Do you know about IRS form 1099K?

November 25, 2012 2 Comments


Come January, the festive season will be over and will soon be followed by the tax season. Small business owners will start sending and receiving form 1099’s showing the money paid and received for the services they rendered in the year 2012. One of the newer forms that IRS has introduced is 1099K starting in 2011. Sellers of items on E-commerce sites such as eBay and Etsy, that include many home-based merchants, are the typical recipients of this form. Many of them were caught by surprise last year upon receiving this form. There was also lot of confusion surrounding the form resulting from the instructions provided by IRS on this form (What else did you expect from IRS?)
So what is form 1099K and what does it include?
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Filed Under: Finance, Management Tagged With: ,

Do’s and Don’ts of Small Business Credit

October 20, 2012 2 Comments


If you have not paid much attention to business credit the time to do it is now. For small business owners, business credit is like a lifeline, an insurance against unexpected expenses that might come out of nowhere. Business credit gives you peace of mind with the knowledge that you will not have to scramble to borrow money on a short notice to meet emergency financial obligation.
Look no further than what Ford did before the great recession of 2009 hit the world. Ford had established a huge line of credit by mortgaging pretty much everything they had, including their namesake blue logo! When recession did arise and all the banks shut their doors to business loans Ford could borrow from the line of credit and continue investing for the future. When both, GM and Chrysler, filed for bankruptcy protection, Ford was not only able to avoid it, but position itself to take advantage of upturn.
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Filed Under: Finance Tagged With: , ,

Coming Revolution in POS and Credit Card Processing Systems

March 10, 2012 5 Comments


Rejoice, Small Business Owners!! There is a revolution underway in the way small businesses process credit card transactions and use Point of Sale (POS) systems. This is going to help small business owners in a big way by leveling the playing field with large competitors. We have always maintained that it is possible for small business owners to beat their larger rivals by finding a niche and focusing on customer service. Now, you are getting extra help in other areas where large businesses used to have an edge. A company called Square has introduced a portable credit card device that can process credit card transactions on-the-go with just a mobile phone. Last week, they took it one step further and introduced a free POS app on iPad that will modernize the point-of-sales system for small business owners. According to Square, this new app replicates and enhances the features of cash register systems, such as order taking, inventory management and customer data analysis significantly.
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Filed Under: Operations, Technology Tagged With: ,

Tips for Setting Up Merchant Account to Accept Credit Cards

November 27, 2011 4 Comments


This blog post is written by Shannon Martin.
Most small businesses are overpaying for credit card processing. In our conversations with number of small business owners we have not come across a single owner who does not hate credit card processing companies for the exorbitant amount of money they charge. That is why it is important to do your homework before you sign up with the merchant processing company. In this post we provide useful tips you should keep in mind when talking to credit card service providers.
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Filed Under: Finance Tagged With: , ,

How to Save on Credit Card Processing Fees

August 12, 2010 5 Comments


A while ago we wrote about how most small businesses are overpaying for credit card processing. In our conversations with number of small business owners we have not come across a single owner who does not hate credit card processing companies for the exorbitant amount of money they charge. In this article we showed several techniques that can help you save money. Many of our readers have found it helpful.
We have recently come across a web site – TransFS that makes it easy to compare rates from various credit card processors. Not only that, but they go one step further and bring you quotes from various credit card merchants by auctioning your business to them. Here is how it works…
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Filed Under: Finance, Management Tagged With: ,

Financing Problems for Small Business Owners

July 23, 2010 4 Comments


I came across this absurd news from Wall Street Journal yesterday about how small business owners are having problems getting financing from banks. To summarize, WSJ mentioned that many small business owners are denied loan applications for starting new business or business expansion. In some cases the business already had committed orders from customers and only needed money to ramp up production or hiring to start the work.
However, in almost all cases their applications were denied on the basis that they did not have sufficient cash flow to cover the payment. In the past, the business owners used to put business assets such as account receivables, inventory, equipments, etc. as collateral to get the loan. The valuation on these assets has declined in the recent downturn and is not sufficient to cover the loan payment.
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Filed Under: Buyers, Finance, Management Tagged With: , , ,

5 Proven Ways to Reduce Credit Card Processing Fees

June 3, 2010 4 Comments


Most small businesses are overpaying for credit card processing. After the Mafia was eliminated from Italy this has become the next legitimate way of extorting money from businesses. Visa and Master Card are making billions of dollars in profit every year just for acting as a middle man to process the credit cards.
Is there anything businesses can do to lower this cost rather than just give this “extortion” money to credit card processing companies? Although there is no way you can eliminate this cost; there are few steps you can take to bring it down. Here are 5 steps you can explore:
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Filed Under: Finance, Sales Tagged With: , ,