To Add On To Yesterday's Post

Just as an add-on to yesterday's post I want to make it clear that I COMPLETELY blame myself for the tax screwup (and it's only because I'm lucky that it turns out I'm not going to be hit with penalties). I do have a payroll service but they were very clear about what they did and did not cover at the rate I'm paying them so it was up to me to figure out the rest which, it turns out, is as simple as going to the IRS website (who would have guessed it would actually be readable and informative!).

And while I do blame myself, in my mind it's also just one of those lessons I think small business owners learn along the way. For us uber-small businesses working out of our homes/small offices/dining room tables, we don't have the capital to hire the HR director, the on-staff accountant, or any of those other luxuries that bigger companies have. If I did then I would expect those experts I hired to know exactly what was going on and what was due when.

Instead, it's just me and the dogs who, while I love them, aren't really too much help with the tax code or other business issues. But if you would like someone on staff to bark at squirrels then let me tell you there is no one better! That means though that I'm going to miss stuff from time to time as I figure out what needs to get done with each new level of the business. Sometimes my mistakes will cost the company money (cough...cough...the pr firm i hired last year...cough), sometimes some of the experts in my "extended staff" will catch a mistake before I make it (my accountant catching a potential mistake prior to filing taxes last year), and sometimes I'll simply get lucky and the mistake I make won't have any negative ramifications (such as depositing the monthly payroll taxes). My feeling is that I am always going to make mistakes but the important thing is to learn from mistakes past and not remake the same mistakes. That way it frees me up to make new mistakes! :)