Talking about small business accounting , accounting apps, business management, profits, HST, personal and corporate tax, advantages and disadvantages. The how of business so you can run your business faster, smarter, better and with more profits.
Most business owners debate about taking salary, dividends, draw and so on. In this episode, we talk about how much money to draw at a minimum in a form of salary What to watch our for making draws from the company and section 15 of Income Tax Act (ITA) Also what is your plan, do you plan to count on Canada Pension Plan? .
Eleven Tax Deductions Every Startup Should Know About Specially The Initial Investments It is extremely important for start-ups, entrepreneurs and even business pros to keep track of their business expenses. These expenses will reduce your taxes when it comes to file your personal tax returns (t1) or corporate tax returns (T2). When tax season starts the deductions will help and forms your strategic plans to perform tax planning, maximize tax deductions and minimize tax owing. So here are some categories that already exist. All you must do is take advantage of any or all of the following expenses that apply to your business. Startup Costs Startup costs are the initial costs that you have made. Which includes: Incorporation fees, Franchise fees and purchase of an existing business or assets, Opening your business location, Market research and analysis, Business plans write ups, Marketing and advertising, Employee training, Professional fees, such as lawyers, accountants, Initial travel expenses Website development Assets roll-overs to the business Goodwill Home office expenses SRED (read as SHRED) or SR&ED Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Credit Accelerated CCA Calculations Professional Fees Home Office Home office expenses include almost any of the physical costs of running an office, such as interest mortgage, property taxes, lease costs, utilities, office supplies, cleaning services and internet fees, home phone. However, there are specific rules for you home space to qualify as a legitimate home office. A home office must be a principal place for doing business and a site that you use on a regular basis. To calculate the costs, for some it is very straight forward, for example if WIFI is used for the business significantly then it is 100% expensed however for others, what you need to do is measure the total area of your home and your office. Obtain the percentage for home office, ie, 20% then 20% of your home costs can be expensed. One more note, create a habit of calculating these costs on a monthly basis and sending an expense report to your company/corporation and get reimbursed. To make this easy for our clients, we have created an excel template which includes a lot of possible items that could potentially be used in the business. When they had the data, the spreadsheeted gives them the total and calculates the HST. This practice also creates a great audit trail in case CRA is asking for details of home office expense. Sub-contractor Costs Software Subscription Fees Any software subscription fees that you are using in your business can be written off. For instance, Microsoft, antivirus, QBO fees, Receipt bank fees, google G Suits, … I suggest that you go through your credit card statements and flag fees that you are uncertain and tell us what the fees are for. We will have a look and can tell you if you can claim them or not. Holiday Parties Travel Travels in relation to running, managing, and growing your business is considered tax deductible. I.e., driving to see your accountant, lawyers, marketing expert, going to the bank, post office, network parties, trade shows, seminars … you can also claim the miles you drive to meet clients and for other business purposes. Marketing and Advertising Banking and Interest Expenses
HST is a topic that many entrepreneurs are interested in learning more about, and it's confusing for them. Our host will talk about HST in this new episode of the Numetrica Accounting and Business Podcast. What is HST? HST is a service tax that we charge for our services and products. The number one thing you need to know is there's a threshold. If you ever go over $30,000 in your invoices or product sales, you have to charge HST. Whenever you're registered, you have no choice. Even if you make no sales, you have to report your HST. If you were a startup, you probably paid for some services that you needed to operate your business or open your business. You paid professionals like lawyers, accountants, and you bought equipment. You will get those HST back. The HST that you have paid out is the ITC portion. If you had sent an invoice for $1000, there was $130 of HST. Before your sales were $1,000, your sales were $1130 because that 130 you are not eligible to either pay or collect becomes income—same with your expenses. You paid someone $1,000 for their service, and there was an HST on that. So before, your expense was $1000, but because you were not allowed to pay, your HST becomes $1130. It's extremely important in your business to pay attention to your HST, your payroll, and your business numbers. Examination What they need from you is your ten highest invoices, which you would send to them, your GL listing, that's the list of every HST that you've collected or paid. You get this from your accounting software, and when they review this, hopefully, everything is good, everything matches, everything ties in, they're all legit, so you get your refund. Cash Flows One of the things that I advise clients to set up a savings account. Most banks notice and call it a trust account because you want to park their money there. And the way CRA looks at HST, they would say this is not your money, and this is the money you're collecting on behalf of us. Many people look at that HST as I sent the bill for $1000 and I got $130 