Accountant Billings MT, Accounting, Billings Best Tax Preparation, Bookkeeper Billings MT, Financial Planning Billings MT, Payroll Services Billings MT, practical taxes billings mt

Enhancing Your Visibility as a Business

Every business needs to get their name out there. Without visibility you don’t have clients. Without clients you don’t have an income. Without an income, well why are you even in business in the first place? The business world is constantly changing. And you need to stay on top of things or else you will be left with nothing but Yellow Pages ads in a world where Google search engine rankings are all that anyone cares about. If you want to maintain a viable player in your field, follow these tips set forth by your accountant in Billings, MT.

Becoming More Visible as a Business

There are a number of different ways to spread your name around. They are more than just advertising, and you can’t just pick one. You need to keep at the top of your game across multiple methods. Here are a few that have great success.

Google – There are two ways to get to the top of Google. You can pay for an AdWords campaign to put your website at the top of the list when people search for specific keywords. Most of the time people skip right by these ads. The alternative is to organically build your site to be search engine optimized. This includes a lot of content, and some other SEO techniques.

Pay Per Click – You need exposure. One way to do that is to set up a pay-per-click ad campaign targeting local site. Your local news sites will host your ad, but you only ever pay if someone actually clicks on your ad. This drives traffic to you website, and hopefully results in paying clients. You need a great website to convert those visitors to clients.

Media – Many businesses will benefit immensely from media advertising. This is printed ads in the paper, radio spots, TV commercials, and more. These ads are not for everyone, but they can benefit certain businesses immensely.

Networking – One word that many professionals hate is networking. But if you get into the right networking group, you will be rewarded greatly. For instance, Biz to Biz is a fantastic way to generate leads and pass referrals.

Partnering – Some businesses will benefit greatly by partnering with related businesses. For instance, if you are a graphic designer, you may benefit by partnering with a marketing company. You take your information to that company, and the next time they have overflow work, they push it your way. It’s a win-win for both of you.

Online Reviews –Something under-utilized, especially here in Billings, are Google reviews. Every time you have a satisfied customer, give them a card with your information and ask them to write a review for you on Google. You can offer small bribes such as a free coffee to a local kiosk to get a better response rate.

Outsourcing the Right Parts of your Business

Because you are a busy professional, you likely don’t want to take the time to make sure that your business is getting the right visibility. This is where it is important to outsource certain aspects. For instance, how many hours per month do you spend on payroll services? That is something your accountant in Billings, MT can do so you can focus on running your business. Outsourcing your marketing to the professionals is not only easier, but gets dramatically better results. A highly visible business is a profitable business. Where are you lacking?

Practical Taxes is a full service accounting firm in Billings, MT. If you need help with your bookkeeping, online payroll services, business consultation, or just simple tax preparation, we are here to help. Call us today at 406-894-2050 to learn more about how we can help you.

October 1, 2018/4 Comments/by admin

Accountant Billings MT, Accounting, Billings Best Tax Preparation, Bookkeeper Billings MT, Payroll Services Billings MT, Tax Preparation Billings MT, Tax Tips Billings MT

Becoming More Efficient in Your Business

Running a business is all about efficiency. Without certain systems in place, you will never be able to accomplish all that you need to get done. For example, if you simply have too much work to get done, then you will need to hire employees. Of course with those employees comes a whole host of other problems that need to be resolved such as payroll, bookkeeping, and many more. You can do all of those yourself, or you can put a system in place to accomplish those tasks for you. Your payroll services specialist in Billings, Montana explains how.

Becoming More Efficient

Peter Drucker, the late business consultant and educator, once said, “Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.” These words have never been truer, especially in today’s world where often business owners try to take on everything rather than delegating and simplifying.

Eliminate – There are many things that business owners simply don’t have to do. But for some reason, perhaps it’s because they want to make sure that everything gets done properly, they do them anyway. For instance, there are a lot of business owners out there that feel they need to incorporate every form of marketing available.

So they stress and worry about their radio ads, billboards, TV ads, internet marketing, and social media marketing. In today’s world, they could easily eliminate three or more of those forms of marketing, and still make just as much of an impression on the community.

Delegate – If you have employees, then you are already delegating. Whenever there is a task that can be done by someone else, you can help alleviate some of the stress by delegating that task to someone else.

Most of us delegate already. We ask our connections on Facebook for advice, we have employees help us, and we have our accountant run our payroll and our bookkeeping. Any time that you can have someone else do the work, it is usually better to have them do the work.

Simplify – Sometimes you just need to simplify your work. Instead of having an elaborately designed 10 page color catalog that nobody ever reads, have a 1 page flyer instead. But as we referred to above, if the work doesn’t need to be done, then simplifying isn’t going to make you more efficient.

