Customer Reviews

Tax Savvy for Small Business

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I recommend this book to individuals who run a small business or plan to start a small business.

This is a great book that goes through some tax fundamentals that all small businesses should know. Fredrick Daily has a great talent with translating complicated tax issues into plain English. The book goes through fundamentals areas such as tax basics, deductions, C and S corporations, fringe benefits, and etc.

At the very least, this book has prompted a look back at how my small business' tax structure is set up.

For those who care to save time and money, this is the book for you.

As a tax attorney I find this book, a great resource. My practice is very specialized and when I need an overview of areas outside of my specialty, I find Frederick W. Daily's books to be a great first stop. Taxation of business entities (not my specialty)is arguably the most complex area of the Internal Revenue Code, This book makes these complex principals not only easy to understand, but offers invaluable tax strategies to save big tax $$$$. On more than one occasion I have loaned copies of this book to clients because it does a better job giving an overview of complex concepts in a clear and concise way.

Marty Burbank, Esq.
Estate Tax Planning & Asset Protection
marty@martyburbanklaw.com

Taxes related to a small business are complex and even a little bewildering if you haven't gotten into them before. But as this book says, they're not rocket science difficult.

Here in one book is a general introduction to the major business taxes that we all have to face. In addition there are comments based on experience such as: "Few people ever file form 5213 (Election to Postpone Determination that Activity is for Profit), and for good reason. It draws the IRS's attention and may invite an audit." This kind of advice is hard to find in real life, but here the author has enough experience in the area to make such statements.

Most of the book is on the standard kinds of accounting records you'll need to keep, the limits and philosophies that the IRS follows, etc.

I'm a nervous business owner, and I tend to worry a lot about the things I don't know that will cause barriers to my success. I am particularly concerned about taxes--how much to pay, what exemptions are correct, ad infinitum. Thankfully, Nolo's excellent "Tax Savvy for Small Business" is there to provide a fairly comprehensive review of the issues and concerns most small business owners face every year as we struggle through the burden of calculating and paying our fair share to the IRS.

Granted, "Tax Savvy for Small Business" doesn't cover everything, but it nails the core topics that we all face, like how to...

--deduct current and capitalized expenses
--write off up to $108,000 of long-term assets each year
--compare different business structures
--take advantage of fringe benefits
--keep records that will head off trouble with the IRS
--get tax breaks from business losses
--deal with payroll taxes
--negotiate payment plans for late taxes
--handle an audit
--get IRS penalties and interest reduced
--maximize retirement funds

In my opinion, a smart overview of any of these topics is worth the price of the book. Think about the value of your time, and how much you're spending to have a distracted, overworked tax specialist help you--with dubious results. Now with "Tax Savvy for Small Business" you have the knowledge of that specialist on demand, at your fingertips, 24 x 7. And that, to me, is real peace of mind.

I'm a fan of NOLO books and this is no exception. Frederick Daily takes the dull-but-important subject and presents it in a clear, organized way with numerous examples, explanations and sample forms. The large size of the book (about 8 1/2" x 12") allows generous space for information which, in turn, makes it easier to read and think about.

Beyond some things you would obviously expect--how to choose deductions and write of long-term assets-it goes into depth on the structuring of your business (LLC, C-Corporation, Sole Proprietorship, etc) and how they actually work. I wish I had read this section BEFORE setting up my business as a Sole Proprietorship.

Most of the book is a thoughtful, thought-provoking exploration of the specific pros and cons of starting a business--then also what happens when you decide to sell it, what happens if you're audited by the IRS, and so on.

I have a small business and found this extremely useful. But it would have been even better to read this book BEFORE starting your business. There's so much to know about with any business, but "follow the money" is key and knowing what you're getting into beforehand is just...wise. This is a great book to help small businesses through that process.

Being a small business owner, this book draw my attention from tons of others sitting on the bookstore shelf and I was not disappointed - well structured and easy to read wealth of information that helps you navigate through complexities of IRS official publications. Add to that a bit of humor scattered throughout the book and reading about taxes and accounting turns out to be a pleasure ! Would certainly give it triple BUY rating

Great book and an essential read for anyone starting and running a business. Essential advice as well as useful guides for communicating with the IRS. Examples I've used include changing my S corp election to a C corp and also the process to apply for a first time abatement of penalties. This book has helped reduce my tax related anxieties to a tolerable level. Tax attorney Frederick W. Daily has consolidated a wealth of information into a easy to read and extremely useful 300+ page reference. This will be one of my core texts when I teach a course on "How to Start and Run a Company" at the local community college. I've waited for nearly two decades to start a company because the tax code always overwhelmed me (and I had studied accounting for two years in college before becoming an engineer). If I had read this book earlier I would not have been nearly so apprehensive.

The book can serve as both a reference and chair-side book. It covers most of the areas important to owners of small businesses. The writing is easy to follow. It makes topics clear without confusing financial jargon. While succinct in its coverage of most topics, it includes references to pertinent IRS publications and helpful web sites. I find myself rereading sections and finding helpful ideas. My only issues with the book is that I wish more information was provided in certain areas.

We all learn a lot of things in our standard high school and college curriculums. Typically though, practical skills and know-how are not emphasized at all. For example-did you learn to balance your checkbook in school? But, we all really do need to know these things. So-where are we going to learn all those useful, practical skills that help us negotiate the hard roads of every day business life? Well, googling your topic on line is helpful as are expensive night courses. Or you can pick up this book and get a better understanding of running your business efficiently.

This is easy to read, well organized, and helpful. Remember, "it's not what you make but what you keep!" A good knowledge of the taxes affecting your business will certainly help you to make less errors and keep more of your hard earned funds. Remember-no one is going to teach you this-accountants, lawyers, etc-they all have a different agenda and really, it is seldom yours.

Get a better understanding of running your business in a cost effective manner with this book.

This book is written very clearly and does a great job of including a lot of suggestions for things you can do that might never have occurred to you otherwise. For example, he discusses the advantages of hiring your (even very young) children to do some work for the business. This can give them a way to have responsibilities and earn some money (so long as the amounts aren't large they'll generally have no tax liabilities) while giving you some tax advantages as well. The author very clearly lays out what you need to do and consider to be sure that you do it without breaking any rules.

Given that tax laws are complicated and dense, the author did a really impressive job of breaking it down into plain English. It's still probably a good idea to get some professional advice in dealing with your taxes if you can possibly afford it, but I think this book is well worth its price for anyone who's running a small business. It can save you money by helping you to do part of the work for yourself so that you don't need to use as much of an accountant's time, it may give you some good ideas for strategies you can pursue, and at the very least having some background knowledge will make you a better judge of whether you've hired the right financial professional to help you.

My copy of this book was given to me for the purposes of writing a review. I'm impressed enough with it that, if I have a future need for this type of information, I will definitely be looking to buy a copy of the latest edition of the book that's available.