The evil 5 letter word "TAXES"

[justin_time]

I'd go buy some RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) and I'd ask your bookkeeper about it because there's a maximum amount you can claim. The rest I'd leave it in the account. You'll need to budget for the following spring. That's my 2 cents, hope it helped

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Justin Pitre
Just in Time Yard Services

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

I understand what your saying but wouldn't it be nicer to put the $300.00 toward a new weed Whacker instead of giving it to some politician to have a steak dinner ? I really think you nailed this here. I bet you most people if asked would feel this way. However my take is, it's better to have money in the bank first off. Only buy equipment if you need it. Money is your business's life's blood. You will need a healthy reserve for all those just in case moments. Like the truck transmission just went out. Or you got sick and needed to take a week, or 2 off. When you have cash in the bank, you can get over a lot of hurdles that would knock out other smaller or newer lawn care businesses. A three to six month emergency fund would be a nice goal to have.

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[Ducke]

OK I get the part about savings and using your capital for future loans etc.
Maybe I asked my original question wrong ?
Let see if I can elaborate on it a bit more.

If I am taking a monthly wage from my company and then what is left I am putting away in a bank account for the company.
Will I be taxed on what I make salary wise as well as what I make as an LCO ?
If so which is better ? (Tax wise ) a large yearly salary and a small profit in the company or a small salary and a large profit in the bank ?
or should I set an amount (lets say $2000.00) and anything over and above that figure I take to pay my taxes bills loan payments etc and then what ever is left over from all that is my pay (.25 ) and I still have my original $2000.00 in the bank account and then later as I make more Money with more jobs I can up the amount to $3000.00 so on and so on.
I have been doing some reading on this subject but most of the books I have read are from the USA, I finally got a book that is Canadian and that is what confused me even more.
I may have to break down and go speak to an Accountant

Thanks for all the advice it is helping to make something a little clearer.

Graham

[Steve]

If I am taking a monthly wage from my company and then what is left I am putting away in a bank account for the company.
Will I be taxed on what I make salary wise as well as what I make as an LCO ?
If so which is better ? (Tax wise ) a large yearly salary and a small profit in the company or a small salary and a large profit in the bank ?

I am not an accountant but here is my view.

Whether you have the money in a company account or a personal account. The income from either is going to be taxed.

If you own the company, both your personal money and the company money is still contributing to your net worth. And it is always better to save your money and only buy what you absolutely need.

In the U.S. there are a bunch of different ways you can register a business. You can be a sole proprietor, have an limited liability corp, s-corp or a c-corp.

Now the c-corp is different from others as far as taxes go. The income from the c-corp is taxed and then the salaries paid out are taxed. So if you own a c-corp, you run into a double taxation. I think that is why the s-corps were created to help smaller business owners avoid this.

Does this help?

[picframer]

Steve has it,

Here in Canada in your situation you are a sole proprietor and as such you are going to pay tax on the companies net income and your salary.

If I had time I would sit down and help you however I am going 7 days a week, remember you can apportion a part of your home as a business expense, that includes property tax's, lights, heat, telephone, internet, interest on your mortgage etc.

For the small amount in will cost you talk to your accountant or get a really good bookkeeper.

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Around this time I have a general idea of what Ill pay in taxes. So what I do is buy all my tune up parts for equipment and trucks (belts, blades, plugs, filters, brakes, fluids, tools, tires, chains, trimmer line, bearings). I rather buy it now and get the deduction in a few months then buy it in spring and wait a year to get it back. This is all stuff your going to use either way. It will never hurt to have a extra set of blades a spindle or so on. There small expenses too but they add it.

Sometimes ill purchase equipment that ill need next year. My local mulch yard buys a new truck or loader at this time every year. That can be a gamble though if business becomes slow. Thats why I say get everything to maintain your current equipment now. Then when spring rolls around youll have everything tuned and ready to go.

That would be my advice. Spend what you can, dont spend it all so you make no profit. In a way taxes penalize you for saving and forces you to reinvest earnings.

[Steve]

For those that don't understand this too well, what do you feel are the benefits to purchasing parts or equipment now? How much are they really saving? What is the difference if they buy it now or next year?

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Originally Posted by Steve

For those that don't understand this too well, what do you feel are the benefits to purchasing parts or equipment now? How much are they really saving? What is the difference if they buy it now or next year?

The main difference is if you buy the parts in march or when something breaks in the summer. Youll be waiting a long time to claim it on your taxes. So its coming out your pocket for a while.

The other factor is for every dollar you didnt spend on parts, youll now pay in taxes. I rather have a extra set of everything then a extra $500 tax payment. So either way the money is gone.

If you buy now. Youll be using end of the year surplus money and getting the money back in the form of a deduction in april.

[Steve]

The other factor is for every dollar you didnt spend on parts, youll now pay in taxes. I rather have a extra set of everything then a extra $500 tax payment. So either way the money is gone.

No matter when you buy it, such expenses are still tax deductible right?

The thing I get concerned with is newer business owners tend to take this and run with it and at the end of the year spend everything on stuff they may or may not need.

Ultimately buying parts and writing that expense off as a tax deductible expense really means you are still taking money out of your pocket to purchase the things.

Where something that you can write off as tax deductible is still costing you 70 cents on the dollar isn't it? Depending what your tax bracket is?

It's not like it is free right? If you didn't buy that say $100 part, you would still retain $70 or so after you paid taxes on that $100. So doesn't the question of whether you should buy something like that or not come down to, would you rather have that $70 per $100 in your pocket or would you rather spend it on a part and have a 30% or so discount because you are buying it with non-taxed money?

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Originally Posted by Steve

No matter when you buy it, such expenses are still tax deductible right?

The thing I get concerned with is newer business owners tend to take this and run with it and at the end of the year spend everything on stuff they may or may not need.

Ultimately buying parts and writing that expense off as a tax deductible expense really means you are still taking money out of your pocket to purchase the things.

Where something that you can write off as tax deductible is still costing you 70 cents on the dollar isn't it? Depending what your tax bracket is?

It's not like it is free right? If you didn't buy that say $100 part, you would still retain $70 or so after you paid taxes on that $100. So doesn't the question of whether you should buy something like that or not come down to, would you rather have that $70 per $100 in your pocket or would you rather spend it on a part and have a 30% or so discount because you are buying it with non-taxed money?

This is why I said spend what you can. If you were thinking of adding a new push mower go for it. I wouldnt go get a ztr so I didnt have to pay taxes. It would be very unwise to just blow money not to pay the tax man.

Yeah you could deduct it the following year. Thats why its a preference. Spend now when you have a surplus of cash or spend in the spring before money is coming in. The only problem with spending in the spring is your waiting a year to get the tax deduction vs a few months.