Sep 9, 2016
The first question is why doesn’t the tax accountant help me
with Job Costing? The reason is they are Tax Accountants, not Construction
Accountants.
If you say "I want to go to ONE Place to all my answers. Have a
dedicated person be available whenever I call." You are not likely
to find what you are looking for because someone with those skills
will cost you several hundred dollars an hour.
Maybe you think they are The Accountants and they should know the
answers. They are just keeping it a secret. Maybe they don’t know
what they are doing, and I need to get a new tax accountant.
My Advice is Stop, take a deep breath. Is your tax accountant doing
a good job with your annual taxes? If the answer is YES. Please
keep them, they are doing what they are supposed to do.
Annual taxes is like a job site at the end of the project. The Tax
Accountant has a “Punch List” with loose ends everywhere, final
cleanup of the job site needs to be done everywhere.
Think of it as a Residential Project with the Homeowner living
there. Everything needs to be gently picked up, clean up, tidied up
and look way better than before you came (or better yet; nicer than
when the house was brand new) The same thing applies to your
taxes.
All the numbers are placed on your tax return in a specific order.
Think Proposals which can be a summary of what you are doing.
Detailed Estimate is the nuts and bolts with subtotals. Nuts and
bolts are part of job costing reports, subtotals and totals move to
the tax return. Not all of the items you spent money on are actual
tax deductions.
The tax accountant must be up to date on the latest changes made by
Congress and implemented by the Internal Revenue Service.
Remember a few years ago when Congress made changes went they met
in January. Then next the Internal Revenue Service had to determine
how those changes applied to the individual pages on the tax
return. Those changes then had to be sent to the software engineers
to update all of the tax software.
The rule is the first two pages of the annual 1040 are the summary
of your, mine and everyone else’s tax return. The balance of the
many pages of your tax return is supporting documents and
worksheets.
Congress in a single bill can make decisions that are for the
current year (today), future years (tomorrow), and yesterday (as in
the example of the year changes were made in January that impacted
the prior year’s taxes).
Most tax accountants are “Generalists” which means they have every
combination of family structure, with and without children, elderly
parents, grown children that moved back home, and friends they are
helping out. Do you have health insurance, a qualified plan,
non-qualified, State-run plan, or hoping for the best and will pay
the No Insurance penalty.
Do you own your home, have a second home, RV or Travel Trailer that
qualifies as a second home. What about IRA’s, 401k’s, changed jobs,
someone was ill; had to or chose to take an early distribution.
What is a tax deduction and What is Not a tax deduction?
Now add a business to the mix. Is the business a Sole Proprietor,
LLC, Sub-Chapter S-Corp, C-Corp, Partnership. Did you take a
payroll, Loans to Owner, Loans to Members, Loans to Shareholder
(makes a difference when preparing the tax return?
If you are a Sole Prop, LLC being treated as a Sole Prop or a
Partnership, then there is an additional form “Self-Employment Tax”
which leads to paying quarterly estimated taxes Quarterly to the
Internal Revenue Service.
Your Tax returns of today with a business are many pages long; gone
are the days of the Easy File. They were the “Good Old Days” when
you had a W-2 job, no house, and no to a zillion and one other
questions that lead to a tax deduction. Every missing receipt could
be a loss of a tax deduction.
Asking your tax accountant to focus on the details of your business
is just TOO Much. By the time your information gets to the tax
accountant; their focus is working on “The Punch List” starting
first with the business tax return or Schedule C of your 1040
(looking for totals or several totals that are added together).
Finally moving the numbers to the proper forms in order to save you
money on your taxes.
Job Costing and job profitability is a question
about details and good record keeping on the part of the
contractor. A wife, spouse, partner, friend with the help of a
construction accountant provide job costing reports. Without the
proper tools, it is a frustrating activity for everyone
involved.
The contractor, if you don’t know what job you are on and unable to
unwilling to slow down long enough to put a job name on the
receipt. Then expecting others in your life to be able to EASILY
(anything can be done) figure out the job costing with limited
information is unreasonable.
So when the tax accountant tries to keep their expression blank,
without rolling their eyes and gently fobs off you, your wife,
spouse, partner, friend off; they think they have it easy.
Tax accountant rolls the numbers all up. (Think subtotals on a
proposal) Did the company make a profit Yes or No; determine your
depreciation, review your travel, meals and entertainment, other
misc. items.
Move the numbers over to the personal side (1040 Return) which can
also be messy. Complete your return. Thank you for coming in. Send
you back to your Construction Accountant for more job costing
details. Hoping you have a better year and a little cleaner, tidier
records the next time you meet.
I trust this podcast helps you understand that outsourcing your contractors bookkeeping services to us is about more than just “doing the bookkeeping”; it is about taking holistic approach to your entire construction company and helping support you as a contractor and as a person.
We understand the good, bad and the ugly about owning and operating construction companies because we have had several of them and we sincerely care about you and your construction company!
That is all I have for now and if you have listened this far please do me the honor of commenting and rating podcast www.FastEasyAccounting.com/podcast Tell me what you liked, did not like, tell it as you see it because your feedback is crucial and I thank you in advance.
I trust this will be of value to you and your feedback is always welcome at www.FastEasyAccounting.com/podcast
This is one more example of how Fast Easy Accounting is helping construction company owners across the USA including Alaska and Hawaii put more money in the bank to operate and grow your construction company. Construction accounting is not rocket science; it is a lot harder than that and a lot more valuable to construction contractors like you so stop missing out and call Sharie 206-361-3950 or email sharie@fasteasyaccounting.com
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Need Help Now?
Call Sharie 206-361-3950
Thank you very much and I hope you understand we really do care about you and all contractors regardless of whether or not you ever hire our services.
Bye for now until our next episode here on the Contractors Success MAP Podcast.
Warm Regards,
Randal DeHart | Contractors Accountant
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