QuickBooks Download Tools – Cuts Endless Hours of Time Downloading Credit Cards and Bank Statements

Happy Friday!

Have you ever gotten so frustrated with the download methods available to you with using QuickBooks?

Quicken products have been programmed  for very simple and easy use with downloading credit cards and bank accounts for some time now.

However QuickBooks downloads have been a bit of a challenge for most people. When you download from most banks and credit cards in IIF format, once you are back in QuickBooks, you have to click on each item one at a time to enter it into your QuickBooks registers which wastes precious time.  With that method there is no button to click “accept all” for them to import all at once…

NOT ANYMORE!!

I have found the most wonderful tools that have saved me countless hours of time re-entering client’s data into Quickbooks. A company called Big Red Consulting, has a multitude of tools for downloading and copying transactions for QuickBooks.

My most favorite is the QIF to IIF convertor. You can download data, seamlessly into QuickBooks this way and it just flows right into your QuickBooks banking or credit card registers so smoothly,  like butter!!

Another great tool is the Transaction Copier, which can copy entire general ledgers or invoices, etc from one QuickBooks for to another.

Each tool runs about $59, and is a fabulous investment that will pay for itself many times over!

www.bigredconsulting.com

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Diane Letulier

The QuickBooks Guru

www.gotquickbooks.com

REMOTE QUICKBOOKS SUPPORT

QuickBooks Remote Access gives you the flexibility to work on a client’s QuickBooks company file from

almost any remote location.

Using Remote Access, you can view, remotely control, and annotate you client’s QuickBooks file to train,

analyze and solve problems.

You might want to use Remote Access to show a client how to use a feature, or to troubleshoot a problem

directly on his or her computer. You can also transfer files to and from a customer’s computer using the

Remote Access feature.

 

One of my favorite sites to use to dial into a Client’s computer is http://www.LogMeIn.com

 

 

Many smart business owners are getting excellent advice from SCORE

SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business” announces the
May toolkit, “Accelerate Your Start-up,” at www.score.org/accelerate.
SCORE is offering the new toolkit as part of the “Accelerate Your
Success” Campaign to help entrepreneurs start up and make it
through the recession, keep Americans employed and create new jobs.
Visit SCORE for this great series to help your business today!:
http://www.nationalbusiness.org/NBAWEB/Newsletter2009/2666.htm

Independant Contractors vs Employees

TAX AND OTHER BENEFITS OF INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR CLASSIFICATION
Businesses that hire employees are responsible for payroll taxes, employee benefits, and the related administration and compliance tasks arising when wages are paid to employees. Businesses generally do not have these responsibilities for independent contractors—they need only file a Form 1099-MISC for the payments they make to the contractor.

Example: Key Differences Between Employees and Independent Contractors
Hi-Tech Corporation is restructuring its product lines and needs production and design engineers to oversee the process. Hi-Tech is investigating whether to hire these individuals as full-time employees or independent contractors. There is enough work for three more-or-less full-time positions for a period of at least three years. Hi-Tech’s bookkeeper studies the employee versus independent contractor issue. He concludes that, by hiring independent contractors, Hi-Tech:

1. would not have to withhold federal, state, or local income taxes,
2. <!–[if !supportLists]–> would not have to withhold and pay matching FICA taxes,
3. <!–[if !supportLists]–> would not have to pay federal and state unemployment or disability taxes,
4. <!–[if !supportLists]–> would not have to meet federal and state overtime or minimum wage laws,
5. <!–[if !supportLists]–> may exclude the workers from retirement plans and fringe benefits, and
6. <!–[if !supportLists]–> may exclude the workers from workers  compensation coverage.

Hi-Tech’s bookkeeper perceives all of these as significant advantages for hiring independent contractors. He concludes that the company would be significantly ahead dollar-wise to contract out for the services. Accordingly, Hi-Tech will recruit potential applicants as contractors, not employees.

For some businesses, the reduction in human resource paperwork and compliance administration is sufficient motivation to have work performed by independent contractors. If potential payroll tax and employee benefit savings are also factored into the equation, it is easy to see why many businesses prefer to hire independent contractors for specialized tasks and jobs of relatively short duration.

Example: Calculating the Tax Savings Associated with Independent Contractor Classification
Assume the same facts above. Before making a recommendation, Hi-Tech’s bookkeeper decides to run the numbers on potential tax savings. He estimates the wages and related benefits for a production and design engineer and then compares the payroll tax and benefit-related costs for this average worker on an employee versus contractor basis. His results are tabulated as follows:

Accounting Category	Hi-Tech’s Books as Employee	Hi-Tech’s Books as Contractor
Pay for time worked	$50,000	$50,000
Pay for time not worked (vacations, etc.)	5,000
Base wages	55,000	50,000
Employer’s FICA (7.65%)	4,208
Employer’s FUTA (0.8% on first $7,000)	56
Worker’s compensation (1.2% of base wages)	660
Retirement, fringe and welfare benefits (estimated) at 35% of base wages)	19,250
Total	$79,174	$50,000

In preparing this table, the bookkeeper assumes that (1) the hourly wage rate remains fixed (in reality, an independent contractor may try to increase the hourly rate to recover some lost benefits); and (2) all retirement, fringe, and welfare benefits are funded solely by Hi-Tech.

As the table demonstrates, the estimated cost of hiring a person as an independent contractor can be significantly less than hiring such person as an employee—and this is strictly tax and benefit savings. The value of other factors, including administrative time and compliance efforts, and state unemployment tax, are not included in this comparison.

In today’s competitive marketplace, companies are looking for ways to reduce the cost of doing business. Understandably, the opportunity to cut total labor costs by half or more often proves irresistible. Classifying a worker as an independent contractor can simply be too good to pass up.

The IRS estimates millions of workers are misclassified as independent contractors, depriving the federal government of huge sums of tax revenue because of underreported income and related unpaid employment taxes. To combat this, worker classification is a primary issue in most payroll audits.

Negative Aspect of Using Independent Contractors
For tax years beginning after 2004, the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 authorizes a deduction equal to a percentage of the income earned from manufacturing and certain other production activities within the U.S. (IRC Sec. 199). The deduction equals 3% (for 2006 and 6% for 2007) of the lesser of the taxpayer’s (1) qualified production activities income for the tax year, or (2) taxable income, determined without this deduction. However, the allowable deduction may not exceed 50% of the taxpayer’s Form W-2 wages for the year that are property allocable to domestic production gross receipts. Therefore, using independent contractors instead of employees can limit the taxpayer’s deduction under IRC Sec. 199.

Strengthening the Case for Independent Contractor Status
Independent contractor relationships must be closely monitored to ensure they will withstand IRS scrutiny.

Caution: The IRS feels that the improper classification of employees as independent contractors has made the problem of unreported income a significant one and, therefore, it recently reminded businesses and employers to classify workers correctly to ensure that all tax obligations are met. The IRS recently announced that it is moving ahead with initiatives in several employment tax areas to increase collection amounts—especially with worker classification. IRS officials have indicated that worker classification cases will be a major area of emphasis in 2008. The IRS has shifted more resources to address the problem of payments made to nonemployees to determine if they are legitimate and has entered into data-sharing agreements with several state workforce agencies to refer employment tax cases for audit.

The QuickBooks Guru – Happy to be blogging at last!!

Thank you for subscribing to my page. I provide QuickBooks support and Bookkeeping services. An excellent opportunity to get free QuickBooks 2009, and a free terminal with new merchant service, and very competitive rates! Also I am studying up on my social networking skills to promote business, check out this excellent resource! Great for you men out there too! www.socialnetworkingforbusinesswomen.com

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!