Simply Junior

Understanding the complicated world of taxes is difficult enough for a regular paycheck. Adding tips into the mix just makes everything more confusing. Failing to properly report the full amount of tips you are given can get you into a lot of trouble with the IRS. However knowing what as an employee you need to report or what as the business owner you are responsible for can sometimes be a fine line. Here are some tips and tricks for knowing how to report your tips on your taxes.

“Tips” are defined by the federal government as “a gift or a sum of money tendered for a service performed or anticipated.” Generally if an employee makes over twenty dollars in tips a month, they must report them. After they finish working for the night, a waiter must record how many tips they made for their employer so that the proper tax amount can be withheld from their next paycheck. Social Security Taxes “on the gross amount of tips and wages for all employees” is paid by their employer. Employers should keep track of the tips for every sale made in their establishment each evening. This way, they can remit the proper amount to the government.

If employees do not report all of their tips to their boss, the employer can be held liable for “the employer’s share of the social security and Medicare taxes on the unreported tips.” It is your job, as employer to withhold and pay taxes with the information you do have from your employee. If you have more than ten staff members working on a typical day than you fall into the category of a “large food or beverage establishment” and you are required to allocate or distribute tips to your employees if the amount of tips reported is less than eight percent of gross sales. If the amount of tips is larger than eight percent, you are not required to allocate, but you must still file the “Employer’s Annual Information Return of Tip Income and Allocated Tips” form. Taxes should still be withheld and paid on allocated or non-allocated tips.

Want to make some savings but don’t see it happening? Well, you are not the only one, most people that you see around you experience similar financial issues and the reason why I say it is because I had been facing the same problem since the time I started working.

I know it is quite upsetting to see no savings after having slogged for years or months in my case. And when it starts to get frustrating, you start cribbing about your job and salary. Let me ask you a question; is it your job and salary or your extravagant life that keeps you from making some savings?

The Importance of Planning a Personal Budget

Honestly analyze your situation and you will discover that it’s not your income but your poorly managed finances that does not allow you to save. Of course, there can be other reasons as well but it is usually the case. But whatever the case may be, if you plan your budget realistically you are most likely to see a significant cut down in your expenditures.

Planning a proper budget is the key to make money. Be it big organizations or working individuals, both need to have a budget that they need to follow in order to see their money grow. Once you have worked on a proper financial plan, you know you are well on your way to make some significant savings and see your money growing in your bank account.

Budgeting Steps That Save You Money

Have you ever realized that in a day we do a lot of impulsive expenditures? These impulsive expenditures or unnecessary spending can be avoided. But for that, you need to know where your money goes. In order to do that and then make a personal budget you need to keep a track of the followings:

1. Keep a check on your expenditures: this is the most inexpensive way to cut down your expenditure. Use a notebook and keep marking your spending or list them on MS Excel sheet and then analyze your expenditures, figure out where can you cut down and work on them accordingly.

2. Figure out your necessary expenditures: before you start spending your money, make a budget where you need to make sure that all your necessities are taken care of and how much money you are left with. From the left over money you again need to find out how much you need to save and with the rest you can enjoy.

3. Recurring expenditures: these are the expenditures that you need to make every month like various insurance payments, childcare, school launches, garbage services, movies, dinners, etc. these expenditures are a must and can’t be reduced. So calculate them and find out how much you need to spend approximately.

4. Variable expenses: these expenditures are not on a monthly basis like Christmas, birthdays, father’s day, mother’s day, etc.

5. Loans: education loans, credit card debts etc.

Now in order to make a personal budget, all your expenditures need to be on a monthly basis. When you add up all your expenditures and then divide them by 12, what you get is what your average monthly expenditure is supposed to be.

My Personal Budgeting Experience

When I was going crazy with my expenditures and I didn’t know what to do, my friend told me to follow what I just discussed in the preceding paragraphs and believe me, I was pleasantly surprised to see the outcome. I still have the same job with the same salary yet it feels a lot different.

Today I have savings and fortunately, enough do not have to go through those annoying financial crunches at the end of the month, which makes me a much more confident and an independent individual.

Larissa researched many home based possibilities for entrepreneurial success. She encountered MLM marketing, envelope stuffing, online surveys and a host of other “opportunities” that simply were not sustainable. They were risky especially if you relied on them for money to live. Larissa worked at a large courier company as a receptionist and started to realize, if she was going to get out of her job and become independently earning her own money, she would have to really find something authentic and real.

