During January

All employers – Give your employees their copies of Form W-2 for 2018 by January 31, 2019. If an employee agreed to receive Form W-2 electronically, post it on a website accessible to the employee and notify the employee of the posting by January 31.

January 10

Employees – who work for tips. If you received $20 or more in tips during December 2018, report them to your employer. You can use Form 4070, Employee’s Report of Tips to Employer.

January 15

Employers – Social Security, Medicare, and withheld income tax. If the monthly deposit rule applies, deposit the tax for payments in December 2018.

Individuals – Make a payment of your estimated tax for 2018 if you did not pay your income tax for the year through withholding (or did not pay in enough tax that way). Use Form 1040-ES. This is the final installment date for 2018 estimated tax. However, you do not have to make this payment if you file your 2018 return (Form 1040) and pay any tax due by January 31, 2019.

Employers – Nonpayroll Withholding. If the monthly deposit rule applies, deposit the tax for payments in December 2018.

Farmers and Fisherman – Pay your estimated tax for 2018 using Form 1040-ES. You have until April 15 (April 17 if you live in Maine and Massachusetts) to file your 2018 income tax return (Form 1040). If you do not pay your estimated tax by January 15, you must file your 2018 return and pay any tax due by March 1, 2019, to avoid an estimated tax penalty.

January 31

Employers – Federal unemployment tax. File Form 940 for 2018. If your undeposited tax is $500 or less, you can either pay it with your return or deposit it. If it is more than $500, you must deposit it. However, if you already deposited the tax for the year in full and on time, you have until February 11 to file the return.

Farm Employers – File Form 943 to report social security and Medicare taxes and withheld income tax for 2018. Deposit or pay any undeposited tax under the accuracy of deposit rules. If your tax liability is less than $2,500, you can pay it in full with a timely filed return. If you deposited the tax for the year in full and on time, you have until February 11 to file the return.

Certain Small Employers – File Form 944 to report Social Security and Medicare taxes and withheld income tax for 2018. Deposit or pay any undeposited tax under the accuracy of deposit rules. If your tax liability is $2,500 or more from 2018 but less than $2,500 for the fourth quarter, deposit any undeposited tax or pay it in full with a timely filed return. If you deposited the tax for the year timely, properly, and in full, you have until February 11 to file the return.

Employers – Social Security, Medicare, and withheld income tax. File Form 941 for the fourth quarter of 2018. Deposit any undeposited tax. If your tax liability is less than $2,500, you can pay it in full with a timely filed return. If you deposited the tax for the quarter in full and on time, you have until February 11 to file the return.

Employers – Nonpayroll taxes. File Form 945 to report income tax withheld for 2018 on all nonpayroll items, including backup withholding and withholding on pensions, annuities, IRAs, gambling winnings, and payments of Indian gaming profits to tribal members. Deposit any undeposited tax. If your tax liability is less than $2,500, you can pay it in full with a timely filed return. If you deposited the tax for the year in full and on time, you have until February 11 to file the return.

Payers of Gambling Winnings – If you either paid reportable gambling winnings or withheld income tax from gambling winnings, give the winners their copies of Form W-2G.

Employers – Give your employees their copies of Form W-2 for 2018. If an employee agreed to receive Form W-2 electronically, post it on a website accessible to the employee and notify the employee.

Businesses – Give annual information statements to recipients of certain payments made during 2018. You can use the appropriate version of Form 1099 or other information return. Form 1099 can be issued electronically with the consent of the recipient. This due date only applies to certain types of payments.

Individuals – who must make estimated tax payments. If you did not pay your last installment of estimated tax by January 15, you may choose (but are not required) to file your income tax return (Form 1040) for 2018 by January 31. Filing your return and paying any tax due by January 31, 2019, prevents any penalty for late payment of the last installment. If you cannot file and pay your tax by January 31, file and pay your tax by April 15, 2019 (April 17 if you live in Maine or Massachusetts).

Health Coverage Reporting – If you are an Applicable Large Employer, provide Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage, to full-time employees. For all other providers of minimum essential coverage, provide Form 1095-B, Health Coverage, to responsible individuals.

