Tax Basics for Small Businesses - a PDH Online Course for Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors

Tax Basics for Small Businesses

Course Outline

This four-hour online course gives the Engineer, Architect, Land Surveyor or other professional, desiring to start his or her own business, an overview of Tax Basics, Record Keeping and filing requirements. It is heavily based on the author's experience and IRS Publication 15 - (Circular E) Employer's Tax Guide. It emphasizes exposure to many important topics and concepts and attempts to give guidance in seeking further help from various service professionals. It is an excellent first step in avoiding the pitfalls of starting, operating and managing the tax filing requirements of your business.

This course is divided into sections each addressing one of the following topics:

Section 1 - Tax Basics Overview
Section 2 - Accounting Systems
Section 3 - Calendar of Tax Events & Filing Deadlines
Section 4 - Wages and Other Compensation
Section 5 - W-4 Forms
Section 6 - Withholding of Taxes
Section 7 - Payroll Period
Section 8 - Depositing Taxes
Section 9 - Federal Unemployment Tax
Section 10 - Filing Form 941 or Form 944
Section 11 - Filing the W2 & W3 Forms and Information returns (1098, 1099, etc.)
Section 12 - Filing Your Business Tax Return
Section 13 - Retirement, IRAs and 401K Accounts
Section 14 -Using the Income Tax Withholding and Advance Earned Income Credit Tax Tables
Section15 - Ordering Tax Forms and Tax Help
Section 16 - Credits, References and Links

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

The objective of this course is to give the Engineer, Architect or other professional who wants to start a business an overview of the areas of concern that should be addressed to help achieve business success.

At the conclusion of this course, the student will:

Know what tax forms to file;
Know when and where to file tax forms;
Choose the correct type of business entity to form;
Be aware of tax liabilities for each business entity type;
Understand withholding requirements;
Understand the definition of an employee;
Understand Accounting System types;
Understand types of Wages and Other Compensation;
Know how and when to get employees to fill out W-4 Forms;
Understand Payroll Period definitions;
Know when and where to Deposit Taxes;
Understand Federal Unemployment Tax requirements;
Understand Filing Form 941 or Form 944;
Understand how to file W2 & W3 Forms and Information returns (1098, 1099, etc.);
Know how to File Their Business Tax Return;
Understand Retirement, IRAs and 401K Account options;
Understand the Use of the Income Tax Withholding and Advance Earned Income Credit Tax Tables;
Know how to Order Tax Forms; and
Know How to Obtain Tax Help.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for Engineers, Architects, Land Surveyors and other technical professionals starting or operating their own business.

Course Introduction

Taxes are one of the most important issues facing small businesses. And like a company's profits, its annual tax bill will, in part, reflect the owner's skills and knowledge. Business owners need to be sure that they are meeting all their responsibilities to the tax authorities - and also seizing every legitimate opportunity to reduce their taxes.

Course Content

The course content is in the following PDF file:

Tax Basics for Small Businesses

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.