DIY Your Business Taxes

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Taxes can certainly seem scary and intimidating. The tax code is constantly changing, and there are always exceptions to the exceptions. However, online tax programs like TurboTax are up-to-date on all the ins and outs of the tax code. They know which questions to ask you to complete your taxes accurately and with the biggest refund possible.

If you have been filing your federal 1040 tax return yourself, but this year you started a business, you may be thinking that there is no way you can file your federal tax return yourself. That is not necessarily true.

When you are a sole proprietor or a single-member LLC, the only change to your usual federal 1040 tax return is adding Schedule C for your business. Schedule C is generally one page of information about your business income and expenses.

If you have been keeping up with your bookkeeping all year, and you use a program like TurboTax to help, continuing to file your own taxes is likely doable.

In this video, I walk you through using TurboTax to input the information you need into your Schedule C.

Just because these suggestions may save you hassle and money, it doesn’t mean you should necessarily do them all. Sometimes it’s worth the complications to earn more money. Do what’s right for your business overall!

Small Business Updates and Tools

1099 Tips

Sometimes it’s difficult to know which 1099s you should be expecting, and therefore, if you should be hunting for digital copies on a website or waiting for a paper copy.

• You should receive a 1099-K from any third-party payment processor if you had sales in excess of $20k or 200 transactions. Third-party payment processors include Etsy, Amazon, PayPal, Stripe, Square, QuickBooks Payments, etc.
• You should receive a 1099-NEC if you had affiliate income in excess of $600.
• You should receive a 1099-NEC if you were a contractor for another business and were paid via check or ACH in excess of $600.
• You should receive a 1099-Misc if you had book royalties in excess of $10.

Where To Find Your Digital 1099s

Amazon Affiliate Income - To access a digital copy of your form, please follow these steps.

1. Login to Amazon Associates
2. Hover over your email address displayed in the top right corner, and select Account Settings.
3. Scroll down to Payment and Tax Information
4. Click on Find Forms at the bottom of the page.
5. Download the applicable forms.

Amazon Seller Central - You can find your form in your seller account. Make sure you are signed in as the primary user. Only the primary user can access forms in the Tax Document Library.

From the Reports section, select Tax Document Library, followed by the appropriate year, and then Form 1099-K.

Note: If you sell in any of Amazon’s non-US stores and have reached the transactional thresholds required to generate a Form 1099-K, you can find those forms in the Tax Central Tax Dashboard. Click the Tax Dashboard tab, and then click Find Forms. Please note the Amazon 1099-K is two pages long, and you need both pages.

Etsy Seller - Go to Finances, Legal & Tax. Scroll down to the Your Tax Year section. When it is available, there will be a box on the right to download your 1099-K.

PayPal - From the top menu go to Activities, and under the Reports section, select Tax Documents.

Shopify - Store owners can download a copy of the 1099-K in the payments section of the Shopify admin.

Square - Download from the Tax Forms section of your Square dashboard.

Stripe - Click on the Settings gear in the upper right corner. In the Business Settings section, you will see a link to Documents.

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On a Personal Note

My oldest daughter is a member of her school's swim team and is wrapping up an exciting season. One of her teammates has broken about half of the school records this year and has qualified for the regional championship in every event but one. It’s fun to cheer for such a humble and sweet young athlete.

Talk soon!

Sarah