10 minute read
Business Matters
Is it Tax Time
Again?
By Carol Gordon, CPA
For those of you who are getting your tax information together to give to your tax preparer, here’s a “hit list” that will make the experience a little less painful. 1. Choose a tax preparer with the same diligence as you’d choose an instructor or trainer. Do some research by asking trusted advisors and friends. The IRS website offers tips on choosing a preparer and includes a directory of preparers by zip code. 2. Schedule an appointment ASAP. If you wait until the last minute, you dramatically increase the probability of errors on the return. 3. Gather your documents. By January 31, you should have received most of the common forms that you’ll need such as W2 and 1099 (MISC—as an outside contractor, INT—for interest, DIV—dividends, etc.)
Round up your receipts. Some common documents that you’ll need for the personal portion of your return are property tax, mortgage interest, charitable contributions, medical costs not covered by insurance, etc.
If you operate your own business, you’ll need documents for all of your businessrelated income and expenses. Make sure that you haven’t included any personal expenses in your business finances. That’s a big IRS no-no.
Don’t give your tax preparer receipts and ask them to calculate the totals. Most will charge for this service and if you haven’t calculated the totals yourself, how will you know if the totals the preparer uses are correct? Once you have the totals, compare them to the prior year for reasonableness. 4. List all of your personal information such as address, Social Security numbers for you and your dependents so the prepare can compare to the prior year. Notify the preparer of any changes in your life that may impact your tax situation and any significant plans for the future. Inform your
preparer of any sales of business property including the dates acquired and sold and cost to acquire and selling price. 5. If this is the first time that you’ve used this preparer, provide them with the prior year return. You can also use it yourself as a checklist to be sure you haven’t forgotten any types of income and expense. And when the current return is prepared and provided to you for review, you can use the prior year return to check this year’s for reasonableness. 6. If you don’t feel that you have adequate time to collect all of the documents or adequate time to review the return, discuss the option of filing an extension with your preparer. If you file an application for extension prior to the April 15 deadline, you have until Oct 15 to file your return. but (cue the flashing red lights!!!), you are still required to pay most of your tax liability by April 15 in order to avoid a penalty. The extension is an extension to file your return, not an extension to pay your tax liability. 7. If you are receiving a refund, plan what to do with the money (no, not a vacation in the Bahamas). You have several options— applying the refund to your next year’s tax liability, purchasing US Savings bonds or receiving the refund (either via direct deposit—much quicker—or via check). And if there is a “significant” amount due, discuss with your preparer whether you should consider increasing your withholding or making quarterly estimated payments.
If you prepare in advance, each year gets easier so that pretty soon, you won’t feel the need to hide in the closet when you realize that it’s that time again!
About the author: Carol Gordon is a CPA with an MBA from Boston College and the owner of Carol Gordon, CPA, which provides consulting services to equine-based businesses. You can contact her at cgordoncpa@gmail. com. If you have any questions that you’d like covered here, please email her with your suggestions.
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Never Say, “What I Should Have Said…” Use Scripts For Smoother Business Conversations
By Doug Emerson, The Profitable Horseman
How many times have you been at a loss for words in stressful situations when dealing with students and clients, and thought later, I wish I would have said this…? Finding the right words when you’re feeling angry, frustrated or fearful is a challenge. If you’re not prepared for what to say, a conversation can become an emotional catastrophe and be ineffective.
You may have noticed that business call center employees responding to orders for products, tracking information and customer service use scripts to be efficient and communicate appropriately. Imagine if the customer service reps were given a loose rein to handle communication. It would look like a comedy skit for Saturday Night Live! What to say and how to say it is important for every business.
A mental script for your business communication is helpful in handling common stressful situations. There is no need to memorize a script word-for-word and deliver it sounding like a robotic Verizon call center employee. A few key ideas in your head will work best.
Here are five common situations deserving of thought as to the best choice of words for you to use. When you know what you want to say with specific language and in specific order, it will make a difficult conversation much easier.
1. Late payment on board, lessons, training “I understand there are one time situations causing payments to be late. I can work with that. When payments are frequently late or delinquent, my business cash flow is affected and this creates a hardship for me meeting my expenses. What plan do you have for paying the delinquent amount and staying current each month? You enjoy being here and I’d hate to see you leave.” 2. Ringside coaching Relatives and friends observing lessons genuinely want to help riding students from the edge of the arena. This happens in all sports and is a result of human nature. It’s also highly annoying to you as the instructor as well as annoying and confusing to the student.