HST so my income is $1130. No, your income is $1000. That HST belongs to the federal government or provinces because HST means Harmonized Sales Tax. So the mixed GST and HST portions are provincial, and a portion of it is federal. Register for HST Whenever you register for HST, you get letters from CRA. They'll say thank you for the registry, this is your HST, this is your filing period, and these are your codes. They give you four-digit codes, you put in the four-digit code, and you can file it. HST could be “I just want to make a payment.” The other one is, I'm going to file my HST and I'd make a payment, or one of them would say, I want to make airier payments. The other one is GST payment only, and this basically means this is current, or you could even sit as installments. The other one is HST Return Payment. With this one, you can file and make payments. You probably get three pages of options because there are so many things that corporations can pay to CRA. “Am I supposed to charge HST on this or not?” You can call number 1-800-959-8287. An experienced CRA HST staff answers this, and they're very knowledgeable. You ask them a question; they give you the answer right away because they're the experts in HST. Two methods for HST There's the quick method of HST and the standard or accounting method of HST. Some companies should file on quick method, mostly IT consultants. On the quick method, it says, "I have a few small expenses, but I'm not going to calculate all of this HST." So the CRA will tell you that whatever HST you have is no longer eligible for an ITC. We get 88 percent of the HSC that you collect. You can only claim an ITC if you purchase a capital asset.
How to set up and file your HST and Payroll Source Deduction Via Bank
HST Questions HST for services provided to the US. US State Sales Tax From Canada US State Sales Tax from your Canadian Shopify, Amazon, ...
Where to call to get help with HST beside Numetrica HST Quick Vs Regular method
How to treat HST. You are collecting HST in trust, so set up a separate bank account, save it there, and do not use it as part of your operating expense.
This podcast provides an overview of (Harmonized Sales Tax) HST. What is it? When to register HST Account ? Setting up HST Period, yearly, quarterly, monthly HST Threshold What is ITC Filing HST on line Activating HST Account Can you back date your HST Account Period. What is needed to back date your HST account What happens to your HST collected and paid that falls in the period that you were not registered for HST. HST and Cashflow treatment HST Examinations by CRA.
How and Why to Delegate We all have heard, work on your business not in it. What does it mean? or Delegate. But how and why and which tasks. I'm the only one in the business. In this episode we look at a few philosophy from a few business titans: Peter Drucker William Edwards Deming Wilfried Fritz Pareto Cyril Parkinson Tony Robbins and a bonus Titan - Click the link after :) These guys explained the science behind delegation, which is the key to be more successful. If you have any questions send me an email or visit our website www.numetricacity.ca
Year-end checklist Corporate tax return checklist What is involved in year-end. What is involved in preparing corporate tax return. For more info www.numetricacity.ca
Running a small business is no easy feat by any means. It requires daily effort, vision, and drive, among many other things. But one area where the mastery of small business finds most owners caught between a rock and a hard place is in the financial management of their operations. This area can affect every other facet of their business and make any normal person mad. There are so many things to think about, let alone to manage. Do I hire an accounting services firm to help? Which cloud accounting software is the best for the needs of my business? And that's not all you need to be thinking of with your business. Getting a handle on your business' financial structure and management early on in the life of it has a direct impact on how it fairs in the future. Businesses that start healthy financial management early create far more opportunities for growth and innovation than businesses that fall quickly into financial mismanagement. Keeping your business in a state of thriving and growth is a direct correlation to how you're handling the financial health. Today, we want to dive into some tips and ways you can start mastering your small business by focusing on the financial management of your business. What are your expenses? Knowing where your business' expenses are being allocated is one thing. Knowing where they're actually being spent and in what financial capacity is something more entirely. If you're finding that your monthly budget for your small business is getting tighter every month, or not reconciling consistently, in most cases you need to examine your expenses. Most businesses, especially now, have too much property for what they need. Whether it's the fact that you have way too much warehouse space versus the amount of product you're actually storing, or that you have empty offices with no intention to fill them anytime soon; you have too much real estate. This is a highly common area where most businesses are wasting money. Cutting your expenses is crucial. There are always areas within your budget that can be cut down, and one of the easiest ways to see through the numbers on these areas is by hiring an accounting services firm to help manage and guide you on what expenses are necessary and what ones can go. Don't underprice your products or services If you compete and offer low prices, you may win and lose your business. Too much capital with too little return. Always keep track of the return on your investment. Are you using the best accounting software? Automate and prosper. try varieties of apps that can automate your process.
