ANTenna Blog -- Business & E-Business

With April 15 just over six weeks away, businesses are scrambling to get organized for their trip to the tax preparer. But there is a handy device to help organize your paperwork as well as a free resource to answer your questions about tax season.

Smaller businesses tend to take a "shoebox" approach to bookkeeping. If they hold onto receipts at all, they might toss them into a shoebox -- only to be sorted through at the last minute to see which expenses are eligible for tax deductions. A shoebox is definitely better than tossing receipts in the trash, but there's a device that can help you take your organizational efforts one step further.

The NeatDesk is a desktop scanner and digital filing system. It lets you scan financial documents and save them in a digital filing cabinet so you don't have to hold on to the paper copies for seven years. You can also scan all your receipts throughout the year and assign to them IRS deduction categories. Then, when tax season arrives, you can generate a report that itemizes your deductions. When you're finished entering receipts, you can pull a summary of reports by tax form and import them directly into Turbo Tax, Quicken, or QuickBooks.

The NeatDesk has other business uses, as well: Business cards can become Outlook contacts, receipts can become Excel spreadsheets for budgeting and expense reports, and documents can become searchable PDFs.

Meanwhile, Rocket Lawyer and H&R Block are offering a free Tax Savings Guide that includes how to take advantage of the recent tax law changes. Business categories include "How To Apply For An Employer Identification Number (EIN - SS4) Online" and "Lower Tax Rates For Capital Gains Income." Rocket Lawyer also has business legal forms available online.

Of course, you can always turn to the Internal Revenue Service for help. The IRS Web site has a Small Business And Self-Employed Tax Center with forms, information, and resources.

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• How The Stimulus Bill Will Affect Smaller Businesses