From the course: Taxes for Small Business
Your business's taxes
- As the old saying goes, the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. And for people who start, run, or work in a small business taxes play a big role in your day to day life. I'm Jane Barratt, the founder of GoldBean a small business in the financial services base. I was fortunate to have studied accounting and finance as a part of my business degree in college. So I had the advantage of being comfortable reading spreadsheets, making money based decisions, and participating actively in financial forecasting. What I didn't learn then, was how to think about how to maximize my profits by optimizing taxes. In this course, I'll share what's important for small business owners and managers to understand about tax. And to be clear, this course is from the perspective of a manager versus a perspective of a tax accountant. It's always advisable to work with professionals for your tax needs. But given tax can be one of the biggest expenses a company faces, it makes all the sense in the world to understand how to manage them and where possible, minimize them. We'll take a look at how tax policies and practices will affect your business. How different business structures will affect what taxes you'll be subject to, as well as the big picture of strategies to minimize your tax burden. We'll also cover your responsibility as a manager versus your bookkeeper, or accountant. As well as tools you can use to get organized. It's important to benchmark where you are now with your taxes. Do some scenario planning for years where there could be higher or lower tax burdens on your business. Plan for a worst case scenario when you may need to cut expenses and a best case scenario where you'll have additional money to deploy in growing your business, or keeping for yourself. If you're thinking of setting up a business, this course will help you understand the difference between pass through businesses such as limited liability companies where the business isn't taxed but the owners are, and double taxation companies such as corporations, where both the business and the owners are taxed. Whether you're a freelancer, someone with a side hustle, or the owner or employee of a small business, this course along with others on LinkedIn Learning can set a baseline for the financial health of your business. So stick with me as we cover the basics of taxes for small and growing businesses as well as some lessons that I've learned the hard way.
Practice while you learn with exercise files
Download the files the instructor uses to teach the course. Follow along and learn by watching, listening and practicing.
Download courses and learn on the go
Watch courses on your mobile device without an internet connection. Download courses using your iOS or Android LinkedIn Learning app.