- Taxes.
It's the thing every entrepreneur
has to deal with year after year
that's probably the most stressful part
of having a business.
But today, I'm gonna give you seven tips
for your taxes that as an entrepreneur,
you may not have ever heard before.
Now, disclaimer, I'm not a tax expert
nor am I a certified public accountant,
so why am I giving you tax tips?
Well, I partnered with my friends over at TurboTax
who are the experts and I got my advice from them.
TurboTax makes it easy for you
to file your taxes online if you're self-employed.
With TurboTax Live, you can speak
to a certified public accountant and get advice.
And that way, TurboTax can help you
find the maximum amount of deductions this year.
Anyway, let's jump into today's video.
Hey everybody, this is Roberto Blake,
helping you create something awesome today.
Welcome back to the channel.
Today, we're gonna be talking about tax tips.
I'm gonna give you the seven amazing tips
to help you as an entrepreneur with your taxes.
Number one, it may or may not be worth it
to incorporate your business.
Now, the typical advice that you get
is to incorporate your business, and it's still good advice
because there are other reasons to do it.
But if you're looking to save the most money,
you have to remember
that depending on what state you live in here in the US,
it could cost as much as $800
for you to incorporate your business.
And ultimately, depending on how your business did
in terms of profits,
you may or may not really save as a benefit
of having your incorporated business.
When incorporating, you're also subject to additional costs
like payroll taxes and workmans' comp.
So, just kind of keep those things in mind.
Business deductions work pretty much the same
for self-employed people as they do for corporations.
And I know the new Tax Reform law, self-employed Americans
may also get a new 20% qualified business income deduction.
Tip number two, saving for your retirement.
Saving for your retirement becomes your responsibility
when you become self-employed and you start a business.
The good news about saving for your retirement
is it's tax deferred income.
You're not gonna be taxed on it now.
You'll be taxed on it later.
Now, the good thing about these investments
is they accumulate compound interest over time, tax free.
If you can, max out your 401(k).
For the year 2019, the maximum there
is gonna be about $19,000.
Now, if you're 50 or older, it's actually $25,000,
so this is definitely a great opportunity for savings.
Now, the self-employed person,
you actually could have what's called a SEP IRA.
It actually means that you could save even more.
If you're self-employed,
you can contribute up to $55,000 or 25% of your income,
whichever is the lesser.
For 2019, you can contribute $56,000.
Tip number three, paying quarterly taxes.
If you are regularly employed,
then your taxes are being taken out of your paycheck
each and every pay day.
But if you're self-employed,
the odds are, that's not happening,
so it's your responsibility.
By paying quarterly taxes,
you can get yourself out of having to pay a large lump sum
at tax time each and every year.
This is something that is very important
if you are a freelancer
or you're a stay-at-home business as an entrepreneur
because at the end of the day,
you have to worry about cash flow
and if on April you have to dump
a considerable amount of money just to pay your taxes,
that's gonna be a burden on you and your business.
So, just try and pay as much as you can every quarter.
Number four, networking can actually be deductible
and your network is your net worth.
When we've talked about entrepreneurship and business,
we've talked a lot about networking
and going to events and joining associations.
Now, those things cost money
and you can actually claim those
as deductions on your taxes,
so it's actually really beneficial to do those things
because they'll definitely grow your business
but just know that by doing it,
you also have another write-off
in terms of your deductions against your business
and your taxes each and every year.
And I know everyone avoids this
because they're afraid of being audited,
but did you know, this is a fun fact,
did you know that less than 1% of taxpayers
are ever audited?
True story.
Besides, the home office deduction
is a legitimate business expense
and you shouldn't feel guilty about it.
It is something that you use day in and day out
to accomplish your goals and to earn revenue.
So, it's right for you to be able to deduct it.
Now, this is just gonna be a portion of the expenses
that go to things like, say, your rent,
your utilities in terms of things like the internet,
your cellphone bill that you use for your business.
As long as you're being honest about it,
there's no reason to shy away from it.
Number six, travel.
This is a big one, especially for me,
because travel is one of the top three largest expenses
in my business.
Last year, I spent over $20,000 on travel for my business,
and the good news
is I'm going to get to deduct a lot of that.
In my case, I kept track of all of my travel,
everything from my airline tickets
that I purchased through my credit card
to all of the rides that I did for Uber
in terms of, like, shuffling and hustling
around LA and New York to meetings back and forth,
all of that is accounted for, and all of my hotel stays.
So, I have that for my taxes
in order to get a deduction against those expenses
because as a public speaker,
travel was a huge part of my business this year.
Now, for those of you who are more local,
tip number seven applies
because you can actually claim your gas
and your mileage on your car against your taxes
as long as you're doing it for business.
If you are a regular nine to five employee,
you wouldn't have this benefit,
so you should definitely take advantage of this
as an entrepreneur, because while you're sitting there
racking up those miles, running down your car,
while you're sitting there
paying those ever climbing gas fees,
then you might as well be able to deduct that
since it's an investment that you're making
for the sake of your business.
You're not sitting in traffic for your health.
I know that's right.
So, like, I'm here in Atlanta,
so I'm dealing with all of it, okay?
If you're going to be sitting there
and you're gonna be dealing with it,
you might as well know that there's a silver lining,
and that's that, well, this is gonna go against your taxes.
I wanna thank my friends over at TurboTax for helping me out
with the info and the research for this video.
I couldn't have done it without them.
No, I really couldn't have done it without them
because, you know, all the disclaimers, right?
But the great news is that now you have some things
that you may not have known
that can help you in your business.
Filing taxes on your own is extremely complicated,
so if you're going to self-file,
I would highly recommend that you use TurboTax Live
so that you can get that advice
from a certified public accountant in real time
and they can help you navigate all the difficulties.
Question of the day.
What's something you wish you had known
before you started your business?
I would really love to hear
from a lot of the other entrepreneurs in this community
in the comment section.
Like this video if you liked it.
Don't forget to subscribe.
Check out the other awesome stuff here on the channel.
As always, you guys, thanks so very much for watching
and don't forget, go out there
and create something awesome today.
Take care.
(gentle electronic music)