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Young Entrepreneurs Often Make These Tax Mistakes. Here's How to Avoid Them. The right tax tactics and guidance may help you run a business and achieve your objectives more confidently.

By Kimberly Zhang Edited by Mark Klekas

Key Takeaways

  • Be smart with your planning to save money and avoid liabilities
  • Classify your workers correctly
  • Don't forget about local and state taxes

This story originally appeared on Under30CEO

Establishing a business is a thrilling adventure full of possibilities and difficulties. Young people with enthusiasm and creative ideas frequently jump into the startup industry with all their might, wanting to leave their mark. Tax compliance, however, is one area that often gets neglected in their rush to upend markets and provide value. Ignoring or mismanaging tax duties and costly tax mistakes can have severe financial and legal repercussions, destroying a promising enterprise from the ground up.

In this context, understanding debt resolution is important to safeguard your startup's financial health and future. Let's explore common tax mistakes young entrepreneurs make and provide practical advice on avoiding them, ensuring a smoother path to success.

1. Overlooking tax planning

Although it may seem tiresome to pay taxes annually, failing to do so might lose business owners money and prospects. Astute business owners prepare strategically for their tax requirements as part of their long-term objectives rather than seeing them as an annual task that must be accomplished quickly. Acquiring knowledge about needed payments, claiming allowable write-offs, and projecting future tax consequences of current activities are all part of being proactive in minimizing what is owed and optimizing possible savings. Speak with a tax expert who is familiar with different structures and deductions so they can provide advice that is specific to the goals and structure of a business. Entrepreneurs might investigate acceptable methods to responsibly reduce liabilities while still achieving their financial goals with the guidance of experts.

Related: Want Taxes to Be Easy? Work on Them Year Round, Not Last Minute.

2. Misclassifying workers

Many businesses may keep a flexible workforce by using independent contractors and self-employed workers on a project-by-project basis thanks to the gig economy. Because of this, businesses have the freedom to grow or shrink in response to their requirements. Falsely classifying an employee as an independent contractor, however, can lead to serious fines and unpaid taxes. In order to distinguish between a worker's and contractor's status, the Internal Revenue Service takes into account a number of factors.

How much autonomy and control the partnership allows is a crucial component. In order to avoid mislabeling employees, it is essential to understand these IRS guidelines and categorize employees accurately right away. A factor is the level of supervision, which includes things like tasks or hourly rates. Independence in carrying out tasks has a role as well. It is possible to guarantee correct categorization and prevent future problems by carefully examining the working relationship in comparison to IRS standards.

3. Failing to keep accurate records

Keeping careful financial documentation is essential for business success. While organization is essential, precise records are also legally required and can safeguard your company if an audit occurs. Documenting income, expenses, and write-offs enables informed decision-making, precise tax filings, and not tax mistakes.

Establishing a dependable bookkeeping method and periodically reviewing monetary reports can avoid numerous tax-related frustrations later on. Careful accounting promotes clarity within business operations and financial standing, assisting long-term planning and protection.

4. Ignoring state and local taxes

While many new business owners concentrate solely on federal tax requirements, neglecting state and neighborhood levies can prove costly. Depending on where your company is located and how it is organized, you may need to pay income taxes to your state, collect and remit sales taxes, and comply with other local statutes. Each state develops regulations, which can grow convoluted if your operations stretch across multiple states.

Related: How to Manage Multistate Tax Planning as a Small-Business Owner

Breaking local and state tax regulations might result in fines and penalties that will unduly burden your company. Those can be painful tax mistakes. To stay in compliance and prevent fines, it is important to learn about and understand the tax obligations in each area in which you operate. It can be cost-effective and less stressful to become knowledgeable about the specific tax laws that apply to the locations where your firm operates.

Conclusion

Young entrepreneurs may find it difficult to manage taxes. Tax management, however, is crucial to the success of any organization. Having the correct information may help you prevent certain frequent mistakes such not keeping accurate records, misclassifying employees, or ignoring planning. Local and state taxes can also be disregarded. These problems may be avoided by making compliance a top priority and seeking expert advice. Now, the company can concentrate on expanding.

Knowing and utilizing efficient tax techniques is crucial. If you do this, your startup's financial stability will be preserved. Handling tax issues ahead of time guarantees legal compliance. It also secures your entrepreneurial endeavor's long-term future. The right tax tactics and guidance may help you run a business and achieve your objectives more confidently.

Kimberly Zhang

Entrepreneur Leadership Network® Contributor

Chief Editor of Under30CEO

Kimberly Zhang, president and editor in chief of Under30CEO, has a passion for educating the next generation of leaders.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

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