That is why we always ask first, “can this be eliminated?” and then, “can this be delegated?” and finally, “can this be simplified?”

Practical Taxes Can Help

In your quest for maximum efficiency, Practical Taxes can help alleviate the burden that you feel. If you have employees, and you are still writing paychecks every two weeks, delegate that to us. If you are slogging your way through bookkeeping every months, delegate that to us.

If you are trying to file your taxes quarterly and are frustrated beyond belief, delegate that to us. As a full service accounting firm in Billings, Montana, we can take a lot of the pressure off of you so that you can better run your business.

August 21, 2018/1 Comment/by admin

Accounting

5 Time Saving Tricks You Aren’t Using

It happens to the best of us. There are simply not enough hours in the day to maximize our productivity. In the end we have to move a good portion of our to-do list from one week to the next; a seemingly endless battle to have everything cleared from our schedule. If you can relate, then this post is for you. You need to incorporate some of these time saving tips into your work life, and for once go home at the end of the day feeling like you have accomplished all that needs to be accomplished. Keep reading as your accountant and payroll services expert in Billings, Montana explains what you need to know.

Make a Schedule

You might be saying that you already have a schedule, but I can assure you that not many have a schedule like the one needed to be highly productive. This schedule includes EVERYTHING. Monday to Friday your schedule dictates when you wake up, when you eat, how long you get for your shower, all the way down to bathroom breaks. A highly structured person is a highly efficient person.

The caveat here is that it is going to take you several weeks to perfect your schedule. Things will change and need tweaking, but if you have everything on your schedule, including not only when but also what you eat for breakfast, you will see productivity soar.

Learn to Say “No”

We hear this often, but we continue to ignore this advice. There comes a point in our lives, whether work or personal, that we just need to say “No.” It can be extra work, lunch with a friend or co-worker, dinner out, that ski vacation that you really don’t want to go on but you feel bad because your friend from college wants to keep in touch but you couldn’t even stand him when you were roommates so why would you want to go skiing with him and his family… you get the idea.

Practice this one. The next time another project comes across your desk, politely decline and say you already have a full plate. If your services are valuable the person will either wait, or offer to pay more.

Turn Off the Internet

Most of us think that the internet is required for our job. In some cases it is, but in most cases we can get by without it for an hour or two. Want to increase your productivity? Just reach over and unplug the router. This also means no checking your Facebook on your phone either. Disconnected is always disconnected.

Delegate

Passing work off to someone else is one of the greatest joys in life. You have a ton on your plate, and having someone else take part of the workload will make you feel almost guilty, as though you aren’t working hard enough. Don’t be fooled; you are.

Even if you don’t have employees you can still delegate. There are plenty of companies out there that will do one-time odd jobs for you (such as running errands that consume a ton of your time), and there are virtual assistants that will work for $8 per hour on those tasks that just eat up your time.

Take More Breaks

It may seem counter-intuitive, but taking breaks will actually increase your productivity and save time. Think of it like this: you get your mind working on a project and keep the train of thought until that task is done. Switching over to a new train of thought takes time, and if you don’t do something to take your mind off the previous task, you have trouble getting started on the next one. These breaks should be scheduled into your day, and they should be 5-10 minutes to get a cup of coffee and stare out the window. Maybe click “LIKE” on the funny picture your cousin just posted.

Practical Taxes Can Help

About those tasks that you just need to delegate out; that is where we come in. You can do your taxes on your own, or do your own payroll, and do all your own bookkeeping. But why would you? Instead let a full service accounting firm in Billings, Montana do the hard stuff for you. This time saving tip alone will clear you up to focus on what you do best: run your business.

July 4, 2018/1 Comment/by admin

Accountant Billings MT, Accounting, Bookkeeper Billings MT, Financial Planning Billings MT, Payroll Services Billings MT, Tax Preparation Billings MT, Tax Tips Billings MT

Three Ways to Run a Better Business

If you are a business owner then you are always on the lookout for how to run a better business. You want to have a clean and fluid business that can operate without you. You want to be able to take a vacation and know that when you return, there won’t be a pile of work for you to get done. But you wonder how can that can even happen? You’re scraping by now and can only dream of those days.

It all starts with taking small steps. Let your accountant in Billings, MT explain the three steps it takes to run a better business.

Invest in Your Presence

There are two different types of marketing out there: branding and marketing. Branding is letting people know who you are; marketing is letting people know what you sell. Many businesses skip the first step, and jump right into the second step.

