Tax Tips for Small Business Owners in 2018

“Taxes, yay!” Said no one ever. This dreaded topic doesn't have to be as much of a drag as you'd think, though. You just need the right information at the right time to help you get through the drudgery of taxes for the 2018 year. To make things a little easier and straight-forward, you'll find some tips here to help small business owners get to the other side of it faster and with as little headache as possible.

Don't miss your deadlines: This one may seem obvious, but you need to focus on it. Small businesses may need to separating everything into quarters, and they also have different deadlines than personal taxes. So, make sure you know the rules, the deadlines, and meet them.
Keep track of mileage as you go: Tax season is a stressful time, so make sure that you do as much prep work as possible before it arrives. Mileage can add a major stressor to your life, so focus on keeping those records up to date as they happen so that you aren't stuck with the stressful and and often inaccurate task of backlogging.
Scan important (or all) receipts: Keep everything on hand by scanning all of the important receipts for your business into a server or a thumb drive. That way you'll have the at your fingertips when you need all of the relevant information. It's also great in case you ever get audited – no frantic searching for receipts!
Make estimated tax payments: When a company makes a lump sum payment for taxes, there is often a penalty that goes along with it, so make the regular estimated tax payments instead and you'll be able to avoid that large charge (and know that you are staying on top of it, too).
Consider charitable donations: Charitable donations are great for taxes (as well as the fact that you're donating funds to a charity), so consider doing that on behalf of your small business for the deductions that it will give you. Pick a charity that means something to your business and it'll work great.
Use software to help: You can find all sorts of options out there such as QuickBooks to help you make tax filing as easy as possible. You'll want to take advantage of this as much as possible so that you aren't struggling with something that you don't need to.
Always keep business separate from personal: In a small business, it's easy to want to do everything together, but you must keep business and personal separate to make sure that it's all done properly. This is a golden rule.

Filing taxes when you have a small business can be daunting, but with the tips, tools, advice, and software to help you out, it can be much easier than you thought possible. Here's to wishing you happy filing so that you can see how easy it really can be.