No one I know has started an S-corp business so when my son and his girlfriend recently bought an assisted living place, we are all at a loss as to what software to use for bookkeeping and tax preparation. I’ve always done his taxes and use TurboTax; before that, years ago, I did them with a pencil and paper, so I know individual income tax, but nothing about corps except when I get the K-1.
It’s a fairly small place. There will only be 25 residents, so I’m sure we can handle it, but searching the internet for business-specific software has come up with nothing. Kim Kommando recently had a blurb on Peach and Quicken. She said these two programs are used by 80% of small businesses.
So, has anyone any opinions on what is best, or on what they use and why? I would specifically be interested in S-corp businesses. They aren’t up and running yet because they have to do renovations and get their state license, so we can take a little time to figure this out.
Have you checked into QuickBooks? There are several flavors out there so one would probably fit well with what you are looking for. And the C-Corp/S-Corp/LLC/Sole Propietorship thing is checked for up front. TurboTax is from the same company, so if you do your books in one it’s very easy to port your taxes into the other.
One other thing (and I am not an account or a lawyer) is that it seems that LLC were pretty much made for that type of business (more so than an S-Corp). So I would recommend spending a bit of money up front talking to an Accountant who is computer literate and get information on how to form and what to use.
Quicken is mostly for personal finances. QuickBooks, which is Quicken’s big brother, is made for small businesses. It has all kinds of cool reports that it will make and will also generate forms such as W2s and 1099s.
I started an S-Corp at the beginning of the year and didn’t know anything about accounting. With a little bit of help from my CPA, I am up and runnng on QuickBooks with no problem.
Haj
Hi Haj. How about tax forms like 941’s? Does it generate those? Does QuickBooks prepare an 1120-S and a K-1? He’s in CA and I’m in ME, so if he could get a paper copy of the K-1, I can take it from there for his 1040. He can file the 1120. Did you buy a particular version of QuickBooks or have to get add-ons?
I looked up the LLC and I guess the major advantage is less formality re: stockholders, and meetings with minutes to continue the shield from liability. I didn’t read about liability for debts ( if found liable), but it compares it to a partnership, and in a Partnership each partner is liable for all debts, not just their “half”. It also says it’s untested as far as any precedents. He’s already incorporated in CA so I guess as long as they follow the guidelines for an S-corp they will be okay. There doesn’t seem to be any tax advantage to the LLC. Thanks for the tip through.
There isn’t a whole lot of difference between an LLC and an S-Corp and for most applications you can go either way. I am told that for a consultancy (like my company), an S-Corp is better and for a real estate trust, an LLC is better. For tax purposes, they are nearly identical. That is, any profit is a pass through and is treated like income. In any event, the accouting is the same.
I have QB Basic. There’s a Pro edition and a Premier edition too. The fancier editions have extra business tools having to do with inventory control, pricing, forcasting and budgeting. I just looked through the book that came with my software and QB Basic does generate Form 941. I don’t see anything about a K-1 or an 1120. That makes sense (I think) because 941 is a payroll form and the other two are tax forms. QB talks to TurboTax though so I think that if you take the QB file for the year, Turbo Tax will use the information to make the tax forms.
I’m an engineer, not an accountant. You should really gather up your questions and spend an hour or two with a CPA. That’s what I did and it’ll be money well spent.
Haj