Before you can sell a product to your customer, your customer needs to be familiar with your face. Let’s look at it this way. You need life insurance and the only two companies that you can find are MET Life and XYZ Financial. You have seen the Snoopy commercials, you know “Get MET, it Pays”, and you’re familiar with the brand. XYZ Financial says they offer a premium product for 20% less than MET Life offers. Who do you choose? Most people will go with MET because they trust the brand (although they know nothing about the brand other than they have heard the name often).

As a business owner, you want your name to become a household name (Coca-Cola, Kleenex, Apple, Toyota, etc.). When people already know your name, then they will be more likely to buy your product.

Sell to Your Customer; Not to You

A good sales person knows this rule of sales: make it all about the customer. Don’t tell them what you have to offer, tell them how you can solve their problem.

Often we hear sales pitches that go like this: “We have the best product on the market. Through years of research and development, we have developed a product that blows away the competition. Our product is ranked better than 98% of all others out there, and our sales show that we are the best!”

Nobody cares. The customer wants to hear a pitch like this: “Are you tired of [xyz]? 98% of our customers report that [product name] has helped them. Don’t suffer any more, try us today. If it doesn’t work out, we have a money back guarantee.”

See the difference? The first pitch is all about how great the product is. The second is all about how the product helps the customer.

Meet the customer’s needs, and the sale will make itself.

Get Organized

One of the biggest business killers is lack of organization. If you want to run a better business, you have to invest time (every single day) into staying organized. Doing so will help ensure that you will remember to reply to all of those emails, return phone calls, and get everything done.

Look at it like this. Suppose you remain unorganized. Every morning, before you get any work done, you have to spend an hour remembering where you left off the day before, figuring out what project you are working on, and de-cluttering your desk. Now let’s suppose you spend 15 minutes at the end of every day organizing for the following day. Now you have that entire hour at the beginning of the day (when you are fresh and thinking clearly), to get as much accomplished as possible. You can run a better business with ease because you gave yourself a boost.

Let Practical Taxes help you Run a Better Business

As a business owner, you have a lot on your plate. You have work to do, prospects to follow up with, and phone calls to return. The last thing that you want to do is worry about your taxes and payroll. Don’t muddle through doing your own taxes, leave them to us!

We offer affordable tax preparation services here in Billings, MT. We spend our time on your taxes, so you can spend your time learning how to run a better business.

May 25, 2018/1 Comment/by admin

Accountant Billings MT, Accounting, Bookkeeper Billings MT, Financial Planning Billings MT

Estate Taxes vs. Inheritance Taxes

Estate taxes are often referred to as death taxes. It seems that no matter what is going on, the government wants to get a piece of the pie. So when you pass away, if you have a large enough estate, there may be taxes that are owed. On top of that, there are inheritance taxes to be worried about. So how do you know the difference, how much you will owe, and what to plan for? Keep reading as Practical Taxes, your accountant in Billings, explains the difference between estate taxes, inheritance taxes, and who needs to worry about them.

Federal Estate Taxes

A few years ago, understanding estate taxes was a pain. There was a set amount that would be excluded, and that number stayed the same for a decade. After 10 years it needed to be adjusted for inflation, but congress was trying to decide what to do. There was a fear that it would reset, and anyone that died during the reset period would be subject to massive taxes.

Fortunately that has been figured out, and the estate tax exclusion now adjusts annually. For tax year 2015, your assets can total $5.43 million before you owe taxes. That means if your assets total $5.45 million, you only owe federal estate taxes on $20,000. Current estate tax rates are between 35% and 45% depending on your situation.

If you are fortunate to have an estate larger than the exclusion, and thus you will have to worry about the taxes, pay attention to the name of the tax. Estate taxes are paid by the estate before money is distributed to the heirs. The government doesn’t care if those assets are tied up in real estate either. The estate will have to raise the money any way possible to pay the tax.

State Inheritance Taxes

Fortunately there are only 15 states (and D.C.) that have an inheritance tax. Montana is not one of them. But in case you have two residences, pay attention.

State inheritance tax varies by state. There are different exclusions, different tax rates, and different provisions. Since Montana isn’t included, we won’t go into any details; but we can discuss it with you if your situation calls for it.

Just as estate taxes are paid by the estate, inheritance taxes are paid by the heir.

How to Avoid Estate Taxes

There are a couple of ways to avoid estate taxes. One involves reducing the size of your estate, the other actually involves increasing the size.

Reducing the size of your estate – The only true way to completely avoid estate taxes is to have an estate smaller than the exclusion of $5.43 million. However, rapidly reducing your estate is tough since you can only give away a certain amount every year. You can give $14,000 each year to anyone and avoid gift taxes. So if you have 10 grandkids, you can move $140,000 out to UGMA or UTMA accounts. You can move money out by donating to charity, or setting up an ILIT.

