It’s April 17th, 2018 — which might be just another Tuesday on the calendar, but this is also a date that individuals, businesses, and procrastinators, in particular, tend to dread — it’s Tax Day 2018. Of course, if you’ve waited to file for your small business until reading this post, then it’s fair to say that you may have put things off just a little too late. Whether this is your very first year filing as a small business owner or you now have a few years of filing experience under your business belt, it’s important to know the ins and outs of getting the most out of your return. Filing as an individual is certainly worth taking the due diligence to do it right, but filing as a business is something else.

Touching On Tax Day 2018

As a tribute to this year’s Tax Day, the small business lending experts here at The Commercial Finance Group are going to cover some general knowledge as well as ways to make filing taxes for your small business a breeze. Naturally, again, you’ve probably already filed for the year — as you should have at this point — but why not absorb a little more knowledge in preparation for next year? You never know when this information could be extremely helpful, especially when you least expect it.

Now, we’re no tax experts per se, but we do know a thing or two (OK, we know a lot more than that!) about finance and small business loans. With decades and decades of combined experience working with companies to help them grow via the right working capital solutions, The Commercial Finance Group is dedicated to solving otherwise complex cash flow issues.

Don’t Let Working Capital Limitations Hold You Back

If you have a great idea and you’ve founded a company on this idea, and you’re struggling to grow due to a lack of working capital, this is simply unacceptable. That’s why we offer rapid working capital loans to help you run your business and get things done!

Leverage Our Small Business Lenders Today

Visit our small business loan providers in Atlanta or Los Angeles today, or feel free to reach out to The Commercial Finance Group if you have any questions about how we can specifically help you and your valued small business.

Be Familiar With The Forms That You’re Dealing With

How can you know how to effectively file your taxes if you’re not familiar with the tax forms that you’ll actually be filing with? It’s a logical question. The exact tax forms that you’ll be working with depend on your business structure.

If you’re involved in a partnership — some small business ventures are structured as partnerships — you’ll probably be using a Form 1065 to report your income, losses, and overall expenses. For sole proprietors, your business income, expenses, and other relevant figures will be reported on a Schedule C that comes with your personal income tax return. This also applies if your business is structured as an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation), but only if your LLC is treated as a sole proprietorship.

If you own a business structured as a corporation or are technically defined as a corporation, the Form 1120 will help you file a separate corporate tax return. For S Corporation businesses, the aptly-named Form 1120S will be the relevant form for you.

Should there be any confusion about the relevant form that you’ll need to file your business’ taxes, we understand — visit here for some help from the trustworthy IRS.

Classifying Equipment vs Supplies

Typically, there’s a good amount of confusion regarding what constitutes as “supplies” versus “equipment” when you’re claiming your company’s expenses. Simply put, supplies refer to things that you used — and likely ran out of — during the year. Think about items like receipt paper, whiteboard markers, cleaning chemicals, so forth. These items run out over time, and they should relate to the product or service that you offer.

Get More Back For Your Investments

Equipment is synonymous with “capital expenditures.” This typically involves higher-valued items that will last significantly longer than a year, even after fairly normal use. From a small business lending perspective, these are more of the “investment” items that often require a working capital loan in order to finance the purchase. Via the Section 179 deduction, businesses can write off the entire cost of new equipment that was acquired throughout the year, usually up to about $500,000. This helps combat depreciation that occurs over multiple years.

Additionally, don’t forget to report your capital expenditures on your Form 4562 as well.

Report And Deduct Any Insurance-Related Costs

If your business is small or new enough, then the chances are that you haven’t dealt with too many insurance premiums in the way of malpractice, liability, workers’ comp, and so forth. At least, we hope that you haven’t! Fortunately, if you have, these premiums can usually be deducted as business expenses.

More Bang For Your Buck

Also keep in mind that things like commercial vehicle insurance and life insurance may be deductible depending on the structure of your small business. There’s also another potential break for filing as a small business, and that’s in the way of the Small Business Health Care Act. If your company is at that in-between growth stage where your company has fewer than 25 full-time employees but you also pay at least half of your staff’s health insurance premiums, you could very well be in luck. The Small Business Health Care Act could provide a tax credit up to 35 percent of the cost.

Paving Your Way To Financial Success Through Small Business Loans

We’ve always stated that running a small business is no easy feat, and that’s because it’s really nothing shy of a demanding challenge! While we’re only here to touch on the very basics of filing taxes for your small business, The Commercial Finance Group consists of a team of qualified lending experts to help you acquire the necessary working capital to run and grow your company. Contact our small business loan providers in Los Angeles and Atlanta today!