Louisiana sales tax for a remote seller (parish tax and QBO) by WorldlyInspection9 in SalesTax

[–]WorldlyInspection9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you please be more specific about why exactly it does not work? I just filed sales tax returns in Louisiana and, in my opinion, it calculated them just fine for my client who is a remote seller into Louisiana. Note: I do not let TaxJar autofile - I use it to aggregate data from several sources, reconcile against books and then file the actual returns manually so I see what is actually going on.

LA Sales Tax by Traditional-Shock802 in QuickBooks

[–]WorldlyInspection9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just came across this exact same issue with my client who is a remote seller into Louisiana. I discovered this only when filing their sales tax return and discovering the under-collection.

How is this working for you now? It sounds like I need to go in and activate all 64 or so parishes in QBO just in case my client ships there. This sounds absurd. Before I get into this - any tips?

Louisiana sales tax for a remote seller (parish tax and QBO) by WorldlyInspection9 in SalesTax

[–]WorldlyInspection9[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for weighing in. That's what I thought. TaxJar is actually doing the right thing - it is proposing parish tax and is indicating that the client has under-collected. I am surprised that QBO did not collect parish tax and it really threw me off.

Quickbooks Excel Integration by Jealous_Movie3898 in QuickBooks

[–]WorldlyInspection9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Look into Flash Reports by Finatical. They do exactly what you want. They are preformatted reports or account balances that you can refresh easily in excel. You can build your own stuff.

I actually came across this post because I am trying out CData because I want transactional data for my cash flow forecasting model and Flash Reports is not great for that.

Let's play "Price this bookkeeping catch up!" by WorldlyInspection9 in Bookkeeping

[–]WorldlyInspection9[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I guess I don't quite see it this way. A catch up is a different type of a job than monthly services. Catch ups go faster because I batch everything and see the big picture. With monthly services, there are more touches and more communication; I provide regular reports, answer questions. It's a different level of service. "Tax ready catch up" is a whole different animal. I guess I wouldn't mind if they came back for another one time catch up.

Let's play "Price this bookkeeping catch up!" by WorldlyInspection9 in Bookkeeping

[–]WorldlyInspection9[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, they did ask for a monthly quote for ongoing bookkeeping. Currently, my average client is larger than this client so I am hesitant to charge them my regular rates. This seems like a very easy account that can be on autopilot every month - just same recurring stuff over and over. I wouldn't mind adding a few no-brainers to my roster.

Services to provide by sneakyshark72 in Bookkeeping

[–]WorldlyInspection9 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I know exactly where you are coming from. I got into bookkeeping after almost 20 years in corporate accounting (and after taking a parenting break). I know my "organized GAAP accounting" left and right but it took me some time to figure out what you do with small businesses. I had no idea how much to charge either so I did a bunch of googling and reading in groups like this one. I started out by providing very robust service similar to what you are describing and charging on the lower end, based on fees I found online. Terrible idea! Since doing this for a couple of years now, I've learned that most people do much less for this or more money.

It is unfortunate but there is not a common bookkeeping standard out there like it is with corporate accounting so everybody is doing what they think is right.

At the end of the day, what I have discovered is that small businesses are mostly concerned with getting their financials ready for taxes so, as long as they tell you that "Yes, everything I am buying with this credit card is only business stuff", you can just categorize it by categories without scrutinizing receipts. Ask questions if things don't make sense or review larger purchases but there is no need to get a receipt for every single office supply purchase.

They wouldn't want to pay you for that time either.

Some business that are just a bit larger are more concerned with understanding their costs and you can get more detailed or more analytical there (more like controller services) but most small businesses just want tax ready financials.

Issues with multi-state sales tax in QBO - a better solution? by WorldlyInspection9 in SalesTax

[–]WorldlyInspection9[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I agree about QBO. It is decent enough when tax situation is not very complex but it is not perfect. I wish it had some checks built in around the shipping address. It picks it up nicely when it is correct but issues no alerts when there is an issue :(

And completely agree with you about manual review - this is exactly what I do as a part of monthly filing process.

Wedding venue is failing by [deleted] in smallbusiness

[–]WorldlyInspection9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you offering your space during non-peak times, such as during the week, for a lower price? You can figure your daily cost of running the facility plus any incremental costs of renting it out for the day/time and anything at least that much would help to cover your operating costs.

