The holidays are over– and so is 2015. You know what that means…taxes! If you haven’t started getting your 2014 taxes in order yet, you need to take the turn of the New Year as a sign that you should get going. After all, the sooner you start, the more time you have to get everything right.
Think back to the beginning of 2014. Did you wildly overpay? If so, that’s because you didn’t take advantage of all the methods you have at your disposal to lower your tax bill. Here is a handful you should definitely take a look at ASAP.
Contribute to Charity
There are many ways to whittle down your tax responsibility in the New Year. From office deductions to mileage and many other breaks, the more you take the less you have to worry about when the tax man rolls around.
One great way that also makes you feel good for the New Year is to contribute to charity. One idea is to contribute used office furniture and other supplies that you were getting rid of anyway. Just make sure you get receipts for absolutely everything!
Buy Office Supplies
Speaking of office supplies and furniture, now’s the time to buy everything. This way you can take breaks and deduct them off your taxes. If you wait until January to buy stuff, then you must wait until 2016 to deduct them from your 2015 taxes. By then you may have even forgotten about them. (Again, always keep receipts!)
You may not think you need anything, but take a hard look around. Is that printer really working like it should? Is your desk a little wobbly? Rather than wait for them to collapse, grab these supplies now so your tax time is that much easier.
Hold off on Collecting From Clients
Now we’ve really gone off the deep end, right? But hear us out. The more money you collect right now, the more you need to pay in taxes. The more you need to pay in taxes the more complicated your life becomes when taxes roll around. While it’s nice for clients to pay up, it makes things annoying in the long run.
So even if you wait until January 1st at 12:01 AM, you won’t have to worry about these taxes until 2016 rolls around. This gives you much more time to get everything under control.
Prepay Expenses
Do you have a handful of monthly expenses, like a software subscription or monthly payments for office supplies? You might want to consider finding out if you can go ahead and pay for the rest before the year ends. These could add up quite a bit and give you a much bigger tax deduction.
On top of that, if you pay these off now, you don’t have to worry about them for quite some time. This makes your business life that much simpler as you can focus on selling items and making money.
These are just a few ideas. Also, make sure you remember that each taxpayer and business owner’s situation is unique and no two people will have the same experience. Whenever in doubt, make sure you consult a tax professional.
Zach Olson is the Founder & CEO of TaxAlli.com. At Tax Alli, we pair you with real life accountants and use cloud software to make small business accounting awesome. So you can do what you love while we handle the rest.