I’m sure you have encountered the generic possibilities available for people wanting a home based income. They are many but they have one thing in common. They are all drip feed incomes designed to make the parent company lots of money, not necessarily the joining affiliate. Becoming an entrepreneur is a hollow proposition. Its just a romantic word in most peoples minds without any real conception of what it actually is. Many of these companies offering stay at home income use emotive words such as entrepreneur to “entice” you to join them and begin making them money.

There’s no such thing as an entrepreneur who works for someone else, but that’s really what these companies offer, a lower paying job that you can do at home. That’s all they really offer. According to the dictionary definition, an entrepreneur is
“A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture”

So entrepreneurs find opportunities and capitalize on them. That’s the meaning of being an entrepreneur, we do projects and not work for a living. We essentially make deals. Larissa worked hard to discover the right information to get her own entrepreneurial career off the ground and understood intuitively that these empty “opportunities” offered by these drip feed companies were really not what she envisaged when she decided to become a wealthy home based entrepreneur. If the “opportunities” were that good, why would the company not just hire staff and have them carry out the work and keep all the profits instead of share with affiliates? Because they really are not that profitable that’s why.

Larissa discovered that entrepreneurs focused on value and compounding. They usually specialized and manufactured returns for themselves that initially are small and equal to low risk however these returns grew rapidly as the scale of their activities grows in size and value. Project after project the resulting profits are re-invested for bigger and bigger returns.

You see, Larissa realized that entrepreneurs make money. That’s their sole purpose and its the one reason behind all their activities. They are not particularly interested or motivated by any particular product or service. They see a deal, they take it. Entrepreneurs have VISION.

Planning a fun and memorable retirement party can seem like a huge chore if you don’t have a game plan for the party already in place. To help get you on your way, we’ve created a basic guideline that is intended to make your job easier and spark your creativity. For organizational purposes, the guideline is broken down into seven major categories:

Venue

Selecting the right venue for a retirement party plays a critical role in determining how much time and effort you will have to put into planning the party. In general, parties held in the workplace demand more planning time and effort because they require you to supply your own food and beverages, decorations, and other party supplies. A restaurant can be an easy venue option for many reasons. To name a few, holding the party at a restaurant minimizes your setup and cleanup times, it eliminates the need for food shopping and preparation, and it reduces the need for party decorations. If holding the party at a restaurant isn’t an option, consider where exactly in your workplace you want to hold the party. The kitchen or break room isn’t always the best option!

Day and Time

Choose a day and time for the party when everyone will be in the office and will not be in a rush to get back to work or their home immediately after. We recommend hosting the party on a Thursday afternoon during work hours (4 to 5 p.m. works well). By holding the party during work hours, you will get a far better turnout.

Theme

Choosing a theme for a retirement party is not essential, but it can add an extra element of fun to the occasion, especially if you are holding the party at your workplace. In choosing a theme, consider where the person might be moving after retiring or if they have a favorite hobby that they will be pursuing in their retirement. For example, if the person is moving to Hawaii, you could throw and island-themed party. If they love to play golf, that could be a theme as well. If the person has a noteworthy trait, you can also make that a theme for the party (i.e. if they always wear blue shirts to work, you could inform the guests to wear blue shirts).

Decorations

Decorations for the party can be simple as long as they are creative. If you choose not to have a theme for the party, you can always hang framed portraits or pictures of the person that is retiring. If the person who is retiring has a good sense of humor, you can doctor the images in Adobe Photoshop to get a rise out of the guests.

Food and Beverage

Serve hors d’oeuvres and drinks to stay within budget and keep the preparations manageable. If you are holding the party in a restaurant, make sure to prearrange which hors d’oeuvres will be served. If the person retiring has a favorite food or beverage, serve it if it fits in with your theme. Be sure to consult your company’s alcohol policy if you plan to serve any alcoholic beverages.

Activities

Party activities should be fun but not overwhelming. Your guests will want to chat and have the opportunity to give their best to the person who is retiring. Slideshows and roasts are two popular retirement party activities. A slide show can either be played in the background during the party, or it can be narrated with a story. A video roast can be another good option. To organize the video roast, send out an email to the person’s friends and colleagues asking them for stories that you can videotape. Employ a funny and well-liked person to serve as the roast master. The roast master can introduce the video with a funny story and also conclude the roast with a few upbeat, witty remarks.

Invitations

Invitations for the party can be done in a number of easy ways: send an email, post flyers in the office, and place formal invitations in work mailboxes. A reminder email is always helpful the morning of the party to ensure maximum attendance.