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taxes

The end of the year always comes more quickly than we expect, so now is the time to get organized! Whether you are a long time customer or new to Boulevard, we can help with your choice of Inventory Setup, a Database Makeover, or even our Virtual Assistant services!

The Inventory Setup Service includes entering Section 1 on hand amounts, entering Section 1 Ideal amounts, and clean up of the Closeout Items product category. Valued at $75, you can purchase this service for just $30, and be up and running in minutes! Call us today to inquire or purchase.

A Database Makeover is the perfect way to clean up and organize your data. Our Database Makeovers are available starting at just $25. The best part? Each makeover level builds upon the previous and increases the amount of help we can provide to getting your systems in place and you back on track. Call our office today to discuss how a Makeover can help! Perhaps the problem is bigger than a makeover warrants… perhaps you’re behind on the data entry itself. We have a solution for that, too!

All of us have lives outside of our Mary Kay® businesses, right? Being a Mary Kay Consultant is a grand adventure, but there are times when other things happen and they take priority, so your business may take a back seat for a while. Life happening doesn’t keep customers from needing to reorder their skin care and cosmetics and doesn’t stop you from needing to order inventory to replenish what you are selling. It also doesn’t stop those ever present and inevitable business expenses from accruing. Sometimes it can keep you from being able to sit down at your computer to enter it though.

Is all of this sounding a little familiar? Do you find yourself in this position now? Maybe a paperwork pile three or four months (or more!) deep is threatening to spill onto the floor as you read this message. Does the thought of prepping for taxes – let alone filing on time – give you cold sweats and chills? We have the answer for you: Historical Virtual Assistant – and the professional, reliable competence of our Customer Service Representatives – to the rescue!

We have offered a Virtual Assistant Service for several years now and those using it swear by its positive effects on their business. Offloading your data entry to someone else frees up your time and energy to concentrate on actually building your business. Plus you can continue to take care of your family, enjoy your friends, and not get behind. Our historical Virtual Assistant service is perfect for helping you to fill in, catch up, and just get back to where you need to be.

We can help you to determine what needs to be entered by assessing your unique situation. Based on the number of months of entry and the amount of paperwork from each month to be entered, we will provide you a customized quote for this service. Not only will your data entry be completed by trained Boulevard professionals, it will be done neatly and to your specifications.

While you’re in the clean up and organization mode, do you have a plan for all those foundations you have in stock but are being discontinued by Mary Kay? You guessed it! We have a solution for that, too! Check out our awesome Product of the Month postcards. We suggest using these lovely cards to showcase specific products that you’re overstocked in or are being discontinued. You can purchase these cards in a set then prep and mail them yourself or, sign up for our Postcard Service and let us do the work for you! For just $0.70 a name including postage, you won’t find a better deal. Better yet, we provide a report you can use to follow-up and even remind you to follow-up after the cards are sent.

We believe in working this business full-circle – just like you have been taught in Mary Kay. We don’t like to leave anything to chance and are always looking for ways to simplify, streamline, and improve the odds of our customers’ success. Our Customer Service Representatives are waiting to assist you. Contact us, and let’s get started today!

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In Boulevard you can enter and track business-related expenses and other income, assign categories, and view monthly expense and income totals. An abundance of report options are available to you too, so you can provide your accountant or tax preparer with the information they need.

Boulevard comes preloaded with some commonly used expense and income categories. You can change these categories and add new ones at any time so that you can customize to meet your specific needs. For example: maybe your accountant wants your commission checks broken down to show personal recruit and unit commissions separately.

If you or your accountant decide to delete a category that has expense or income transactions assigned to it, those entries become unassigned. Having each transaction properly assigned to the applicable expense or income category helps to ensure complete and accurate records for tax purposes at the end of your tax year.

You can also export expense and income information from Boulevard to financial software packages that accept QIF files such as Quicken®.  Any software that can accept this file type will work with your tax or financially pertinent Boulevard information. See Exporting to financial software in the Help menu for complete instructions.

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It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of shopping, family time, and parties at the end of the year. All of a sudden it’s the middle of January and your inventory report hasn’t been printed. Does this sound like you? No problem. You can capture that end-of-year information. For the best advice based upon your unique situation, give our customer service department a call. A representative can help you determine the best place to start.

