New business

[Jsatterfield97]

I just recently opened my own small business. I am confused on what form I will need to file this year for taxes and what information I will need 

[VolvoGirl]

Assuming you are not a Single Member LLC S corp or partnership or incorporated.....

Some general info on self employment...........

You will need to keep good records.  You may get a 1099NEC at the end of the year if someone pays you more than $600 but you need to report all your income no matter how small.  You might want to use Quicken or QuickBooks to keep track of your income and expenses.

There is also QuickBooks Self Employment bundle you can check out which includes one Turbo Tax Online Self Employed  return....

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/self-employed

When you are self employed you are in business for yourself and the person or company that pays you is your customer or client.

To report your self employment income you will fill out schedule C in your personal 1040 tax return and pay SE self employment Tax.  You will need to use the Online Self Employed version or any Desktop program but the Desktop Home & Business version will have the most help.

Here is some IRS reading material……

IRS information on Self Employment

http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Self-Employed-Individuals-Tax-Center

Pulication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p334.pdf

Publication 535 Business Expenses

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p535.pdf

You pay Self Employment tax on $400 or more of net profit from self-employment in addition to any regular income tax.  You pay 15.3% SE tax on 92.35% of your Net Profit greater than $400.  The 15.3% self employed SE Tax is to pay both the employer part and employee part of Social Security and Medicare.  So you get social security credit for it when you retire.  

PAYING ESTIMATES

You may need to send in quarterly estimated payments to cover any self employment tax and increase in income.

You must make quarterly estimated tax payments for the current tax year if both of the following apply:

- 1. You expect to owe at least $1,000 in tax for the current tax year, after subtracting your withholding and credits.

- 2. You expect your withholding and credits to be less than the smaller of:

    90% of the tax to be shown on your current year’s tax return, or

  100% of the tax shown on your prior year’s tax return. (Your prior year tax return must cover all 12 months).

Turbo Tax will calculate the 1040ES estimated payments

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-payments/help/can-turbotax-calculate-next-year-s-federal-estim...

How to make the Estimated payments

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-payments/help/how-do-i-make-estimated-tax-payments/00/25875

Here are the blank Estimates and instructions…..

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf

[Jsatterfield97]

Thank you! This is my first year doing this so I was a little lost on what to do. Thank you for the helpful information! 

[Mike9241]

@VolvoGirl - shouldn't that be a multi-member LLC. a single member LLC would still file schedule C.

[VolvoGirl]

No, a Single Member LLC can elect to be a S corp and file a 1120-S return.

[Mike9241]

besides keeping good records make sure to retain the actual documents for 6 years.  while audits are rare these days if it happens to you an IRS auditor might look at a QB report and then want to see the invoice/bill/receipt behind the expense. no invoice/bill/receipt and the auditor can disallow the dedcution.   also using a bank a/c that's only for your business is a good idea.