How You Can Separate Your Business Finances From Your Personal Money

25 May, 2010 (13:28) | Business | By: admin

How You Can Separate Your Business Finances From Your Personal Money

Separating business funds from personal finances should be every business owner’s concern. Surprisingly, not many entrepreneurs take this matter into serious consideration. For instance, many small business owners and home based business entrepreneurs prefer to use their personal credit cards with their business expenses thinking that it makes no difference. But a wise business owner should think about the long term complications that combining personal and business funds in just one account could cause later on.

At the start, you may find that using your personal credit card is enough. But as your business begins to grow and accumulate expenses, having a separate business account is indispensable. It will make a big difference not only in managing your business finances, but also in making finance-related decisions. In this article, let’s talk about the advantages of using business credit cards for your business expenses.

Business Credit Cards Means Easy Management

Why would it be easier to manage business finances using business credit cards? Because all your expenses are automatically included in your summary of accounts so you can be assured that you won’t miss a single purchase no matter how big or small that purchase was. You will be provided with monthly billing statements, along with quarterly and yearly summaries of your account.

These account summaries contain a detailed list of all the purchases you’ve made during the past months or the entire year. Purchases are also categorized so you can use it as reference to your bookkeeping and accounting tasks. Filing your business taxes is definitely made easier with the help of business credit card account statements.

Add to this, many business credit cards include the option to access your account online. This is an enormous help for a busy business owner as it enables convenient tracking of business accounts at any time. Even as you work on your desk, you can simply log in to your online account and do your checking within just a few minutes. Account summaries are also downloadable so you can use them along with your accounting software.

Build Business Credit with the help of Business Credit Cards

Another important advantage of getting a business credit card is to build a separate credit history for your business. Don’t forget to register with a business credit bureau such as D&B or Experian to begin establishing your business credit immediately. By using your business credit card and keeping up with your payments on time, you can be assured that you will be building excellent credit history for your company.

Every business is confronted with financial challenges sooner or later. You may not need financial assistance at the moment but by the time you need to apply for a business loan to help you with your business projects, having a solid business credit history will help you secure an approval more easily. Aside form getting easy approval with your applications, having excellent business credit also guarantees that you’ll be offered better rates and terms by lenders.

In summary, getting a business credit card is beneficial in two ways- for separating personal from business finances and for building up a separate credit history for your business. If you’re a business owner or planning on starting up a business of your own, this matter is definitely worth the thought.

Comments

Comment from Chev
Time May 25, 2010 at 1:57 pm

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Comment from JJ
Time May 25, 2010 at 3:09 pm

you've got it back to front. First you look for a niche in the market that needs to be addressed or you note a shortage of demand. If you are not addressing these keep your money in your pocket.
Business opportunities come from hobbies expanded, new technology (e.g. become the Blue Ray expert), niche markets e.g. something a cultural group wants or needs, changes in law create opportunities for experts to emerge, changes in demographics e,g, more children in the area.

Look around. Ask people around you.

How to start will depend on the idea – some businesses start part time until they get enough customers to move on – some start as web based businesses and others just have to bite the bullet and go bigtime. Whatever you do please do a business plan before you start – work out the details on profitability, time needed to make it work etc before you commit any money to the idea.
Need a great business plan format try. http://www.australiansmallbusiness.com.au/Easy-Business-Plan-Pack-p-16143.html

Comment from Ken
Time May 26, 2010 at 1:14 am

You need to keep accurate records when running a business. This will be your best defense if you ever get audited.

For IRS purposes, you need to make a profit every 3 out of 5 years to have the IRS prove that you are not running a business. Otherwise, it is up to you to prove that you are running a business and not doing a hobby. You can prove that you are running a business by keeping your business accounts and personal accounts separate.

You can write off any legitimate business expense including dinners with clients, car expenses, equipment, etc.

Having a separate checking account and credit card is a good idea. However, it isn't necessary. You can comingle your business and personal expenses using your personal accounts. But, if you do this, then it will be harder for you to prove that you are running a business.

For your revenues, you don't need a corporate account to make you deposits. You just need to make the deposits in your separate account that you use for business.

You can read Publication 334 for more information.

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