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No matter how accurate you think you have entered and tracked information in your Boulevard software, the government wants you to count your inventory anyway. Now is the time to schedule a block of time to take the physical count. Main Street Software staff recommend the following steps:

setup

  1. Print the Inventory Worksheet by Category (filtered for Section 1 only).
  2. Use this worksheet to take your physical count. Write your actual quantities in the column labeled Actual.Please Note Edit the Physical Count  
  3. When your physical count is complete, highlight the items where the quantity you wrote is different from what Boulevard thinks you have.
  4. Edit the physical count in your program for these items.
  5. Print the Inventory Listing by Category (filtered for Section 1 only).

Tip-PDFVoila! Keep this report handy, as it is necessary to complete your taxes. Because Boulevard’s inventory is ‘live’ all the time, you cannot recreate this report down the road.

 

 

References:

US: MK Tax Essentials 2008, p. 6

CA: MK Legal Ease, p. 5, section IV; CRA Income Tax Act, Inventory Valuation, NO: IT-473R, Paragraph 2 Determination of Quantities.

UK: HM Revenue & Customs website, Record keeping (self-employed):  http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/rec-keep-self-emp.htm#3

AU: Australian Taxation Office, Record keeping for small business, NAT 3029-07.2009, p. 16.

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Your Boulevard software Help menu has a fantastic article on this topic. To locate the article, go to Help, click on Contents, then Business Tips. Select Using Section 1 Items as Demos.

  1. To begin, enter all Section 1 items on an invoice that are being used for demos (E.g. Day Solution).
  2. Invoice your Business Supplies customer, which is primarily used for write-off purposes.
  3. Mark the invoice with a 50% discount and paid in full (Cash/Check). paidinfullNo money actually changes hands as your business already purchased the product.
  4. Print the invoice and you’re ready to expense these items.
  5. New ExpenseCreate a New Expense and enter the amount of the invoice under a category called Supplies (COG).
  6. File your receipt with your tax records and your done!

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Balancing your Mary Kay product order in Boulevard software before placing and receiving it into your inventory is crucial for tax records. Here are a couple of things to check:

  1. Add all Section 1 bonus items with a 100% discount.
  2. Add all Section 2 bonus items and change the price to zero.

If your state has items that are non-taxable, be sure these items are not marked to calculate tax (check the individual product dialog box). If you’re on our premium Product Update Service, check your quarterly newsletter for video demonstrations on adding the current product bonus to your product orders. As one of the benefits of the service, you can also call and our customer service representatives can walk you through step-by-step.

At times, part of the bonuses you receive may include items that cannot be purchased, or are part of a set. For instance, you may receive a single PC premium the month prior to its release (e.g., Mini Satin Hands Gift Set) or a merchandising product (e.g., Women’s Eau de Toilette Gift Bag). You even receive Queen’s Court/Section 1 credit for this gift. To balance your order in these cases, you’ll need to complete some additional steps.

  1. When the order matches with the exception of the Section 1 retail (which should be short the value of the premium), go ahead and place and receive the order.Completed Order
  2. Edit the completed order to adjust your Queen’s Court/Section 1 retail value to include the PC Premium.
  3. Upon completion of the order, if you track your PC Premium quantities, you will want to edit the physical count for the item received.

If you have received a free Section 2 item, that is not in your Boulevard product list, you can either choose to not include the item in your inventory counts (Section 2 is free – no tax is charged therefore will not impact your totals), or create a part number, then add it to the product order.

If you choose to add the item, we suggest using an alpha character part number (e.g., WEDTGBAG for Women’s Eau de Toilette Gift Bags), or wait until you receive the order and use the published part number from the MK packing list.  Once the part number has been added to your Boulevard, you may then add the it to the order and change the price to zero. Complete the order as usual when your totals match the packing slip.

Learn more about Boulevard software inventory features.

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Stretch your moneyIf you pay a household employee cash wages of $1,700 or more in 2009 or $1,000 or more in any calendar quarter of 2008 or 2009, you must pay employment taxes. For more information, read this tax topic from the IRS website.

If you pay an independent contractor $600 or more during the year, you must fill out a Form 1099-MISC.  An independent contractor is what your office assistants are.  For more information, view this section from the  IRS website.

If you pay a corporation like Main Street Software, Inc. to manage your Boulevard software you do nothing extra!

Learn more about our Virtual Assistant services…

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