“During a riding lesson, there is a student, an instructor and spectators. The student is there to listen and learn. The instructor is there to teach and spectators are there to spectate. Your enthusiasm and desire to help the student are commendable, but not productive. The student, horse and instructor need their full focus on the lesson and you can be most helpful observing silently with respect to show your support.”
3. Students with bad attitudes You’ve heard “my horse is stupid, I’m stupid, I suck at this” many times. Even the beginning riding instructor knows students with bad attitudes are difficult (maybe impossible) to teach. An attitude change for the better is the responsibility of the student.While your job title is riding instructor and not therapist, perhaps your influence will help the student improve his attitude.
“You are not stupid and neither is the horse you are riding. You are not riding today to be judged. All of us learn at different rates. If you constantly compare yourself with other riders, you are being unkind to yourself and to your horse. Each lesson builds on the previous lesson and you are improving. I want you to evaluate each lesson on the amount of fun you are having learning; not everything you perceive as wrong.” 4. Late or missed lesson time The riding instructor has a single product on the store shelf. All you have to sell is time.
And each day has a limit to the amount of time available to sell. A missed lesson has an opportunity cost to you for earning income and an opportunity cost for the student for improvement. A late arrival for a lesson causes anxiety for the student before and during the lesson and anxiety for the instructor who has to shorten the lesson to stay on schedule for the day.
“Your progress as a riding student is important to me. When you are late I have to shorten the lesson to be on time for others following you. A shortened lesson slows you down from becoming the better rider you want to be.
You’ll be charged for missed lessons. I reserved your time slot and can’t refill it without prior notice from you. I know you want to improve your riding and that will happen with consistent lessons.” 5. Rebuttal artists Unlike the unconfident student, the rebuttal artist lives in a self-protection world thinking I’m right. You’re wrong. Challenges and excuses abound. When you say sit up, the response is “I am sitting up.” When you say more outside rein, the response is “I am giving more outside rein” and when you say slow your trot, you hear “he won’t go slower.”
“A riding instructor’s job is to teach and I am confident that which I say and teach is the truth. If a history teacher tells you the War of 1812 began in 1812 you wouldn’t dispute it. When I tell you you’re holding back on the reins, it’s the truth. You’ve invested in riding lessons to become a better rider. I can help you advance only if you do what I ask you to do during the lesson.”
The time you invest in creating your own scripts for responses to students will pay off for you with better communication and less stress. Your delivery of the words in the script will be natural since you already know what you want to say. You’ll avoid regretting what you did or didn’t say later on. Like every skill, you’ll get better and better at this with practice.
About the author: Doug Emerson, the Profitable Horseman, consults, writes and speaks about the business half of the horse business. He enjoys working with small groups of professional horsemen and women in one day workshops to help them organize their business for profit and less stress. Find out more at www.ProfitableHorseman.com
➢Continued from page 9
prepare, participate and end your class. Avoid being the shy one that gets lost at the back of the class, hiding from the work and hoping that it will never be your turn. Be aware of your strengths and weaknesses and also, recognize if fear is something that is holding your learning back. What´s good for life is good for riding, so meditate! Meditation prepares yourself to be relaxed, less anxious and brings awareness to your thoughts in advance of your lessons. Sessions can be short and if there is no time before you arrive, then a brief moment in the car or in a quiet place at the stable while you wait can be enough.
And so, my final words are simple: May all of our teacups always have room for more knowledge and enlightenment. “Wherever you are, be there totally.” —Eckhart Tolle
Revolutionary Coach to Rider Communication
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➢Cameo’s cauldron cont’d from page 34 high temperatures and humidity because animals need care every day, but we can gallop down a lane in the woods or along a beach and it makes all of that drudgery worth it.
We are blessed because we have so much that is positive around us to balance all the craziness. We are blessed by all the things that put so much more back into us than we give away. We are blessed because we can look at what is close around us and see
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reason for hope and happiness. I am thankful for all of you who contribute to that shining hope that is so needed in our world right now. So if you’re getting downhearted and discouraged, look around, open yourself up to all the good energy around you, take a deep breath, and be thankful you are part of such a wonderful profession.
About the author: Cameo Miller is a Masters-level clinical psychologist and a Level IV ARIA Certified Instructor based in Michigan. She is a member of the ARIA Evaluation Panel and National RidingInstructors Convention Staff.
