RBC | “Kelly Johnston, the president of JFS, LLC, has a large amount of experience in both the public accounting and private industry accounting fields. Her background includes a Bachelor in Finance and a Master of Science in Accounting, with experience in the healthcare industry with critical access hospitals and physician offices, audit and tax preparation. This education and experience can add value to new start up organizations, developing businesses, and healthcare entities by creating a strong financial reporting set up and assisting in new financial reports.” That’s the tagline on Johnston’s website http://johnstonfinancialservicesllc.com and the friendly and very knowledgeable face that presented on the ever changing tax laws and how all of that will affect you as an individual or as a business owner at Rio Blanco County’s Small Business Development Center Workshop on Dec. 10, 2018.
Johnston’s common theme throughout the presentation was about being prepared and not letting your business and personal transactions get to the point of hauling in a shoe box at the end of the year for your accountant to sort out. Let your accountant steer and direct you throughout the year with quarterly payments, tracking and strategy. As she put it, “taxes should not be a year-end function, it should be done all year long.”
Among the other things she went over was the ways the tax laws have changed recently and how that will impact your business. For example you will no longer be able to write off entertainment as a business expense but she went on to explain that just because you can’t claim it on your taxes doesn’t mean that a business that gains most of its customers or clients through those avenues should stop that practice altogether. Just be smart about it. Also tools, uniforms, accounting expenditures, charitable gifts will no longer be acceptable deductions if you’re even able to itemize. And you can pretty much kiss itemizing goodbye because that will hardly apply to anybody.
To better track your finances a free cash flow sheet from the SBDC can be found at https://gjincubator.org/cashflow-and-business-plan-templates/ and for a copy of Kelly’s presentation you can reach out to your local SBDC Certified Business Consultants Makala Barton at [email protected] or Katelin Cook at [email protected]
By EMMA VAUGHN | [email protected]
