axes are one of the most important issues facing small and growing businesses. And like a company's profits, its annual tax bill will in part reflect the owner's skills and knowledge. Business owners need to be sure that they are meeting all of their responsibilities to the tax man -- and also seizing every opportunity to reduce their taxes.

1. Writing It Off: Deductions. Businesses can deduct all "ordinary and necessary" business expenses from their revenues to reduce their taxable income. Some deductions are obvious—expenditures in such areas as business travel, equipment, salaries, or rent. But the rules governing write-offs aren't always simple. Don't overlook these potential deductions:

• Business losses. Business losses can be deducted against a business owner's personal income to reduce taxes. If a business owner's losses exceed personal income for the year, some of the year's business losses can be used to reduce taxable income in future years.

• Trips that combine business and pleasure. If more than half of a business trip is devoted to business, deduct the traveling costs, as well as other business-related expenses.

2. Employee Taxes. If a business has employees, a variety of taxes will have to be withheld from their salaries. Among them are:

• Withholding. Social Security (FICA), Medicare and federal and state income taxes must be withheld from employees' pay.

• Employer matching. Businesses must match the FICA and Medicare taxes and pay them along with employees.

• Unemployment tax. Businesses must pay federal and state unemployment taxes.

3. Quarterly Estimated. This area trips up many an entrepreneur and is especially vexing for home-based businesses. Failure to keep up with estimated tax bills can create cash flow problems as well as the potential for punishing IRS penalties. Among the issues are:

• Who should pay? A business probably must pay quarterly estimated taxes if the total tax bill in a given year will exceed $500.

• How much should you pay? By the end of the year, either 90 percent of the tax that is owed or 100 percent of last year's tax must be paid (the figure is 110 percent if a business's income exceeds $150,000). Businesses can subtract their expenses from their income each quarter and apply their income tax rate (and any self-employment tax rate) to the resulting figure (their quarterly profit).

4. Sales Taxes. Most services remain exempt from sales tax, but most products are taxable (typical exceptions are food and drugs). If a business owner sells a product or service that is subject to sales tax, he or she must register with the state's tax department. Then taxable and nontaxable sales must be tracked and included on the company's sales tax return.

• Having what is considered a "presence" in a state is the criteria used by the IRS to determine whether or not you are liable for paying state sales tax.

• If you do not have a physical presence in another state, but sell items via the Internet or by catalog in that state, you can be subject to a state’s "use tax," but typically not to their state sales tax. A "presence" in another state does not necessarily mean that you have a retail outlet in that state. If you have an office, warehouse, or employees working for you in that state, the IRS may consider you to have a presence in that state. Make sure you are aware of your sales tax responsibilities in all states in which you are doing business.

5. Keep Tax Documents for at Least Seven Years. Good record keeping saves money. Some things like copies of business tax returns, licenses, incorporation papers, and capital equipment expenses should be preserved indefinitely. Keep any tax-related documents (e.g., expense receipts, client 1099 forms, and vehicle mileage logs) for a minimum of seven years.

6. Charitable Contributions. Unless your business is a C corporation, charitable contributions typically "flow through" the business and are claimed as deductions on the individual tax returns of the shareholders of the company. That's true whether you're running a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability corporation, or S corporation.

• If you want to get the maximum tax benefits, you should know these basic rules:

• Only contributions to charities listed as "qualified organizations" by the IRS are deductible. Consult IRS Publication 78 for a list of qualified organizations or search online at the IRS home page.

• Contributions of more than $250 require a letter of receipt from the qualified organization. For contributions of less than $250, a canceled check is sufficient.

• In general, donations of property can be deducted for their fair market value at the time of the contribution. You cannot deduct a contribution that has already been written off as a depreciated asset.

• You cannot deduct the value of time or services that you volunteer.

• You cannot deduct the part of a contribution that benefits you. If you receive a gift in exchange for a charitable donation, for example, you can deduct only the amount of the contribution that exceeds the value of the gift.

• In general, you can deduct contributions only in the year you make them. Pledged contributions cannot be deducted until they are actually paid.

7. Important Tax Deadlines for Businesses. April 15 isn't the only important tax date for business owners. The following dates are important to keep in mind:

• Annual returns. Most annual returns are due April 15 for unincorporated companies and S corporations. C corporations must file annual corporate returns within two-and-a-half months after the close of their fiscal year.

• Estimated taxes. Estimated taxes are due four times a year: April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15.

• Sales taxes. Sales taxes are due quarterly or monthly, depending on the rules in your state.

• Employee taxes. Depending on the size of your payroll, employee taxes are due weekly, monthly or quarterly.