Learn how to earmark funds from your sales and deposit so that you can actually see where the profit goes, save money for taxes and payroll and pay your expenses.
Here is a discussion with Kaitlin Kirk See it on YouTube for more information visit us at www.numetricacity.ca
What is Cloud Accounting and what it means to your business Cloud accounting meaning for your business. Cloud accounting software works exactly just like the traditional accounting software, only the cloud accounting software just like QuickBooks online is hosted on remote servers of QBO Transaction data is in “the cloud,” where it is processed and returned to the user. All application functions are performed off-site, not on the user's desktop. Which enables you to use the platform from any devise as long as you can log in to QBO. In cloud accounting, users access software applications remotely through the Internet or other network via a cloud application service provider. Using cloud accounting software frees the business from having to install, maintain and upgrade software on individual desktop computers. Cloud accounting solutions also allow employees in other departments, remote or branch offices to access the same data and the same version of the software. Organizational Reporting and Visibility With cloud accounting, it's also easier to get real-time reporting and visibility throughout your organization, with greater mobile capabilities and collaboration. Essential reports can be customized and saved on the software dashboard. Is my financial data secure with cloud accounting? Cloud accounting solutions provide an equally secure (and sometimes even more secure) method of storing financial information than traditional accounting software. For instance, a company computer or laptop with critical financial information could be lost or stolen, which could lead to an information breach. Cloud accounting, however, leaves no trace of financial data on company computers, and access to that data in the cloud is encrypted and password protected. Sharing and storing data is worry free – Hakuna Mattata. With cloud accounting, two people simply need access rights to the same system with their unique passwords. Traditional methods often require flash drives to transport data, which could be lost or stolen. Lastly, cloud providers usually have backup servers in two or more locations. Should one server network go down, you still have access to your data. Information kept just on-premises could be destroyed or damaged in a fire or natural disaster, and may never be recovered. Streamline, simplify, and automate your financial operations on the QuickBooks Online platform which gives you a flexible general ledger, automated billing processes, and brilliant intelligence all in one place. Is Cloud Accounting more cost effective? Yes, of course, companies that use cloud accounting require less initial server infrastructure to store data, and IT staff is not required to maintain it or update the cloud accounting system. Fewer overhead expenses and no new software purchases mean greater savings for business. Advantages: Faster, Better, Smarter, Easier This is the part that is neglected when we compare cloud vs earth software – Apps. There are so many great apps available which specialize on streamlining at least one function. Just like DEXT (Receipt Bank), T sheets, Invoice Sherpa, Wagepoint, Dropbox. These apps over time save business a lot of hours, eliminate human errors, make automatic process, provide more control, more accuracy and allows business to accomplish way more and also get more reports. Final Thoughts: Cloud accounting is a must have tool if you want to save time and grow your business.
You must use this app and never worry again about getting a call for CRA.
Businesses fail when they don't manage their cash flow and have no disciplines.
