It’s been a heck-of-a couple of weeks around here, but I don’t think I’ve been this excited about things in a good while. Then again, I don’t think I’ve also been this wracked and torn and broken, either. Makes for a great story for the grand-kids if I can remember details like this. Never mind – I’m writing it down here!
On March 30th, I filed with the State of Florida to create a limited liability corporation: Petersen Media Group, LLC and immediately applied for my EIN to get a business bank account to bring stuff out of my PayPal account for easier accounting and purchasing. That was very exciting and we are still on a high from all of that. I’m following in some pretty solid footsteps with my family, since my grandpa ran a John Deere dealership for decades and both my aunt and uncle run their own businesses and my mom ran a home business for quite a while when I was younger. None of them are here to help, but things are rocking anyway.
I got a book on small investments and it had a chapter on when to save money and do your finances during the year. I choked when I saw the section about filing estimated taxes on April 15th and dug around to discover “unemployment taxes” and all kinds of other penalty-inducing crap from the IRS. This was one of the wracked and torn bits from my opening. It finally got to the point where it was time to just download all of the stinking forms I could find and walk through them step by step to see what the real story was. After 2 hours of calculating, I determined that 40% of our income this year will be deductible, plus my wife’s income has witholdings, and I just got more and more confused.
So I hired an accountant! I made a call to the guy my wife’s office has used for over 10 years and set up an appointment for tomorrow afternoon to finish filing paperwork for the LLC and to determine what taxes are due next week. His office manager was very happy to hear that I was not trying to file my 2008 corporation taxes this late in the game.
“Did you file for an extension yet?” was how she started off after my introduction.
“No, did I need to? I mean estimated taxes are due next week. I should think I can figure out my estimated dues by then,” was all I knew. Gulp! She then asked what year these taxes were for and laughed in relief that I was not some poor fella about to die of a heart attack. I’m sure he’ll set everything straight, even if the result is more expensive than I like.
I’d rather pay now than owe later with penalties, anyway. This way, I know that all of the details have been looked after by someone who’s done it infinitely more times than I have. I’d better get out my old work clothes so he won’t be afraid that I can’t pay him!
Hey Jesse! GREAT idea on hiring the accountant. Glad you did it and already knew of a trustworthy one. I have a feeling you’ll be too busy keeping your customers satisfied to manage all the tax issues to boot. It seems like the government is deliberately trying to stifle business with all the taxes and forms. Keep us posted, OK?
Hey Jesse! GREAT idea on hiring the accountant. Glad you did it and already knew of a trustworthy one. I have a feeling you’ll be too busy keeping your customers satisfied to manage all the tax issues to boot. It seems like the government is deliberately trying to stifle business with all the taxes and forms. Keep us posted, OK?
Yeah, yeah, he’s so getting a plug on the site if he’s dope. You’re sure right, though; with the taxes and the insurance issues, I dropped the ball on a few people and had to send some ooops apologies. We’re all good and trying to work back up to completion.
Yeah, yeah, he’s so getting a plug on the site if he’s dope. You’re sure right, though; with the taxes and the insurance issues, I dropped the ball on a few people and had to send some ooops apologies. We’re all good and trying to work back up to completion.