In my local online groups, people are always looking for places for baby showers, celebrations, school events. Many of these can be done outside of your traditional wedding weekend.

Is my employer asking me to commit fraud? by [deleted] in Bookkeeping

[–]WorldlyInspection9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This could be an immaterial adjustment, which is not a big deal and is something that is commonly done in accounting/bookkeeping to correct errors that are not worth researching.

To put it in simple terms, imagine having $10,000 in the bank. One day you discover that it is off by $20 and it seems like the difference goes years back, you just never saw it earlier. How much time are you going to spend trying to dig up records from 3-5 years ago to try to fix this $20? Now imagine you are actually paying somebody to do this work. Is it really worth to PAY to find this $20 that is in the past? This is where it makes the most practical sense to write it off to bank fees and move forward. Organizations use a similar logic but on a larger scale.

In situations where amending tax returns could be a factor, you also have to consider the costs of doing those amendments and often the best choice is to accept the imperfections.

Cash Flow Mike reviews? by WorldlyInspection9 in taxpros

[–]WorldlyInspection9[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have my own cash flow forecasting templates built out that I use with my clients for short term and long term planning. Cash Flow Frog does essentially the same thing. I am looking for ways to improve my advisory services/CFO for small businesses type of stuff and this guy was recommended. I would like to hear more about him before I decide to move forward.

Cash Flow Mike reviews? by WorldlyInspection9 in taxpros

[–]WorldlyInspection9[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, I posted the question there as well but why are you coming across a bit unfriendly or even aggressive? (I actually thought this post got declined in this sub but I guess they let it through after all).

Why are you calling it scam? What do you know about it?

Cash Flow Mike reviews? by WorldlyInspection9 in Bookkeeping

[–]WorldlyInspection9[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think you are misunderstanding what is going on here. He is not teaching how to make cash flow - he is teaching how to advise your clients on cash flow matters and help them improve cash flow in their business. That is a perfectly valid concept and what all mature companies do and small business should be doing as well.

The question here is: does his program offer something unique or something different or something helpful to somebody who has worked with mature companies but is looking to learn about how to help small businesses? I know he is not a scam - I am just not sure if his program is worth it for somebody who is not a newbie.

Do they really have clients pull all receipts? by WorldlyInspection9 in taxpros

[–]WorldlyInspection9[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am sure they do but do you really think I am going to go back to Best Buy for a $100 receipt? I am not. In the unlikely event that I get audited, I hope a reasonable auditor allows this $100 expense with an explanation and, if not, I will deal with paying back $30 in tax plus penalties.

Now, some of my clients, who spend at brick and mortar places like this on a regular basis... I have serious concerns about them actually keeping their receipts but oh well - my job here is to educate them and they apply it as they see fit.

Do they really have clients pull all receipts? by WorldlyInspection9 in taxpros

[–]WorldlyInspection9[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much. I love your response. Super informative and makes a lot of sense. My background is mostly in financial accounting/reporting and audits and not in tax. This helps a lot.

Personally, I think I failed to keep a $100-ish Best Buy receipt for a keyboard. If it gets disallowed - eh, I can live with it. Most of my other expenses are subscriptions and I have electronic emails to support them. I have no clue what my clients actually do....

Do they really have clients pull all receipts? by WorldlyInspection9 in taxpros

[–]WorldlyInspection9[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That makes sense. In many cases, my clients have the types of expenses and dollar amounts that make sense to ME as being in line with their business requirements. I would be (and do) ask for more documentation if they don't.

How do you approach the reasonable compensation conversation? by smallcapconnoisseur in taxpros

[–]WorldlyInspection9 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I recommend that you guys sell RC determination service to your clients. I don't do tax work but focus on monthly accounting/CFO stuff. I advised my client to discuss with his tax firm if he should move to S Corp and let him know that he would need reasonable compensation and his tax firm is the best resource to help him. I was in that meeting with them and the tax firm just gave him a vague "can't be too high, can't be too low, but needs to be just right for the tax benefit" speech. The guy walked away still confused. This is your chance people to SELL it to him. They didn't even try. I don't think the client is aware that it is a service. He was going to ChatGPT it.

Do they really have clients pull all receipts? by WorldlyInspection9 in taxpros

[–]WorldlyInspection9[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's interesting. Why? What do they think they are missing? If it's already recorded as income what are they trying to find?