REVENUE PATROL ALERT - CALL 911 - MISSING REVENUE

What will you take away from this?  Found revenue. LITERALLY!

Yesterday I shared I was working on 1099's.  I sent an e-mail asking for a W-9 from a couple of business owners I do business with and we found $300 that had not been paid.  We both thought a transaction had been paid in full. Yet low and behold, missing revenue was found for a fellow colleague.

A couple of weeks ago the same scenario popped up when a client was reconciling their bank statement to QuickBooks.  We found $1,700 that had not been paid by a client.

So the top revenue tip for you today  . . get a check and balance system in place so you know if your business is missing CASH $$$.

Here are six to do's  -

Invoice your customers, using QuickBooks or another simple accounting software that is easy, peasy. 

Receive payment in the mail or online via credit card or PayPal.

Print the online receipt or photocopy the payment and bank deposit slip for your 2012 records. (something you can refer back to later if you ever question the invoice or payment)

Process receiving the payment in QB.

Create the deposit in QB.

Balance your business bank statement monthly in QB. This is a KEY step, as this confirms the check and balance system.

6 easy steps to make sure you are not missing cash $$$.

Isn't your hard work and time worth having a check and balance system in place so you are receiving the cash you earned?

If you need help or have questions leave a comment below or send off an e-mail to d.rosenfelt@cfomadeeasy.com.

Your Chief Heart Officer

Debbie Rosenfelt

UPDATED 411 ON 1099'S & REPORTING 2012 INCOME BY PAYMENT TYPE

Below is an update on the 2011,1099 information I spoke of last Friday.  It is this kind of information you do need to be aware of and address for your business finances.  This impacts how you will report your income for 2012. . . .
it is not fun and exciting . . yet it is information you need. 
So ROCK ON with your day and be informed.

If your business accepts credit cards or other forms of electronic payments such as PayPal or eBay, big changes are in store for you. The first change that you will notice very shortly is that you will be receiving a 1099-K from your merchant services provider. The Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008 requires all businesses that process credit card and electronic payments to send a Form 1099-K to their clients with more than 200 transactions and $20,000 paid to them. If you fail to provide your EIN to your processor they are required to impose a 28% federal tax withholding on you.

The 1099-K requirements went into effect in the beginning of 2011 and you should receive your 1099-Ks by the end of February at the latest.

There is a new requirement that will be in place for your 2012 tax return that you must prepare for right now. Beginning with your 2012 business finances you will need to separately show the amount of income you received from credit cards (and other electronic payments) and the amount of income you received from cash, checks and other forms of payment. You will be required to provide this information to your CPA tax person for tax reporting purposes.

If you hire someone to do your bookkeeping for you, do not assume that they know about this change.  At this time QuickBooks does not have an added feature to help track this new reporting requirement and they were not even aware of it.

For now, when you process Quickbooks payments you are able to choose, cash, check and credit card as a form of payment. I want you to continue to use this feature. I will report back when Quickbooks has a solution or I have figured out temporary solution to address this issue.

Warmly - Debbie