A brand new web host, a sparkly up-to-date Wordpress version and an improved theme with new features – Welcome aboard the new Sunrise Remuda Services resource site!
Latest news -In the right hand navigation bar you can now find new links to connect to our new Facebook Fan Page and to our Twitter home page (you can also see the latest tweet).
The QuickBooks 2010 R7 manual update is now available.
The automatic update (autopatch) is scheduled for 6/10/10.
Please make sure before troubleshooting any issues that the customers are on the latest release. The update can be downloaded from: http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/Support/ProductUpdates.aspx
The release notes are available at: http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/Pages/KnowledgeBaseArticle/898561
This latest QuickBooks update includes password security compliance requirements for users of QuickBooks Merchant Services. More information on this topic can be found at http://security.intuit.com/pci-dss.html
Additionally this update fixes a bug which in some circumstances caused QuickBooks to close (or crash) when users attempted to print, delete or edit paychecks. In some instances users would receive an error message with either a c=74 or c=331 error code.
My initial experience with being an independent contractor happened some 25 + years ago in construction. Remember what it was like? Any carpenter took any job that was available because recession was knocking the stuffing out of building, although not as bad I think as lately. Unless you had a union job (and those came few and far between), you worked for anybody who would hire you and under almost any circumstances. Everybody knew that independent contractors were hired more often than not to avoid unemployment taxes and workmen’s comp insurance. It looks like there is a lot of that again as some people on the Intuit Community have pointed out (Rustler and Michelle Long, for instance).
The red flag is this article from CNN Money. The gears of government grind slowly but exceedingly fine (trite, but accurate). The IRS figures to gain some $7 billion over the next 10 years by actively and randomly auditing businesses for misuse of independent contractors vs. employees.
Don’t be on the wrong side of this chasm as a business owner. This article tells you, among other things, to file an SS-8 IRS form to get an IRS determination. Whatever you do, don’t depend on the advice of an taxation amateur like myself. Get professional assistance from an accredited tax expert and don’t forget your state agencies or other governmental agencies such as unemployment insurance in your evaluation process. Be proactive before you have to defend yourself for what is an essentially legitimate business strategy.
Work is hard to come by, but don’t encourage the abuse of the independent contractor model by accepting work you know really should be done by an employee. When the work starts to look like a job complete with scheduling requirements and stipulations how the job is to be done, better give it a second look! Being an independent contractor can be an excellent choice for the right person (and the right business that needs to outsource the work). It’s not an excellent choice for trying to shuck and jive taxation and labor laws.
I’ve said before how important it is to keep an office manual (especially when you work with a lot of volunteers who turn over with some regularity as in a church setting). But why restrict yourself to just a binder hard copy/Word document? Why not provide video resources that explain step-by-step how to be a board member or how to deposit the offering?
Camtasia is the tool you need in your toolbox. Affordable and you can incorporate your PowerPoint presentation in it. Camtasia will record your mouse movements over your screen while you voice annotate. Your brand new church treasurer can follow along and return to the video even after the previous treasurer moved away.
Wouldn’t that make your QuickBooks usage more stable? Improve volunteer and paid employee morale? Increase confidence and increase the bottom line?
PS: While you’re there, grab SnagIt as well, powerful screen capture tool if you need somebody else to see exactly what you are looking at.
SunRemuServices Twitter Feed