8. Deducting Loans. Most business loans are not considered business income. One notable exception is a situation in which you negotiate with a creditor or lender to reduce your debt. If any debt is forgiven, you will owe taxes on this amount. On the other hand, business loans can offer substantial tax benefits. The principal and interest you pay on your loan are business expenses, and you can deduct them from your taxes as such. In order to take advantage of a tax deduction, you must report the total amount of the loan, and the assets and expenditures financed must be necessary to operating the business.

9. Tax Audits. The very thought of an IRS audit is enough to make most business owners break into a cold sweat. But not all audits are created alike: There are several different types of tax audits, ranging from simple requests for a particular piece of information to comprehensive reviews that cover every aspect of a business.

• Correspondence Audit This is a relatively simple procedure in which the IRS asks you to document an item on your return by a specified date. This is usually a routine test for compliance with certain items on your return.

• Office Audit The IRS may ask you to report to a nearby IRS office and document one or more items on your return. You may be able to send them copies of this proof in advance of the appointment and resolve the issue without actually going to the office.

• Field Audit This is the audit most people dread. The IRS will ask you to provide documentation of various items on your return and to meet with an IRS agent for a thorough review of your records. Be prepared to answer the auditor’s questions, but don’t volunteer information.

• Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program Audit This rather lengthy and detailed audit asks you to document and prove every single item in your return. The IRS and Congress use the data from these audits for research and statistical purposes. These audits are arbitrary, and anyone can face them regardless of how carefully they prepare their tax returns.

• Criminal-Investigation Audit If you are suspected of tax evasion, the IRS will conduct a criminal-investigation audit. If they prove that you have purposefully not paid your income taxes, you can face substantial fines and even jail time. Obviously, you should retain qualified legal counsel if you face this type of audit.

10. The IRS. The IRS small business Web site provides a wealth of information to small and growing businesses. There's a section for businesses getting off the ground that includes a handing checklist and advice on choosing business structure. It's particularly helpful on important topics such as employee taxes and business tax deductions. In addition, it has a list of small business resources with links to other government resources for small businesses.

Find business tax information and other finance and accounting tips at AllBusiness.com. AllBusiness.com is a leading provider of practical information and services for growing businesses.

There’s no place like home, especially when you get to work there too. While others deal with frustrating commutes and noisy cubicles, you’re getting ahead and getting things done. Or are you? Without proper planning and organization, your home office may do more to hinder your productivity than enhance it.

In just 60-seconds, we can get you started on setting up the perfect home office.

0:60     Select the Right Spot
The space you choose for your home office should be well lit and properly ventilated, with enough room for furniture, supplies, storage compartments and other items you use on a regular basis. Windows are great for natural light and that all-important “inspiration,” but they can just as easily be a persistent distraction. It may be best to configure your work area so that the windows are behind you or to the side.

0:45     Get Connected
Your home office should also be equipped with sufficient electrical outlets to safely support your office equipment and appliances, as well as connections for your telephone, fax and Internet access. Any costs incurred to add outlets and any other utilities to your office (e.g., heating and air conditioning ducts) are tax deductible.

0:38     Fine-tune the Furnishings
Consider what kind of furniture you’ll need for your business, including file cabinets, printer stands and any other items needed to organize records, tools and supplies. Browse catalogs or measure furniture you already have and compare those dimensions with the available space in your office. This will make it easier to find an ideal layout without the risk of discovering too late that your new desk doesn’t fit.

0:23     Evaluate Equipment
Follow the same process with the equipment you will use, whether it’s a computer and a fax or machining equipment. You will almost certainly use some things less frequently than others, so consider ways to place these items so that they’re convenient, yet out of the way.

0:14     Organize
Avoid moving any business equipment or files out of your home office.  You cannot afford to waste time tracking down misplaced tools or research information, especially when a deadline is near.  And if customers visit your home office, an organized work environment will say a lot about you and the quality of your services.  Even if you never have visitors, taking a few moments to straighten up at the end of the day gives you a head start on tomorrow’s tasks.

0:02     Watch those Taxes
The Internal Revenue Service will let you deduct expenses related only to that part of your home that you use exclusively and regularly for business. This includes the mortgage/rent cost of floor space, utilities and furnishings for areas where you actually perform your business and customer reception or meeting areas. You may also deduct expenses for parts of your home used as a daycare facility, or to store inventory you sell in your business—even if you sometimes use those areas for personal purposes as well.  Consult the IRS Web site for details.

0:60     Evaluate Your Risk
Evaluate the possibility of each of the following disasters occurring and how your business would recover from it: hardware failures, theft, malicious acts, mistakes, natural disasters. Ask: How much is my data worth? How much would downtime cost my business each day? Each hour? Each minute? How much would my business lose if that data were lost permanently?

