If you’re surprised at tax time, your planning needs an overhaul.  

Have you ever heard the saying “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes?” Taxes support the community around you to build roads, educate children, and provide healthcare to Australians. But that doesn’t mean it’s pain free to give up a chunk of your income every month or quarter to the tax man!  

Many New Business Owners Forget to Allocate for Taxes!  

If this is you, you are not alone.  

When you make the leap from being an employee to a business owner, your taxes are suddenly your problem. If you haven’t thought about it before making the transition, you need to talk to your accountant very soon and get personal information on how taxes will affect your business plans. 

If you don’t know how much to set aside, you may be in for a rude awakening every time you submit your BAS. The amount you need to save will depend on your industry and your unique business. As a rough guide, Profit First suggests between 15 to 20% of your income to be set aside. You’ll also need to consider how GST may affect your tax system, so talk to experts.  

How To Take Some of the Sting Away  

We all have to pay taxes. Acceptance is key. Eventually, paying tax is exciting – after all, it means your business made money!  

• Create a separate bank account specifically labelled Tax! 

• Think of it as a percentage rather than a dollar value.  

• Transfer the money into the correct account before you do anything else.  

• Don’t think about it. The more you think about it with negative thoughts, the more it will stress you.  

• If you can, use automated bank transfers – or get admin to do the transactions for you. 

• Don’t look! Only look when you’re preparing for your BAS or tax return.  

Always remember, this is not your money. This is the government’s money and you are holding it aside for them.  

You’ve got this!  

It just takes a little planning to make sure you’re compliant and ready for when the tax man comes knocking. If you’re capable of setting up and running your business, then we know you’ll be fine with preparing for and saving your taxes. It’s just creating some set and forget systems that work!  

We use Profit First to structure business accounts and ensure our money is doing exactly what we want it to do. Profit First also scales really well, so as your business grows, Profit First grows with you. With Profit First Professional Masters on your team, your accounts will be neat and tidy in no time, and taxes will be just a shrug and a payment rather than a stress and paperchase nightmare.  

Our Unexpected Bookkeeper course, membership and community is build around avoiding that nightmare, and we’re taking enrolments now. Click here to get in contact with Jodi and join the wait list!