Income from my wife's consulting business

Question

My wife just started a new business in which she is consulting.  I going to enter her income as [her name gross income] and then assign a tag for the job name.

Is this the best way to do it?

Which tax form should I assign to it, or will quicken do that automatically?

volvogirl · Answer

I have Windows Quicken Premier 2013.   So I don't know the Home & Business features.  But here's how I do mine.

One thing I like to tell business people when starting out is...

For an income or expense category to show up under Business you have to assign it a Schedule C tax line number.  Go into Edit Category and assign it one.

You can either assign the tax line number to an existing category or you might want to set up a new category for it to keep the existing one under personal if you have the same expense for both personal and business.

To check the tax line assignment open the Category list by either clicking on the Category Icon or go to Tools-Category List or Ctrl+Shift+C.  Then select the category and right click on it to Edit it.  Click on the Tax Reporting Tab and check the box for Tax related and pick a Schedule C: tax line item.

BUSINESS CATEGORIES

You should set up business categories. Make sure to assign them to a schedule C line item number so they show up as business categories. I don't know what categories you would need but my husband is a Land Surveyor.  Here's how I set mine up (I also put the Schedule C line number in as part of the name)...

Survey Income

Survey Expenses

……..11 Labor

……..18 Office Expense

……..20 Equip Rent

……..22 Supplies

……..24a Travel

……..27 Other - Printing

……..27 Other - Small Tools

I made the expenses sub-categories of the main Survey Expense category.

Also I use Tags  for each job.  Then when I run a report I can sort it by job.  So an expense entry might look like this…

Survey Expenses:22 Supplies/Maple Street

Scooterlam · Answer

@kbrock Have you considered Quicken's Home and Business version?    Check it out here:

https://www.quicken.com/personal-finance/quicken-home-business

Find the Business version help section for the here:

https://help.quicken.com/display/WIN/Business

In this version alot of these business structures are in place - income, expense, tax, reports et al.  The above help topics will give you good insight to features and capabilities.

Quicken Kristina · Answer

Hello @kbrock,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community.  Quicken does not automatically assign a tax line to categories.  When you create a category, you should see the New/Edit screen has a tab for Tax Reporting.

You would click that tab, make sure Tax related category is checked, and then choose the appropriate tax line item from the dropdown.  I can't give you advice on which line item to pick.  Most for profit businesses use Schedule C, but if you're not certain what to choose, you may want to consult with the IRS or a tax specialist.

Thank you.