Don't Mess With Taxes

While individual taxpayers have until April 15 this year to file their returns or get an extension, many business filers are on a different schedule.

Sure, a lot of self-employed taxpayers (including me) will send in a Schedule C detailing business income, expenses and deductions as part of Form 1040 by the April deadline.

But incorporated businesses and partnerships have to get their forms to the Internal Revenue Service a month earlier. That March 15 deadline is just one of the many tax differences with which millions of business tax filers must deal.

It's also today's Daily Tax Tip.

In addition to the usual calendar grids, the document elaborates on key business tax issues each month.

Calendar access options: If you want a paper copy to hang on your wall, sorry. This was a popular item. The IRS is already out of stock and it doesn't plan to reprint any more.

But, as Rick would say to Ilsa if "Casablanca" were to be remade (God forbid!) today, we always have the Internet.

There's the business tax calendar online version, which closes each Monthly Tax Moves feature (now with the redesign found in the right column of the ol' blog). If you prefer, there's an online version with business tax reminders in Spanish.

Or you can subscribe to the calendar or import the tax due dates into your Outlook calendar.

Check your desktop: Is your computer calendar already jammed? Or you don't want to mess with a big old PDF on your PC or laptop?

No problem.

Install the IRS Calendar Connector on your computer(s) and access key business tax dates right from your desktop, even when you're offline.

As new events are added, promises the IRS, they will be automatically updated via the desktop tool.

The customizable tool lets you pick what types of business tax alerts you wish to view: general, employer, excise or all.

You also can choose how you want the reminders displayed: by day, week or month.

More small business tax topics: If you're looking for more business tax information, the IRS has just the pages for you.

The tax agency's main Tax Information for Businesses site has links to its Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center (for those of us with assets of less than $10 million) and Employment Taxes for Businesses and more.

And don't forget to peruse the IRS' A-Z Index for Business.

As for the ol' blog, long-time readers know that I tend to focus on individual taxes. Some of those tax tips do cross over, such as this one for sole proprietors who file Schedule C or C-EZ with their personal Form 1040s.

Note: Although the above Schedule C post was for the 2011 tax year, the general advice still applies. As for the mileage specifics, here are the 2012-2013 IRS standard mileage deduction rates. 

You also can check out Tax Mama, who in addition to providing regular small business tax tips has published a book on the topic, and Barbara Weltman, another small business tax book author and valuable online biz tax presence.

You also might find these items of interest:

• Employees or contractors? It makes a big tax difference
• Your boss is worried about your retirement, too
• 10 easy tax deductions for bloggers and other online businesses