

Ask HN: How to file tax returns in United States - akshat

Does anyone know, what the simplest procedure is to file tax returns for a US incorporated company. It has income of about 2-3000 USD in the year 2013.
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patio11
When you say "incorporated company", what _type_ of company is it? This is a
consequential difference in the US, as C-corps are treated differently than
S-corps and LLCs, which might be pass-through entities.

If you have a C-corp, and it has US-source income, you need a tax
professional, and you will likely spend most of that income on their services.
Sorry.

If you have an LLC, the pain-minimizing steps is to fill out a personal tax
return with a Schedule C-EZ attached to it. Write the revenue number on the
schedule C-EZ. Normally you'd calculate expenses for the business and subtract
them, but understating your expenses is not a crime, so save yourself the
hassle and just write 0 for all of them. I'm assuming you're asking this
question because you're not physically in the US and this company is your sole
US-source income, so when you flow that number to the places the Schedule C
and 1040-EZ tell you to put it, you'll find that you have 0 tax due. Sign
return, mail in, keep copies of the return and documentation of that income
number for 6 years.

If you don't want to have to read instructions, TaxAct is fairly decent SaaS
for uncomplicated returns, and should be able to handle a simple LLC filing. I
used it for rather substantially more complicated returns for 7 years prior to
getting a real accountant. I think it will run you about $15.

Depending on where the company is incorporated and how it earns its income,
you may have to file state income taxes. You may also have to pay state/local
taxes or fees. If any of this is news to you, talk to an accountant.

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akshat
Thank you. We are a C-Corp registered in Delaware. Would you have any
recommendations on some service which can help with this.

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tptacek
Do you have non-employee shareholders (ie investors)? If not, it might be
cheaper to elect S-Corp status and file as an S than it will be to continue
doing your taxes as a C-corp.

(I'm almost certain that filing as an S-Corp is cheaper than as a C-Corp, but
not as clear on the conversion cost, which might be trivial or might not.)

You need to talk to an accountant. Don't put this off. Being in the hole on
taxes really, really sucks.

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fsk
If the business is incorporated (not sure if that applies to C corps or S-corp
also), you have to hire a licensed accountant. You can't do it yourself, even
if you can fill out the forms correctly. (and you still probably should check
the work of whoever you hire)

That's one advantage of not incorporating until your revenue is greater than a
certain amount. If your business is not incorporated, you can do a Schedule C
yourself.