CFOs are not just for big businesses. Small business can have and must have CFOs. Of course, CFOs are expensive however, best to get hire them on a part time, ie, once a week, 2 weeks, and so on. They will hold your business accountable to be profitable, cut unnecessary expenses, monitor your growth and so . What is virtual CFO? Virtual CFO is the acronym for virtual chief financial officer. A virtual CFO is a CFO consultant offering high skill assistance in financial reporting and insights of an organization, just like a chief financial officer does for large organizations. Why You Need a Virtual CFO? Virtual CFO give your business an edge over competition. Small business can't afford having a full time CFO. Get huge experience behind your business. Virtual CFO you the best advise and tools to make better business decisions. 10 benefits of having a Virtual CFO Flexible Experience Accounting professional Solves complex problems. Insightful Reporting Technical know how Strategist See results fast How much does a virtual CFO cost? On average about $1500 per week
A lot of people wonder if they should. I'll give you a few reason why you should. Also you must be a serious entrepreneur.
What Do You Need To Start A Business You need to have a few skills before you run a business. One of them is accounting. In this video we will talk about a few points.
Learn how you can manage your business cash flow.
How to save more time with T Sheets, now QuickBooks Time Simply, T sheets keeps track of employees work hours. It has a few great features. 1) where and when the employee started working. This is great if you are sending your staff to different locations and you are not there to see when they started their work 2) Verify the employee. T-sheet kiosk can take a picture of the employee at the sign in time. 3) keeps track of lunch and breaks 4) keeps track of sick days 5) Keep track of hours worked by projects, so you know how much time you are spending on each client. On web, on application and time clock 6) Scheduling can be easily implemented in T-Sheets/QB Time 7) reports hours worked to QBO payroll after your approve them. So forget about keeping track of working hours in paper or spreadsheet If you have a few employees and each report their time by an hour of so difference, you are bleeding cash example, 10 employee rounding their hours of work by 30 minutes per day. so 10 employees, 30 minutes = 300 minutes per day 25 days of work = 25 X 300 = 7,500 minutes 7,500 divided by 60 = 125 hours per month 125 hours X $20 = $2,500 per month $30,000 per year This will be saved plus all the hassle of keeping track of the hours. Save time, save money.
In this episode we talk about a must have app which integrates with QBO. This app takes image of invoices, saved them for 10 years and also posts them to QBO. Isn't this amazing?
In this episode we talk about how cloud accounting can transform your business. Making it better, faster, smarter. Cloud Accounting Benefits In a nutshell, cloud accounting provides time, delivers supports, focus business resulting in more sales. Cloud accounting provides time needed to better focus on business. Cloud accounting can provide the edge or the time that you need to focus on your business and blasts your sales. If you are looking for the most effective way to process your business financial transactions, you ought to be using cloud accounting system. The cloud is basically a term for using online/internet tools. I think cloud accounting is one of the best practical tools for processing and storing data. Information is practically at your fingertips especially if you are using your smart phones and iPADs. Accessibility Reach your data anytime you want, as long as you have an internet connection and an internet connected device to use. Cloud accounting allows you to work even from the comfort of your own home, using your iPAD, Iphone, laptop, … On demand Financial Reporting Financial data will link to your cloud accounting software, so press update or reports and it is ready. This is so convenient, you can get daily reports, you can also pay your bills, create and send invoice and collect money. The hours that you will save can translate to enormous benefits. Accurate Data Human data entry errors are eliminated since data is coming from its source the bank. No more, entering each cheque into the system data is imported in a few seconds. Again, this adds some much time back in to your business where you can focus on expanding or running your business. Collaboration Add other users to access and edit information such as us. We work with our clients and helped them organize the data even more. Cost effective Some software is even free! Such as Wave. QuickBooks online can be purchased on a small monthly fees. We like them both. The fees are based on a monthly plan, in our case, we pay for some of our clients' subscription fees since we can get these licenses at a wholesale price. Secure A lot of people have concerns about their data being in the clouds. The way I see it, they are better and more protected on for example Quickbooks Online servers than business owners' computers. Software providers can afford to add extra security to protect clients' data. Upgrades and maintenance Cloud based software are maintained and upgraded while they are being hosted on the provider platform. So there is no need to get a patch or installing a new upgrade. Final thoughts If you need more time to run your business, choose cloud accounting. Cloud accounting solution is cost effective, easy to use, accessible, secure and friendly. We have recommended many of our clients in Ottawa to convert and integrate their data into a cloud accounting software. Your payroll can also go through this method or simply the cloud accounting can also work with payroll service providers.