Fear, Loathing, and Small Business Taxes (infographic)

Taxes. Almost no other word injects as much fear into the hearts and minds of small business owners than this one—no exaggeration. According to score.org, 40% of small business owners say taxes and bookkeeping are the worst parts of business ownership. Considering that 99.9% of all U.S. businesses are small businesses, that adds up to a lot of dread.

But is that sense of fear and dread well-founded? Consider this—even the federal government knows there are problems with compliance. According to the U.S Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship “small businesses spend 2.5 billion hours complying with IRS rules each year. For entrepreneurs, time is one of their most valuable resources. Every hour spent filling out forms or navigating confusing tax rules is an hour they don’t spend marketing their products or thinking about how to grow their business.” 

Here’s how small business taxes look on paper:

BTW, there are ways to make small business taxes easier: Sunrise. It’s Lendio’s free cash flow software for small businesses that can help manage the documents and details needed for taxes. It does more too, like invoicing, tracking payments and expenses, and providing insights so you can keep tabs on your cash flow without making that your full-time job. 

Sunrise analyzes your situation and recommends potential deductions, generates 1099s and identifies the ones you may have missed, and has tools built in so you can reconcile your business’s bank accounts, too, especially since the last thing anyone wants during tax season is to find out they didn’t do something right. And one more plus: Sunrise will estimate your tax burden in advance. That way, you can budget accordingly.

By the way, you can use Sunrise whether you do your own taxes or you have someone do them for you. It’s free either way, although there are premium options with some fancy bells and whistles available, too.

Learn more about Sunrise TaxAssist and how you can get started today.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this post does not, and is not intended to, constitute business, legal, tax, or accounting advice and is provided for general informational purposes only. Readers should contact their attorney, business advisor, or tax advisor to obtain advice on any particular matter.