• By Leon Clinton
• January 2, 2019

Last month, we explained that the process of paying bills in QuickBooks requires two separate sets of actions. We went over what’s required to enter bills and to set up reminders, so they don’t get overlooked. This month’s column will walk you through the second step: paying the bills.

You’ll remember you must first click Enter Bills on the home page (or open the Vendors menu and select Enter Bills), which opens a graphical representation of a bill. Select a Vendor from the drop-down list and complete the remaining fields in the top box. Make sure the Amount Due carries over to the lower part of the screen under either the Expenses or Items tab and that the rest of the fields there are completed and correct before you save the bill.

A bill, once saved, will be available to you when you click Pay Bills on the home page. That action will open a window like this one:

Figure 1: When you click Pay Bills on QuickBooks’ home page, a screen containing a table like this will open. 

In the upper left corner, you’ll first SELECT BILLS TO BE PAID by either defining a date range or asking to see all bills that have been entered but not yet paid. To the right of those options is the Filter Byfield. You can open the list and click All Vendors or click on a specific vendor. Selecting an option in the Sort By field allows you to change the display order of the list of bills.

Selecting Bills

Next, you’ll have to indicate which bills you want to pay, and by what method. It may take more than one pass if you’re using different payment methods for different vendors. If that’s the case, you’ll have to select bills in batches. Click in the box in front of each bill that you want to pay (or click Select All Bills below the table).

There are several columns in the table you will see. Some will already be filled in for each vendor with information that was included in the actual bill, like REF. NO. and AMT. DUE. Others refer to discounts and credits. If you’ve already set up vendor discounts (early payment, for example) or are entitled to a credit (overpayment, returned merchandise, etc.) and have set up QuickBooks to apply those to bills automatically, they should appear in those columns.

Tip: If you are the company administrator, you can set up this option. Open the Edit menu and select Preferences | Bills. With the Company Preferences tab active, check the boxes in front of Automatically Use Credits and Automatically Use Discounts, and select the correct Default Discount Account. Discounts and credits are rather complex concepts in QuickBooks, and you might need help setting them up. If so, don’t hesitate to call.

The final step in bill paying on this page is to enter the AMT. TO PAY at the end of each applicable row.

Dispatching Payments

If you’ve selected All Bills (or chosen a batch that will use the same payment method), you’ll need to deal with the lower half of the bill-pay screen, which will look something like this:

Figure 2: Whether you’ll be dealing with credits and discounts or not you’ll still have some work to do at the bottom of the bill-paying screen.

You can click on Go to Bill if you need to see the original form; also, verify the Payment Date and Terms are correct. You can still Set Discount and Set Credits here, but again, please don’t do so until we’ve scheduled a session to go over these advanced tools if you plan to use them. Select a payment method for the bills you’ve selected; the options and account to the right of your choice will change depending on which it is.

When you’re done, click Pay Selected Bills and do any follow-up work that’s requested.

The bill-pay process in QuickBooks has a lot of moving parts, some of which may need prep work before you can dispatch bills. If you’re planning to use this element of QuickBooks, please call to set up a consultation. Although beneficial, it’s one of the more complicated processes in the software, and it must be carried out with extreme accuracy. When you’re ready to get started, please call the office for assistance.

• By Leon Clinton
• December 29, 2018

Tax reform legislation passed in December 2017 included numerous changes that affect businesses this year. One of them allows businesses to write off most depreciable business assets in the year they place them in service. Here are five facts to help businesses better understand this deduction:

1. The 100-percent depreciation deduction generally applies to depreciable business assets with a recovery period of 20 years or less and certain other property.

2. Machinery, equipment, computers, appliances, and furniture generally qualify.

3. The 100-percent depreciation deduction applies to qualifying property acquired and placed in service after September 27, 2017.

4. Taxpayers who elect out of the 100-percent depreciation deduction for a class of property must do so on a timely filed return.

5. The IRS has issued proposed regulations with guidance on what property qualifies and rules for qualified film, television and live theatrical productions, and certain plants.

For more details about the 100-percent depreciation deduction or electing out of claiming it, please call.

• By Leon Clinton
• December 27, 2018