Starting an LLC and Dealing With Taxes

I'm so stressed out and frustrated right now I feel like I'm gonna puke.

I'm stuck on taxes...

I've been on the IRS website for 20 hours and it's like a rat's nest.

This company called me, "The Tax Club", and the salesman must be a veteran lol, he sure made it sound nice.

He offered me a lifetime certified business accountant to help me with taxes, offer advice for deductions, file my taxes for me every quarter (do I even need to f***** do that!? I dunno!!! I can't find clear information ANYWHERE...), and even help me with payroll for a pretty rough fee:

$1500 now, $29 a month. Lifetime membership.

I'm struggling to find an option (like "The Tax Club") that will allow me to focus on my business instead of worrying about doing everything right for taxes.

I guess I'm rambling, here's my question:

Is that a good deal? Is that what I should do? What have others done?

Sorry if I'm an idiot, and thanks in advance for any constructive reply you can give me

*big sigh*

 

google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=+site:ripoffreport.com+%22the+tax+club%22

 

I think a good accountant is very important for a business. Instead of deciding on something like this based on talking to a sales person, maybe it is better to talk to a accountant first. If you ask around friends and family, someone probably could recommend somebody to you.

 

I agree wit jKim. I wouldn't take the companies offer just yet, especially not from a cold-call. Sounds kind of fishy.
I am actually in the same boat as you. I just started do freelance and contract work. People have said that I should look into starting an LLC, or something of that nature for myself but like the experience that you've had, it's nerve racking just trying to find some answers. Not to mention tax law is mind numbing. I'm just afraid of getting ripped off by some lawyer/ accountant or audited... So, if you find anything let me know. I'll do the same
Best of luck,
M

 

I'm also looking to get incorporated...I saw how cheap it is to do it on corporate.com - I'm just afraid of what happens afterwards with how much different tax day will be. I have a friend who has a degree in taxation, I can ask him all of these questions soon, when I can get ahold of him.

 

Well, here's what I've done.

I looked up "The Tax Club" on BBB, and it was a no go. I should have done that in the first place.

Next, I took a deep breath, and dedicated about 5 hours to reading through the IRS website (small-business section). It can be complicated, but if you just skip what's not pertinent to your situation, the volume lightens up a LOT.

I found a lot of answers, all that I was looking for at the time (I was freaking out if I had to pay or do anything quarterly), and I also know where I can go to find more answers if and when I need them.

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/index.html

Basically, since I'm a single-owner LLC (with no employees) and don't make "big money" yet, I don't have to report or do anything until year-end tax time.

In a nutshell, just keep track of everything... EVERYTHING. And keep your personal and business finances completely separate.

I've decided I'll fork out the $99 for Quicken (accounting software that will help me keep track of everything), and use it's tax integration with TurboTax at the end of the year.

I've also considered using GnuCash (an open source accounting suite) because I am a BIG believer in open source software.

http://www.gnucash.org/

And yes, good luck indeed! lol

 

Get an accountant or better yet CPA... $125 an hour is a small price to pay to save your bacon and someone who knows what they are doing should save you more then what they are charging.

-SS

 

LLC is just like running a company under your own SSN. Not until you convert to Inc does taxes become complicated.

With LLC you will pay 15-36% of your income, plus 15% more for Self employment, this is the same deal for non LLC business, and Inc is more complicated depending on S or C class any other tax laws for Inc.

You will need a CPA to help you with planning on taxes as you will need to have x dollars or pay each quarter depending on how much money you make.

 

I have both a corporation and an LLC. I also have an accountant, because I can't be bothered figuring out my tax situation. As you get larger, look into that, because it's nice to have someone on your side when things get complicated with the IRS (and they always seem to get complicated with them, y'know?).

I used Quicken when I was smaller, but it's more of a household budget kind of program, so I graduated to Quickbooks (a really really old version, which doesn't suck as badly as the newer versions).

Yes, keep everything separate from your personal finances. That's rules 1 through 5.

When you start bringing in better money, look at paying yourself a salary and set yourself up with a payroll service (I recommend PayCycle) to handle the taxes you'll need to pay monthly and the reports you'll need to file quarterly. Contact your state dept. of revenue for what they need from you as well.

Yes, this year, you'll likely only need to pay your taxes in April. However, if you earn more than a certain amount that wasn't taxed, you might have penalties for not paying estimated payments earlier. Same goes for next year. That's why I recommend the accountant. It gets to be a lot of details that really have little to do with making money and everything to do with staying one step ahead of the government.

 

Thank you for the info.

I don't think I'll make enough this year to get penalties *knock on wood*.

I'm definitely working on it though!

 

When it comes to taxes... Hire an accountant.. You'll be glad you did...

 

An LLC is a corporation and has its own Federal EIN regardless of its Tax treatment weather it pays out a K-1 to owners as a pass through entity or choses to pay tax at the corporation level as in Inc.

agree with l3vi and amf-flt, use a professional so you can avoid losing a dollar to save a dime. While a CPA is not necessary, an Enrolled Agent is just as effective for half the money. Spending a deductible amount of $300 to prepare LLC taxes is reasonable and offers you the opportunity to learn.

Good luck with it.

 

This is not quite right.

An LLC is a company, not a corporation, and it's organized more like a partnership than like a corporation. If it's just one person, the IRS considers it the same from their perspective as a sole proprietership, but you could kind-a say the same thing for a partnership with just one partner.

And an LLC does not need an EIN (Employer Identification Number) if you have a one-person LLC; you can use your social security number. However, if you get bigger and want to bring on more partners or employees, then you'll want the EIN to better separate the paperwork from your personal paperwork. It's free and quick to get an EIN online once you have the LLC created (I did the whole process of creating an LLC and getting an EIN while sitting in a hotel room one early morning; your mileage will definitely vary if your state doesn't offer these services online).

 

Yeah accountant is good way to go but really I have been doing my own it just takes time to learn it but if you go with an accountant then you can probably find a few more tax breaks but I found a good amount with a program I was using last year for taxes. Either way I really hate taxes I almost wrote off all my taxes last year

 

A good accountant will save you his fees many times over, its a great investment.

 

IF you are taking your business seriously, get a good certified accountant. Its worth every $$ and in the long run, you will save a lot of $$.

I had one and I thought he was the best but later found out that he was making life way too easy for himself. Made everything too simplistic. I got a CPA now and I feel like a complete idiot with that accountant. I am getting my taxes done on time now and I am getting all my sales tax refunded back to me. I do exports. I didnt know I can get my taxes back every 3 months. Its these little things that will get you stuck one day with the tax guys. Everything will be ok till they (IRS et) inspect you. Ignorance is not an excuse then. Dont forget the IRS guys have got unlimited time and money on the disposal to prosecute.

 

It is all in the details. Semantics, really. Fact is an LLC offers lots of flexibility and can be structured many ways.

An LLC can elect to be treated as a corportaion, see IRS here for how an LLC can be : sole proprietorship , a partnership, or a corporation

yes but an LLC advantage of limiting owner/s liability from LLC debt is then weakly implemented. Get a separate EIN number for the LLC and minimize confusion about liability.

An Enrolled Agent (EA) is a 100% Tax Specialist, a CPA is a an accounting specialist who may elect to specialize in Taxes. See what is an Enrolled Agent Either is a worthwhile investment, EA's will often cost less than CPA's, either way, don't lose a dollar to save a dime.