0:48     Plan for Disaster Recovery
Risk = Asset (anything that's valuable to your company) x Threat (events that may compromise your data) x Vulnerability (weaknesses that might allow for the failure of a control that affects the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of your assets). Perform both qualitative and quantitative risk assessments, then choose from four risk management options: mitigation, acceptance, avoidance, and transference.

0:36     Understand Business Continuity Planning (BCP)
Form a BCP team to reduce the possibility that your business will be interrupted in the event of a disaster. Teams should have the right balance of technical skills, business process knowledge, and leadership to make your organization disaster resistant.

0:27     Evaluate Continuity and Recovery Solutions
Investigate possible technology solutions for disaster recovery: high-availability solutions, including redundant disks, mirrored servers, and clustered servers; uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs); data backup and off-site storage of media; and alternate-processing facilities, including hot, warm, and cold sites.

0:18     Document and Maintain Your Disaster Recovery Plan
Document your disaster recovery plan in a format that's available to everyone who's expected to play a role in disaster recovery. Train responders. And keep the plan current in the face of your changing risks, infrastructure, and business environment.

0:07     Test Your Disaster Recovery Plan
Test your disaster recovery plan before disaster strikes. Choose from several testing methodologies for your organization's culture and resources, including: desk checks, structured walkthroughs, disaster simulation, parallel tests, full interruption tests, and routine tests.

© 2007 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP
The HP Small Business Connection brings together products, services, and solutions designed with your business in mind.

Pinterest – the hot new social media network – is starting to catch the eye of many small business owners. And the reason is simple: It’s a great new way to drive traffic to your website and create leads for your business.

In fact, the early read on Pinterest is that it’s more effective in some cases than Facebook. And growth on this social sharing site, which is free to use, has been phenomenal. Pinterest has skyrocketed to become the fifth biggest social site, ahead of Google+ and LinkedIn.

Pinterest is a highly visual site, based in large part on sharing images, along with other content.  The platform lets users visually share things they’ve found online by “pinning” an image, article, video or other item to their own “pinboard.”  Users often create collections of “pins” around a theme of some kind. They can either pin things they’ve found on the web, or upload their own images. You’ll also see the Pinterest button showing up on websites as a way for visitors to quickly “pin” an item, which might also be a simple URL.

Some small businesses that rely heavily on website traffic to increase sales are reporting a surge of traffic now coming from Pinterest. Susan Lyne, CEO of the popular shopping site called Gilt.com, which offers designer goods at a discount, says her site has gotten a big boost from Pinterest. In part that’s because Gilt has lots of high quality images of the items it sells, which is the kind of thing people like to pin on Pinterest.

Here are ten tips and tactics for small business success on Pinterest:

• Although it’s already become the fastest growing social network of all time, Pinterest is still technically in “beta” so when you go to sign up you must request an invitation to join. But don’t worry, it’s all but automatic that you’re in.
• Pinterest doesn’t yet provide a connection to Facebook business pages, so if your business is on Twitter, be sure to use the same email address you use for your business Twitter account to sign up for Pinterest. You’ll be able to sign in with your same Twitter login.
• Write a detailed “About” description of your business, using appropriate key words and geographic locations so you’ll show up in search.  Also make sure the button marked “Hide your Pinterest profile from search engines” is OFF.
• Link your Pinterest account to other social media – especially your Facebook page and Twitter account – and link it to your business website. But keep in mind that Pinterest was designed for individuals, not businesses, so there’s really no such thing yet as a Pinterest “business page.” Just think in terms of using the site as a person, rather than a business.
• Your main activity on Pinterest will be to set up various “pinboards.”  You’ll gain traction for your business by organizing and naming them according to the types of products and services you sell. You should create these first, before you start trying to build your Pinterest following. As with Facebook “Likes” and Twitter followers, you’ll want to build a loyal follower base on Pinterest by catering to topics that people are passionate about.
• Once you are on Pinterest, add the Pinterest follow button to your business website, blog, social media pages and even your printed materials. This is a good way to jumpstart your Pinterest presence.
• Focus first on visual content. Remember, Pinterest is a heavily visual medium, so you’ll want to use your best stuff here. If you have great product shots, that’s one option. Some businesses are pinning photos of their employees and location.
• So far, Pinterest users have been more heavily female (about 65%), so keep that in mind as well.  If your customer base is mainly men, Pinterest might not be right for you just yet.
• If you have a blog and are using strong photos there, make a habit of putting them on your pinboard as well. You can also pin charts, graphs and other graphics.
• Follow the same social media “rules” you’d follow elsewhere. For example, concentrate on making yourself a valuable resource to others rather than trying to overtly sell.

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Daniel Kehrer is Founder of BizBest (www.bizbest.com), an independent information service for small business and startups. © 2012 BizBest Media