Hello Reader!

Welcome to September 16th 2024! If you have employees, let this be your reminder! Monday September 16th payroll taxes are due! Save Time! Pay Online! Save Money! Pay On Time!

Wanna Watch today's Newsletter instead of reading it? It's also a VIDEO NEWSLETTER! Watch it instead of reading it here!

My business vision/mantras are "Never Give CRA more Money than you have to" and "Avoid Double Work". This can be hard to implement when your To-Do list is at capacity. It does take some "Begin with the end in mind" mentality. Today's hacks are centered around these mantras.

3 Business Hacks for September:

1) CRA late filing penalties and interest - CRA does charge two different charges for late filings and for interest on payable amounts. There are times that I have seen business owners not file their GST/HST because they are not in a cash position to pay it. But they are not aware that simply by not filing it on time, CRA charges a late filing penalty. So even if the business is not in a position to pay the GST/HST, it is still important to file it on time to avoid the late filing penalty.
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How much are the late filing Penalties and Interest? Here is a quick example from Stern Cohen Accountants:

2) CRA Interest and Penalties is not a Deductible Expense: Another issue with CRA Interest and Penalties, is that it even though it is a real business cost to your business, it is not a 'deductible' expense. That is, it does not reduce the taxable profit of your business; you will be charged income tax on the profit without including this expense in the bottom line. So in this way, it also compounds the amount you are paying to CRA.

3) Prioritize and Streamline your Record Keeping: Knowledge is power! Now armed with these additional reasons to prioritize your bookkeeping and tax filing (both income tax and sales tax), you may find new motivation to review what your bookkeeping processes are. Are there things that you are doing that cause the bookkeeping to take longer than needed? Are there things that your business is doing 'twice'? For example, do you create an invoice in Excel, and then have your bookkeeper or office manager enter it into QBO? Why not take some time to learn how to put the invoice directly into your bookkeeping software, and then save the time that your record keeper would need to take to do this (this also saves money paying them to do it, if you are the one creating the initial invoice anyway). How do you communicate the client payments to your record keeper? A lot of time is often wasted by the record keeper chasing down deposit information that the business owner knew but did not know how to communicate. Keep a deposit book, and/or take a moment to enter those payments into the software as they happen, before the information is forgotten or lost. Consider only accepting one form of payment that is connected to the bookkeeping, such as QBO Payments. This way, no one has to enter or keep track of any payments... it's all automated. Whatever your business situation is, connect with your record keeper or bookkeeper to ask them, from their perspective, what tasks can be made simpler and easier by you simply tweaking something on your end. Or, is there something you can see that needs tweaking on their end? Teamwork makes the Dreamwork!

​What are your personal tips and tricks for creating efficient processes? I'd love to share them in an upcoming newsletter, and give a shout out to your business!

Updates:

New Course Announcement! Do you want a deep dive into how to understand what your QBO file is doing behind the scenes? The first half is now out on my new course "QBO for Tax Preparers" and it is all about understanding how QBO actually works, and finding and fixing all the errors that New QBO users are inadvertently guided to add because of the design of QBO. This course is not just for tax preparers though! Anyone who's interested in understanding QBO and finding and fixing those bookkeeping errors will also find this course incredibly useful! Check out the Lessons and Descriptions here!

Be Intentional Today! Get out there, and Be That Business That Thrives! ​ Naomi Wilkins ​I Love Making Bookkeeping Make Sense ​www.naomiwilkins.ca​ ​ Let's Get Social! ​ ​ ​ ​ Disclaimer: This Newsletter is intended to inform readers in general terms. It is not intended to provide any tax or business advice. Please consult your accountant if you have any questions about your unique situation. While I have tried to ensure the accuracy of the information in this newsletter, I accept no liability for errors or omissions.

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