do if You Commingle Personal and Business Funds

Did you use business funds to pay for personal expenses? According to the IRS, personal expenses are not eligible business expenses deductible against taxable income. So, if you were to try to claim your personal spending as expenses on your business’s tax return it would raise some major red flags with all tax authorities and leave you susceptible to an audit. This post goes over what you can do to un-commingle a snafu transaction and avoid issues when it comes time to file:

Read More: A step-by-step guide to un-mingling personal expenses from your business’s books

10) Our CPAs Answer Your Top Burning Tax Questions

Early on in 2016, indinero and Trinet decided to put their heads—and Twitter followers—together to see what burning questions small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) have about tax season. We received a wide array of questions from what types of insurance you can and cannot write-off on your taxes to strategies for anticipating and planning tax-related fees from activities that arise over the course of a year. From there, indinero’s tax experts we happy to dive in and explain the overall concepts, best practices, and next steps business owners should know:

Read More: See which questions we received (were they questions you would ask too?) and the answers straight from our CPAs.

11) Avoid the Tax Penalty: Converting Your Business From LLC to C-Corp

Converting your LLC to a C-Corp can be a complicated process but, for the right business, should ultimately be worth the paperwork, legal fees, and extra taxes… And that last worthwhile task is exactly where some business owners drop the ball. It’s all too common that business owners don’t file a tax return after converting their company from an LLC to a C-Corp. Here’s why that happens and how to avoid the issue altogether if you decide to make that switch.

Read More: Don’t let tax penalties happen to your business.

12) The Socially Responsible Way to Save on Small Business Taxes

Making charitable donations is a chance to intertwine your business’s tax strategy and its responsibility to give back to its community. While your organization should feel encouraged to give back in many different ways, here are a few giving strategies that you can help lower your tax liability for the year:

Read More: How do you plan on giving back?

13) How to Choose Your Small Business Entity

Nearly all first-time business owners have to decide what type of business entity their company should incorporate as. This choice isn’t always straightforward and there can be many opinions from investors, partners, shareholders to take into consideration. This article goes over the different types of small business entities—including the tax implications and strategies each one entails—so you can identify which option makes the most sense for the business in the long term and its interested parties.

Read More: Understand your entity options.

14) Filing U.S. Business Taxes with Foreign Business Activities

The IRS exists to keep track the revenue individuals and companies spend and receive across the United States. This can get especially tricky for taxpayers that have international relations where funds could potentially go unaccounted for—which has been known to happen intentionally. Because of this, the IRS exerts extra energy toward documenting all foreign transactions and is quick to punish anyone caught manipulating their numbers with overseas accounts and transactions.

This article explains the various types of foreign dealings organizations will need to be aware of for tax purposes as well as the filing actions your business must take to stay in compliance:

Read More: If your business has foreign accounts, shareholders, subsidiaries, or other dealings, make sure you consult this article.

15) Paying Your Future Self to Save on Business Taxes Now

Would you rather save on business taxes OR fund a comfortable retirement? This article is here to tell you that, as a business owner you can do both! See the pros and cons of different options business owners have for saving for the future while also lowering their current taxable income and filing responsibilities.

Read More: It pays to save! Build your nest egg AND reduce your business taxes.

16) What Businesses Should Know About K-1 Forms Before They File Taxes

If your business is a Partnerships or S Corporation, you’re required to issue K-1 forms to your partners and shareholders or pay the hefty, compounding price. As a passthrough entity, the K-1 is what those stakeholders will use when filing their individual tax returns (they’ll need to know what income or losses to claim on their 1040). This article digs in more about when and how to issue these forms each year:

Read More: Even if your LLC or S Corp is operating at a loss (or breaking even!) your business is still required to issue K-1s.

17) Finding and Filing the Right Forms for Your Business Taxes

When it comes to filing taxes as a business, knowing which forms you’re required to file is half the battle (the other half is paying on time!). Follow the guidelines in this article to find which forms are right for your business and will help you avoid fees and penalties.

Read More: Because no one has time to fill out the WRONG forms…

18) What Small Businesses Can Do Now to Save Time & Money on Taxes

Surprisingly, most entrepreneurs aren’t too quick to complain about paying business taxes as they are about the actual administrative burden of managing and filing them. In this article, we let you in on a few secret ways to streamline the process of working with your CPA to file business taxes AND maximize your savings. A major win-win!

Read More: And get your focus back on growing your business.

19) 4 Things You Need to Know to Write Off Your Home Office

With so many of us true entrepreneurs running side businesses and full-time jobs out of our personal dwellings, the home office deduction is a tax saver you don’t want to miss out on!

While this will allow you to turn what were once living expenses into business tax savings, it should not be seen as a privilege to abuse. Here are four steps you need to keep in mind before you write off your home office:

Read More: Saving money on taxes means never feeling ashamed to work in your bunny slippers!



Which of these resources have you found most helpful? Do you have other tips or resources to share?

As always, let us know in the comments!

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Quick Note: This article is provided for informational purposes only, and is not legal, financial, accounting, or tax advice. You should consult appropriate professionals for advice on your specific situation. indinero assumes no liability for actions taken in reliance upon the information contained herein.