During January

All employers – Give your employees their copies of Form W-2 for 2017 by January 31, 2018. 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.

All Businesses – Give annual information statements to recipients of certain payments you made during 2017. 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.

January 10

Employees – who work for tips. If you received $20 or more in tips during December 2017, report them to your employer. You can use Form 4070, Employee’s Report of Tips to Employer.

January 16

Employers – Social Security, Medicare, and withheld income tax. If the monthly deposit rule applies, deposit the tax for payments in December 2017.

Individuals – Make a payment of your estimated tax for 2017 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 2017 estimated tax. However, you do not have to make this payment if you file your 2017 return (Form 1040) and pay any tax due by January 31, 2018.

Employers – Nonpayroll Withholding. If the monthly deposit rule applies, deposit the tax for payments in December 2017.

Farmers and Fisherman – Pay your estimated tax for 2017 using Form 1040-ES. You have until April 17 to file your 2017 income tax return (Form 1040). If you do not pay your estimated tax by January 16, you must file your 2017 return and pay any tax due by March 1, 2018, to avoid an estimated tax penalty.

January 31

Employers – Federal unemployment tax. File Form 940 for 2017. 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 12 to file the return.

Farm Employers – File Form 943 to report social security and Medicare taxes and withheld income tax for 2017. 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 12 to file the return.

Certain Small Employers – File Form 944 to report Social Security and Medicare taxes and withheld income tax for 2017. Deposit or pay any undeposited tax under the accuracy of deposit rules. If your tax liability is $2,500 or more from 2017 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 12 to file the return.

Employers – Social Security, Medicare, and withheld income tax. File Form 941 for the fourth quarter of 2017. 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 10 to file the return.

Employers – Nonpayroll taxes. File Form 945 to report income tax withheld for 2017 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 12 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 2017 by January 31, 2018. If an employee agreed to receive Form W-2 electronically, post it on a website accessible to the employee and notify the employee by January 31, 2018.

Businesses – Give annual information statements to recipients of certain payments made during 2017. 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 16, you may choose (but are not required) to file your income tax return (Form 1040) for 2017 by January 31. Filing your return and paying any tax due by January 31, 2018, 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 17, 2018.

• By Leon Clinton
• January 3, 2018

QuickBooks never forgets. That is one of the reasons you use it. You create a record or transaction, enter a note about a customer, or write a check, for example, and the information gets stored in your QuickBooks file. If you do not remember exactly where it is, you can search for it. No more flipping through a card file or folder, or digging in drawers.

QuickBooks makes it possible–easy, even–to maintain thorough records of your vendors, the individuals, and companies who provide you with office supplies, product parts, computer equipment –everything you need to keep your business operating. Once you have started building a vendor record, you will be able to use it in transactions and reports and be able to refer to it when you need some information.

If you are just starting to use QuickBooks, part of your setup will involve entering vendor details in the record template the software supplies. If you have been a QuickBooks user for a while, but you have only supplied enough information about vendors to create transactions, consider fleshing out those elements of your accounting file as you have time.

Filling in Fields

To create a vendor record, open the Vendors menu and select Vendor Center. Above the tabbed table, there is a small toolbar. Open the New Vendor menu and click on New Vendor. A window like this will open:

Figure 1: You can store an enormous amount of detailed information about your vendors in these record templates.

At the top of the screen (not pictured here) is a box labeled Vendor Name. Enter it, then move on to the Opening Balance field and supply the amount and date. If you don’t understand the concept of opening balances, please call the office and one of our QuickBooks professionals will go over this with you.

Fill in as many of these fields as you can, and then click on the Payment Settings tab in the toolbar on the left. The fields in this window–Payment Terms, Credit Limit, etc.–are optional, but complete what you are able to. The more you can fill out now, the less work you will have to do later, since much of the information here automatically comes up when you create transactions.

The other tabs here open windows where you can specify:

• Tax Settings. Vendor Tax ID and 1099 eligibility.
• Account Settings. Here, you can select the default account that should be automatically selected when you enter a bill or expense for this vendor (for example, phone bills=Utilities: Telephone). Give the office a call if you aren’t clear about this particular step. It’s OK to leave it blank for now.
• Additional Info. Vendor Type (subcontractors, for example) and Custom Fields (fields you can define for your own use).

When you are done, click OK.

Viewing Your Records

Once you have created one or more vendor records, the Vendor Center will display a list of them in its left pane. Click on one to highlight it, and you will see something like this in the right pane:

Figure 2: The Vendor Information window displays contact information in the top pane (not pictured here), and additional details below.

Here is where your conscientious work creating records starts to pay off. Click on any of the five tabs in the top toolbar to display that vendor’s Transactions, the Contacts from that company, any related To Do’s, Notes you have taken, and Sent Email. Once your lists grow unwieldy, you can search by a variety of filters.

Using Records in Transactions

There are numerous transaction types that require vendor information, like purchase orders, bills, checks, and sales tax payments. When you open one of these transaction forms and click the down arrow in the Vendor field, your list will drop down. Select one, and related details that you’ve already entered will automatically appear in the correct fields.

You can create vendor transactions from either the home page or the menus. You can also do so from the Vendor Center. With either the Vendors or Transactions tab active, you would click on the New Transactions link in the upper toolbar and select the one you want to launch.

Figure 3: QuickBooks provides numerous paths to creating vendor-related transactions.

The mechanics of filling in the fields in vendor records and using that information in transactions are not overly complicated. But as noted here, you may run across unfamiliar concepts. If you need help with any aspect of QuickBooks’ vendor records, please call.

• By Leon Clinton
• December 31, 2017

Do you plan to donate your time to charity this holiday season? If travel is part of your charitable giving, for example, driving your personal auto to collect donations from local business, you may be able to these travel expenses on your tax return and lower your tax bill. Here are five tax tips you should know if you travel while giving your services to charity.

1. Qualified Charities. To be able to deduct your costs, your volunteer work must be for a qualified charity. Most groups must apply to the IRS to become qualified. Churches and governments are generally qualified and do not need to apply to the IRS. Ask the group about its status before you donate. You can also use the “Exempt Organizations Select Check” search tool on IRS.gov to check a group’s status or call the office.

2. Out-of-Pocket Expenses. You can’t deduct the value of your services that you give to charity. But you may be able to deduct some out-of-pocket costs you pay to give your services. This can include the cost of travel, but they must be necessary while you are away from home. All out-of-pocket costs must be:

• Unreimbursed,
• Directly connected with the services,
• Expenses you had only because of the services you gave, and
• Not personal, living or family expenses.

3. Genuine and Substantial Duty. Your charity work has to be real and substantial throughout the trip. You can’t deduct expenses if you only have nominal duties or do not have any duties for significant parts of the trip.

4. Value of Time or Service. You can’t deduct the value of your time or services that you give to charity. This includes income lost while you serve as an unpaid volunteer for a qualified charity.

5. Travel You Can Deduct. The types of expenses that you may be able to deduct include Air, rail and bus transportation, car expenses, lodging costs, cost of meals, and taxi or other transportation costs between the airport or station and your hotel.

6. Travel You Can’t Deduct. Some types of travel do not qualify for a tax deduction. For example, you can’t deduct your costs if a significant part of the trip involves recreation or vacation.

Don’t hesitate to call if you have any questions about travel expenses related to charitable work.

• By Leon Clinton
• December 28, 2017