Increasing the size of your estate – Moving money into an ILIT will actually increase the size of your estate. Let’s suppose your estate is worth $6 million. You start an ILIT (the trust owns the insurance, the estate is the beneficiary) and give the trust $14,000 per year to pay the premiums. Suppose the death benefit is $4 million, your estate (at the time of your death) will be worth $10 million. The benefit here is that even though you owe taxes on the additional value; it is all paid with liquid money that comes from the life insurance.

Let Practical Taxes Help with Your Estate Planning

If you have estate planning needs, Practical Taxes can help. We can work closely with your attorney, your financial advisor, and you to draw up these plans. We will help you plan for your estate taxes, or help you avoid them if we can legally make it happen.

If you don’t have estate tax issues, we offer affordable tax preparation services in Billings. Give us a call at 406-894-2050 to learn more and to schedule your appointment.

May 15, 2018/2 Comments/by admin

Accountant Billings MT, Accounting, Bookkeeper Billings MT

Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is vital to any business. Everything a business does financially should be recorded for official record. Tax records, financial statements, receipts of purchase, and ledgers should be organized and stored. Record keeping is vital to business success, and here are a few reasons why.

Audit

No one likes an audit. But the more prepared you are for an audit the better. If you have all of your financial documents in one place, an audit goes quick and easy. Oftentimes, what gets audited are small discrepancies that diligent bookkeeping can, hopefully, clear up easily. An audit takes your attention away from your business, and causes unneeded anxieties and stress. If you do get audited, the IRS will request all of your applicable records, so make sure that you have everything ready to show them.

Deductions

Tax deductions are important. At tax time, it’s important that every dollar your business spends, gets noted at the end of the year. Each and every dollar counts. This applies to businesses as much as it does to individuals. Keep track of every receipt! If the IRS ever questions an expense, you will have the evidence to back it up!

Tax Time!

At tax time, you will have all the required paperwork ready. If your books are well kept, up to date, then everything at tax time should go quick and easy. You don’t want to have to scramble at the end of the year for all of you tax documents.

If you have any questions as to how to keep diligent books, or would like the assistance of a qualified accounting and tax professional, then Practical Taxes is here to help. At the end of the day, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone qualified have your back? Wouldn’t it be beneficial at the end of the year to have your business in the hands of the reliable services of a tax professional who understands your business’s needs? Practical Taxes is ready to help, and can customize accounting services to fit all your needs. Call today to schedule an appointment.

October 6, 2017/100 Comments/by admin

Accountant Billings MT, Accounting, Billings Best Tax Preparation, Payroll Services Billings MT

Marketing

If you own a small business, you know just how important the standard tax write-off is. What you may not know is that marketing costs are win-win write-offs for every small business. Every small business needs to standout, meaning that every small business should be doing everything in their power to get out their name and then to keep their name in their local community (or local online community—i.e. Etsy). And the expense that comes from marketing a business is directly related to a future write-off on your taxes. Now, this isn’t to say that everything you do will lead to a write-off. The IRS believes that all tax write-offs should be reasonable in amount, and directly related to your business (How it’s related could bristle the hairs on the back of an IRS agent’s neck). Here are few ways to market your business that make for simple, straight-forward write-offs at the end of the tax season.

A new or up-to-date website

The rules and designs of the web change almost monthly. Google has new rules for keeping websites at the top of search engines, and customers have come to expect proficient designs that are easy to navigate. So, hiring someone (or, if you yourself have the spare time and experience) to update your website, add to its design, or shake things up. If there are any fees involved to host the website through a third party, these may also be accounted for. Also adding premium services so that your website runs smooth and efficient.

The Google Search Words Campaign

Many businesses spend exorbitant amounts on google ad-words, search terms. These can add up quickly. At the end of every month google should provide you with a receipt from the month’s transactions—this data is also included in your Google analytics package, however, just to be safe, don’t wait until tax season to save this data, in case anything were to happen.

Flyers

A marketing flyer is still be an effective marketing strategy in the digital age. Or a personalized Christmas card from your business to your customers at Christmas. Oftentimes, things like flyers, cards, and letters are easily deductible. Keep every receipt!

If you need advice as to which potential deductions will benefit your business, Practical Taxes is here and ready to help.

September 10, 2017/by admin

Accountant Billings MT, Accounting, Payroll Services Billings MT

Payroll Services

Did you know that it’s becoming ever-more popular to outsource payroll to an accountant service? It’s true, payroll is the number one thing businesses will outsource. There are many reasons including, cost, productivity, accountability, legality, and service.

