Month: July 2017

Quickbooks

How to Keep Your QuickBooks Data Safe

Your QuickBooks company file contains some of the most sensitive information on your computer. You may have customers’ credit card numbers and employees’ Social Security numbers. An intruder who captured all that data could create tremendous problems for you and a lot of other people.

That’s probably the worst-case scenario. But other situations could also spell disaster for your business, which involves losing your company data through fraud, hacking, or simple technical failures.

The importance of protecting your QuickBooks company file, especially your customer and payroll information, cannot be overstated. Whether someone steals it or it’s inaccessible for another reason, it’s gone. Keeping your business going after such a loss would be very difficult – maybe even impossible. The tips below should help prevent that from happening.

Internal Safeguards

No business owner wants to believe that his or her employees could use their QuickBooks access to commit fraud. But it happens. Your company file contains credit card and checking account data that could be used for nefarious purposes. As we discussed last spring, you can restrict user access to specific areas and actions of QuickBooks.


Figure 1: You can limit your employees who have QuickBooks access to certain areas and activities.

To get started, open the Company menu and select Set Up Users and Passwords | Set Up Users. The User List window opens. It should have at least one entry there, for you (Admin). Click Add User and enter the employee’s name and password in the next window that opens, and then click Next.

Tip: Your QuickBooks license limits you to a specified number of users. If you’re not sure how many you’re allowed, click F2 to open the Product Information page. The number of user licenses that you’ve paid for appears in the upper left.

On the next page of this wizard, click the button in front of Selected Areas of QuickBooks. The following screens will let you define that employee’s access permissions in areas such as Sales and Accounts Receivable, Inventor, and Payroll and Employees. When you’ve clicked through every screen and reviewed the summary displayed, click Finish. Your user will now be able to sign in and access the areas you specified.

You can–and should–take numerous other steps to keep your QuickBooks data safe. If your company is big enough to have a dedicated IT expert, he or she will handle most of this. But there’s a lot you can do on your own to prevent data loss and theft.

Keep Your Operating System and Applications Updated


Figure 2: Don’t ignore this dialog box.

Software companies’ occasional updates offer more than just adding new features and fixing bugs. They sometimes refresh your software to ensure greater security based on new threats. Don’t forget about those all-important antivirus and anti-malware applications, as well as QuickBooks itself.

Keep Your Networks Safe

Just as a cold virus spreads around your office, so too, can unwanted intrusions like computer viruses. Don’t allow an electronic epidemic to get started; take these steps ahead of time to prevent it:

  • Discourage employees from excessive web browsing. This can be a hard rule to enforce, as some employees probably need internet access for research, timecard entry, and other work-related tasks. Create a firm policy legislating what workers can and can’t do on company-issued equipment (including tablets and smartphones) or any personal devices that use your wireless network.
  • Ask employees to refrain from using public networks on work equipment. Enforce the rules vigorously, and make compliance an element of performance evaluations.
  • Minimize app installations on business smartphones. Employees should ask for approval. Viruses and malware get in that way, as well as through some websites and email attachments.
  • Use monitoring software. If you can’t afford to pay for “managed IT” (a la carte, third-party IT services), install an application that alerts you to problems.

Use Common Sense

You can fight data loss and theft by being cautious. Be diligent about backups, and if you create them on a local, portable device, don’t leave them in the office; cloud-based storage is a better solution. Shred papers that have sensitive information on them. Log out of QuickBooks when you’re not using it or when you leave your office. Be aware of who may be around you, looking over your shoulder.

Data security is a serious matter. Don’t hesitate to call if you are at all concerned with your own data safety.

Tips for posting on social media

Concerned about the safety of your QuickBooks data when posting on social media? Find out what security measures you can take by calling the office today. If you lose your QuickBooks data and you’ll face serious consequences, so make sure you keep backups in a safe place.

Do you issue smartphones to employees? Make sure they’re not used on public networks.

Finally, even if you don’t have an IT specialist, you can still protect your QuickBooks data from viruses and malware. Call today and find out how.

Tax

Small Business Tax Tips: Payroll Expenses

Federal law requires most employers to withhold federal taxes from their employees’ wages. Whether you’re a small business owner who’s just starting out or one who has been in business a while and is ready to hire an employee or two, here are five things you should know about withholding, reporting, and paying employment taxes.

