Finding the right tax forms quickly and getting business tax questions answered accurately are tricky problems for many business owners. There’s hardly a time of year when there isn’t some tax-related deadline, either federal state or local.
The best help I’ve been able to find actually comes from the Internal Revenue Service itself. Contrary to popular belief, the IRS, and its Web site in particular, is a great place to find what you need quickly. The agency has a special Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center online that provides easy access to all of the forms, publications and tax matters vital to different types of small businesses and the self-employed.
Go to www.irs.gov/smallbiz to get started. Right near the top you will see a link to “Filing Season Central” which is a nicely organized help center for filing your business returns. One of the most helpful features is a roundup of the many tax-law changes affecting small business, along with tax tips. Another item you’ll find helpful is the 2010 Tax Calendar for Small Business. It’s a PDF file with a complete rundown of forms and deadlines due throughout the year.
Information at the IRS small-business site is well-organized, remarkably light on “gov-speak” and nearly all free (well, not quite, since your tax dollars did pay for it). A service call FreeFile helps you prepare and file your federal taxes online, for free. Here are some of the other things you’ll find at the small-business tax site:
• An A-to-Z index for business making it easy to find what you need on any tax-related topic.
• A quick and easy online way to get an Employer Identification Number (EIN), free.
• An online learning center with videos, articles and online workshops that can help you with your small-business or self-employed tax questions.
• A list of local, tax-related small-business events, with links to times, dates and contact information.
• Information on how to know is someone who works for you is an independent contractor or will be considered an “employee” by the IRS (and thus subject to withholding and other taxes).
• A helpful publication called e-News for Small Business.
• Links to state-by-state tax information for small business (just click on your state).
• Information on business name changes, retirement plans and more. •
Daniel Kehrer can be reached at editor@business.com.
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