Cost
Small businesses can absolutely save money by outsourcing payroll. Add up those hours spent on payroll and then calculate the costs to the company. Most times—especially for small businesses where each minute of the day could be filled with some type of progressive work—the outsourcing of payroll is considerably less than the cost of doing it internally. Oftentimes this is because accountants oftentimes use more sophisticated software than a typical small business, and accountants have the job streamlined.

Productivity
If you own a small business you will grow to appreciate the freedom that freeing up internal sources from the job of payroll will provide. You get to focus on the job you want to do, which is especially important for new businesses, not yet established—in today’s world the percentage of new businesses that fail is staggering.

Accountability
Did you know that a high percentage of small business pay a penalty to the IRS every year for improperly filed payroll taxes? Hiring an accountant at Practical Taxes makes sense, when you consider that they understand the ins and the outs of current tax policy. This also goes hand in hand with legal compliance. Because a payroll service like Practical Taxes is going to understand the continually shifting laws and obligations involving payroll.

Service
In today’s modern world you can find just about anything on the internet—including a payroll service! Regardless of how reputable companies are, isn’t it best to have an accounting service such as Practical Taxes with whom you can work, face to face in some cases, and trust all that important paperwork and sensitive documents to a responsible face. If you have any questions as to how Practical Taxes can help your business grow and succeed, be it with the outsourcing of payroll or the general everyday management of your business, call today.

August 10, 2017/1 Comment/by admin

Accounting

Charitable Contributions

Happy Thanksgiving! This is the time of year to be thankful, and, for some of us, this time of year has us thinking of giving back, making charitable contributions. Charitable contributions to those of your choosing are obviously very important, but it’s also important that you make those contributions in a way that also benefits your taxes. For those of you who don’t know, charitable contributions can be assessed as deductions on your tax bill! Giving is important and the government recognizes your charitable donations as a private citizen, but, it does impress upon you a few stipulations to receive the deduction on your taxes.

First, the charitable contribution needs to be to a qualified organization. You cannot deduct donations made to individuals or to political campaigns. Also, many contributions to organizations are met with gifts from said organization: consider an outdoor organization at who’s benefit dinner you wind up winning some grand prize because of your donation: the amount you can deduct from your taxes may only be the balance between the fair market value of the gift given to you by the organization and the amount of that year’s donation. If the fair market value of the gift exceeds the donation, then you’re out of luck at tax time. Also, to deduct the contribution you made, you must keep the receipt of the payment you made. The IRS doesn’t want to see a hand written sheet from So-And-So, claiming that you paid them some money; it wants to see receipts, receipts which, if needed, can be tracked back to a source. Non-cash donations are also considered contributions which can be written off, however, in order to claim the contribution on your taxes, for a contribution totaling over five hundred dollars, you must complete a separate IRS form, IRS form 8283, and, if you have trouble understanding the form, Practical Taxes is ready to help.

November 7, 2016/3 Comments/by admin

Accountant Billings MT, Accounting, Billings Best Tax Preparation, Tax Preparation Billings MT, Tax Tips Billings MT

Reasons Why Small Business Owners Need to Keep Meticulous Records

Being a small business owner, I get it, there is so much to do and keeping track of records just isn’t at the top of the list. But it should be. Keeping things organized and tracing records can help you in the long run.

Tax Season Billings MT
If you keep track of your records and receipts, when it comes to tax season, it will be much easier for you to locate your receipts. It will also help you to get all of the deductions that you are entitled to. The IRS does not accept bank statements. They want the actual receipts to validate your expenses.

Payroll Management Billings MT
Keeping your payroll records organized can assist you with tracking your employees. It makes it much easier when it comes to paying your employees. If you aren’t comfortable doing payroll or just don’t have time, Practical Taxes can manage your payroll for you.

Invoicing Billings MT
When it comes to invoicing your clients, keeping track of your records will help you to know who has paid and who has not. It can also help you to keep track of projects and to know what money is coming in.

Trust me when I tell you that spending a few minutes each day on your records will pay off in the long run. Keeping track of your records will make tax season much easier as well.

Practical Taxes

Practical Taxes is a full service accounting firm in Billings, Montana. We can help you get the most from your taxes, and make sure that you will get the maximum refund every year. But we don’t just do taxes! We can help with your bookkeeping, payroll, bank reconciliation, budgeting, and more. Give us a call at 406-894-2090 to learn more.

July 12, 2016/43 Comments/by admin

Enhancing Your Visibility as a Business

Becoming More Visible as a Business

Outsourcing the Right Parts of your Business