🚀 go-pugleaf

Make sure you retain a good accountant.  Mine charges as much per hour
as I do, but he's damn good and hey, it's tax deductible...  =)

The same accountant should be able to give you simple instructions on
doing your own payroll if you are the only employee of the
corporation.  I do my own payroll, but leave the reports up to my
accountant.

If you have several  employees you can retain a bookkeeper who should
do payroll for a very minimal charge.  My other business retains
someone like this who charges less than $50 a month to do payroll for
6 employees.

The IRS allows small businesses to EXPENSE up to $17,500 per year
(this may have nudged up a bit) of otherwise depreciable assets.  If
you buy computers and such, you'll need to decide whether you want the
writeoff up front or spread out over time.

Any REASONABLE and ORDINARY expense is generally deductable.  Buying a
round of golf for a client is perfectly acceptable, but not if it
happens 5 days a week...  =)  Software, books, training (if it is
relevant) should all be deductible.

Travel expenses can be a little tricky.  If you maintain a seperate
office, your commute to the office is not deductible, but a trip from
the office to the client is.  If you go directly from home to the
client it is probably not deductible.

I would stay away from home office deductions at all costs...this is
as good as begging for an audit.  Other than that, document everything
and keep good records.  Get a seperate credit card in the company name
for company purchases.  Try not to comingle your personal funds with
corporate funds.

Incorporating is wise, because when the IRS audits your clients a
vendor with an Inc. after it's name raises less eyebrows than some
dude's name.  You don't want your client to end up paying payroll
taxes on top of your fees...it tends to shorten your career.

Also, have a written contract that clearly identifies the relationship
as being contractor like.  You don't want your client to have any more
control over you than you can help.  I always insist on a "work from
my office" policy when there is no good reason why I need to be at the
client site, I supply my own computer hardware in exchange for a
higher rate, I violate my client dress codes and make my hours
different from their standard business hours--basically anything I can
do to make it clear that they don't control me in an "employee-like"
fashion.  Having multiple clients also strengthen's your case.

Roger Rouse
Precision Consulting, Inc.

On Thu, 29 Jan 1998 11:55:54 -0800, Steve Leung <sleung@informix.com>
wrote:

>Hi experienced incorporated consultants:
>
>Do you know if there are any resources available in the NET,
>books, etc that advise incorporated consultants to
>do tax and payroll, and answer questions like
>
>	compare payroll services from ADP and PayChex?
>	
>	what are the expenses one can deduct from tax?
>
>	when and what one can expense and depreciate? Like hardware,
>		software, books, training etc. Any guidelines?
>
>	Can one expense communting cost?
>
>	what are IRS catching these days?
>
>Any pointers, tricks, tips, experience(good and bad) to share?
>
>Thanks,
>
>/steveleung