1. Federal Income Tax. Small businesses first need to figure out how much tax to withhold. Small business employers can better understand the process by starting with an employee’s Form W-4 and the withholding tables described in Publication 15, Employer’s Tax Guide. Please call if you need help understanding withholding tables.

2. Social Security and Medicare Taxes. Most employers also withhold social security and Medicare taxes from employees’ wages and deposit them along with the employers’ matching share. In 2013, employers became responsible for withholding the Additional Medicare Tax on wages that exceed a threshold amount as well. There is no employer match for the Additional Medicare Tax, and certain types of wages and compensation are not subject to withholding.

3. Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax. Employers report and pay FUTA tax separately from other taxes. Employees do not pay this tax or have it withheld from their pay. Businesses pay FUTA taxes from their own funds.

4. Depositing Employment Taxes. Generally, employers pay employment taxes by making federal tax deposits through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). The amount of taxes withheld during a prior one-year period determines when to make the deposits. Publication 3151-A, The ABCs of FTDs: Resource Guide for Understanding Federal Tax Deposits and the IRS Tax Calendar for Businesses and Self-Employed are helpful tools.

Failure to make a timely deposit can mean being subject to a failure-to-deposit penalty of up to 15 percent. But the penalty can be waived if an employer has a history of filing required returns and making tax payments on time. Penalty relief is available, however. Please call the office for more information.

5. Reporting Employment Taxes. Generally, employers report wages and compensation paid to an employee by filing the required forms with the IRS. E-filing Forms 940, 941, 943, 944 and 945 is an easy, secure and accurate way to file employment tax forms. Employers filing quarterly tax returns with an estimated total of $1,000 or less for the calendar year may now request to file Form 944,Employer’s ANNUAL Federal Tax Return once a year instead. At the end of the year, the employer must provide employees with Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, to report wages, tips, and other compensation. Small businesses file Forms W-2 and Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements, with the Social Security Administration and if required, state or local tax departments.

Questions about payroll taxes?

If you have any questions about payroll taxes, please contact the office.

Tax

The Simplified Option for Home Office Deduction

If you’re one of the more than 3.4 million taxpayers who claimed deductions for business use of a home (commonly referred to as the home office deduction)–but haven’t taken advantage of it because you thought it was too complicated–then you might be interested in the simplified option.

Available since tax year 2013, the optional home office deduction is capped at $1,500 per year and is based on $5 a square foot for up to 300 square feet of office space.

Currently, taxpayers claiming the home office deduction are generally required to fill out a 43-line form (Form 8829, Expenses for Business Use of Your Home) often with complex calculations of allocated expenses, depreciation, and carryovers of unused deductions. Taxpayers claiming the optional deduction complete a significantly simplified form requiring taxpayers to complete a short worksheet in the tax instructions, and then enter the result on the tax return. There is a special calculation for daycare providers.

Self-employed individuals claim the home office deduction on Form 1040, Schedule C, Line 30; farmers claim it on Schedule F, Line 32 and eligible employees claim it on Schedule A, Line 21.

Though homeowners using the new option cannot depreciate the portion of their home used in a trade or business, they can claim allowable mortgage interest, real estate taxes and casualty losses on the home as itemized deductions on Schedule A. These deductions need not be allocated between personal and business use, as is required under the regular method. Business expenses unrelated to the home, such as advertising, supplies, and wages paid to employees are still fully deductible.

Current restrictions on the home office deduction, such as the requirement that a home office must be used regularly and exclusively for business and the limit tied to the income derived from the particular business, still apply under the new option.

Regardless of the method used to compute the deduction, business expenses in excess of the gross income limitations are not deductible. Deductible expenses for business use of a home include the business portion of real estate taxes, mortgage interest, rent, casualty losses, utilities, insurance, depreciation, maintenance, and repairs. In general, expenses for the parts of the home not used for business are not deductible.Deductions for business storage are deductible when the dwelling unit is the sole fixed location of the business or for regular use of a residence for the provision of daycare services; exclusive use isn’t required in these cases.

Please contact the office if you would like more details about the simplified home office deduction.

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