There are numerous legal ways to deduct your business expenses during for Halloween season. You can deduct Halloween candy, decorations, anything that you can make BUSINESS-RELATED.
How to Write-Off Candy
The simple trick a lot of businesses use is the branding method. They take something that they want to use for their business and put their logo on it. A great example would be buying candy or other promotional products that you want to give to your clients or the community, then attaching your business card or something with your company image on it.
Deductible business expenses are considered to be ordinary and necessary. Boosting sales, creating client connections and will overall promote your business. If you decide to host a company Halloween party like “The Office”, that’s not dedutible. YOU HAVE TO HAVE MORE THAN JUST EMPLOYEES THERE, for these expenses to be tax deductible. Clients, Potential Clients and Family should be invited to get that write-off.
Alright, the party is over, what do you do with excess candy? You can donate the unused candy to Nonprofits and other tax-exempt organizations, according to the IRS. More deductible Halloween expenses follow the same guidelines as candy.
Sadly, individuals or W2, wage earners can not deduct these expenses.
There’s nothing more frustrating that someone not getting back to you in a timely manner. It should not take your Bookkeeper more than 3 business days to get back to you! There are some exceptions like, vacation, emergencies, things of that nature, but if your Bookkeeper is not meeting your needs in a good time, they may be doing the bare minimum, something unethical, etc. It’s okay to demand transaprency, especially when it comes to your money!
Don’t Know the Ins and Outs of Bookkeeping
It’s imperative that you don’t choose the cheapest person you can find, becuase you may “get what you pay for”. Finding an experience Bookkeeper may be harder than one knows. Bookkeepers are not “one size fits all”, just as not all businesses are the same. Getting a professional who is an expert in your field is your best option. Make sure they’re certified, educated or experienced.
Don’t Give Access to See Your Books
This is a major red flag! As the business owner, you should have access to the software and your books regardless of if you pay the subscription. It’s not safe to work with a Bookkeeper that gatekeepers or is so secretive of their work. It makes transparency impossible!
There should be a system in place to ask necessary questions. Question along the lines of identifying the problem or challenge , type of business, more detail about business, number of accounts and types, and expectations…
Slow to Produce Financial Statements
Your Bookkeeper should provide access to financial statements for the prior month, no later than the middle of the next month. This is important, because it can become annoying to ask your Bookkeeper for these statements when you need them and they take a while to produce them. You Bookkeeper is doing their job when you know when to expect these documents without having to ask.
Don’t Provide Suggestions
Businesses should provide better business practices willingly, because happy client makes a happy bookkeeper. Its their job to consult with you on new policies that may affect your business as well as ways to save your money.
By this point, the is a deal breaker. If your account aren’t ready for the next cycle by the middle of the next month, you’re better off keeping the fee you pay your Bookkeeper and paying your kid to do it for you. It’s never okay to be behind on your books! Your business can’t grow or scale if you don;t have clean books; you’d have to wait to get funding, wait to find out your sustainability and you won’t be able to plan for the future.
This is the overall goal of Bookkeeping! This information should be stored in a server from start to finish, or to when the business started making money.
Miss Deadlines
Deadlines = Efficiency! When Bookkeepers are inable to work in certain paramaters, it shows that maybe they’re not in the right profession. Missing deadlines can cause late fees, penalties and a loss of business. This will slow the business down tremedously.
D'Myia Thornton 