Introduction

      Welcome to the third edition of Small Business Taxes For Dummies!

      Starting and operating a small business involves many moving parts and issues. Money is the lifeblood of any business. You need money to start a business, and you need money to keep a business going.

      As you earn and spend money in your business, taxes permeate just about everything that you do. Taxes are too often maddeningly complicated. But they need not be so. Enter this book! And the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act federal income tax bill, which took effect in 2018, produced many changes that reduced and positively impacted small-business taxes. There have been additional and important tax law changes since, which are included in this latest edition.

      I’ve owned and operated numerous small businesses in my life. I love the freedom and opportunity to pursue what I believe in and what interests me. And I generally detest dealing with tax issues. But I also know how important tax issues are in terms of the financial success or lack thereof for a small business.

      Handled in the best possible way, you can save yourself tens of thousands — if not hundreds of thousands — of dollars by making informed tax moves. And you can comply with the tax rules and regulations and stay out of trouble with the Internal Revenue Service and your state and local tax authorities.

      But if you stick your head in the sand or give in to the complexities of the tax laws, you may end up in trouble both financially and with the law.

About This Book

      For most folks, their single biggest “expense” is their tax bill. And for tens of millions of small-business owners, the nation’s tax laws are a complex and constantly changing web ready to trip them up and siphon off their most precious and valuable business resource — their money.

Small Business Taxes For Dummies, 3rd edition, assists both current and aspiring small-business owners with important tax planning issues, filing issues, dealing with IRS audits and notices, getting help, and more.

      This book provides you with a crash course on taxes and your small business. Specifically, the goal is to ensure your understanding of the myriad tax rules and incentives so you can legally minimize your tax bill, stay in compliance with the law, and maximize your company’s success. You need not read this book in the order it’s presented. You can use the book as a reference and selectively read material currently relevant and of greatest interest to you.

      Here are the biggest changes and updates in this edition:

      I’ve written this book so you can efficiently find information and easily understand what you find. And although I’d like to believe that you want to pore over every last word I’ve written, I actually make it easy for you to identify “skippable” material. This information is the stuff that, although