Accounting, Tax, and Small-Business

Tools in this group

• Straight-Line Depreciation - Annual depreciation, accumulated through year, and book value from cost / salvage / life. IRS Pub 946 Chapter 1 by name.
• MACRS Depreciation - Per-year MACRS depreciation, accumulated, and book value by class life and convention. IRS Pub 946 Tables A-1.
• Section 179 and Bonus Depreciation - Allowable Section 179 (cap, phase-out, taxable-income limit), bonus depreciation, and remaining basis to MACRS.
• Self-Employment Tax (Schedule SE) - 92.35% net-earnings adjustment, Social Security cap, Additional Medicare 0.9%, deductible half.
• Quarterly Estimated Tax - Safe-harbor required annual payment, per-quarter installment, and IRS 1040-ES due dates.
• Payroll Tax Withholding (Simplified) - Federal income tax (Pub 15-T percentage method), employee FICA, Additional Medicare. Single-filer brackets bundled.
• Loan Amortization Schedule - Month-by-month principal / interest / balance with optional extra-principal payment, total interest, payoff month.
• Breakeven and Contribution Margin - Breakeven units, breakeven revenue, contribution margin per unit, CM ratio, margin of safety.
• Sales Tax Compounding and Reverse - Pre-tax / post-tax / tax with combined state + local rate. Reverse from a receipt total.
• Inventory Turnover and DSI - Turnover ratio, days sales of inventory, comparison against bundled industry median (Census ARTS / SBA).
• Cash Conversion Cycle - CCC = DIO + DSO - DPO with per-component contribution.
• Mileage Log Roll-Up - Total business miles, deductible at the published IRS standard rate, optional odometer cross-check.
• Home-Office Deduction (Simplified vs Actual) - Simplified method ($5/ft^2 up to 300 ft^2 / $1,500 cap) vs actual method (office-use percent x home expenses), and the higher of the two. IRS Pub 587 / Form 8829.
• Declining-Balance Depreciation (Book) - Per-year GAAP declining-balance depreciation schedule (150% or 200%), the year's depreciation, accumulated depreciation, and year-end book value, with an optional straight-line crossover.
• Markup vs. Margin Converter - Converts among cost, selling price, markup percent, and gross margin percent, with gross profit per unit and total.
• Employer Payroll Tax - Employer Social Security, Medicare, FUTA, and SUTA, the total employer payroll tax, and the fully-loaded employer cost from gross wages and the current wage bases.
• Fully-Burdened Labor Rate - Base wage plus payroll taxes, workers comp, liability, and benefits, divided by the productive (billable) fraction of paid hours. $25/hr at 9.15% payroll, 8% WC, 2% liability, $4 benefits, 85% billable -> $39.75/hr. A bid-rate aid; the payroll service and insurer rates govern.
• Equipment Owning and Operating Hourly Rate - Owning (depreciation + interest/insurance/tax carry) plus operating (fuel + maintenance + wear) per hour, the CAT/AED method. A $50K skid steer, $10K salvage, 5,000-hr life at 1,000 hr/yr -> $23.40/hr; running it more spreads the fixed carry thinner. The owner costs and utilization govern.
• Overhead Recovery Rate - Annual overhead spread over billable hours ($/hr) or over annual direct cost (% markup). $200K over 8,000 hours -> $25/hr; over $500K direct -> a 40% markup. Cutting overhead lowers the rate directly, widening the margin. The contractor books and billable volume govern.
• Work-in-Progress Percent Complete and Over/Under Billing - Cost-to-cost POC: percent complete = cost to date / estimated total cost, earned revenue = percent x contract, over/under = earned - billed. $500K contract, $300K cost, $400K est, $350K billed -> 75%, $375K earned, +$25K underbilled (asset); billing $400K flips it to -$25K overbilled (liability). The CPA WIP schedule governs.
• Change Order Price with Overhead and Profit - Change-order price = direct cost x (1 + OH%) x (1 + profit%), the compounded markup. $10,000 direct at 10% and 10% -> $12,100 (markup $2,100, 17.4% gross margin); the additive method gives $12,000. Applied to a $500K contract -> $512,100 new total. The contract's general conditions govern the allowed markup.
• Retainage Withheld and Net Payment (AIA G702/G703) - Retention this period = work x retainage rate, net payment = work - retention, cumulative = prior + this. $100,000 draw at 10% withholds $10,000 (net $90,000), cumulative $50,000 on $40,000 prior; a 5% job withholds $5,000. Retainage is earned money held until acceptance; the contract and certified payment govern.
• Surety Bond Premium (Tiered Rate) - Tiered premium per $1,000 of contract: $25/$15/$10 per thousand on the first $100k / next $400k / above $500k. A $500,000 contract -> $8,500 (1.70%); a $2.5M job adds $20,000 for $28,500 (1.14%, the top band blends lower). The premium is a bid cost. The surety's rate schedule and underwriting govern.
• Workers-Comp Premium and Experience Mod - Manual premium = payroll/100 x class rate, actual = manual x EMR. $500k payroll, $8/$100, EMR 0.85 -> $40,000 manual, $34,000 modified ($6.80/$100), a $6,000 credit; a bad-safety EMR 1.15 -> $46,000, a $6,000 debit. A low EMR also unlocks bid lists. The rating bureau's EMR governs.
• Prevailing-Wage Package: Cash vs Bona-Fide Fringe - Package = base wage + fringe; paying the fringe as cash makes it taxable wages, funding it through a bona-fide plan does not, saving fringe x the wage-based burden per hour. $35 base + $15 fringe at 7.65% -> $1.15/hr saved; a fuller 15% burden saves $2.25/hr. The wage determination and the plan's bona-fide status govern.
• Economic Order Quantity (Wilson EOQ) - The order size that minimizes ordering plus holding cost, which the backward-looking inventory-turnover ratio never sizes: EOQ = sqrt(2 D S / H), balancing the fixed per-order cost (setup, freight, receiving) against the annual holding cost (capital, storage, spoilage). 12,000 units/yr at $50 per order and $3/unit/yr to hold -> 632 units per order (19 orders/yr, every 19 days) at $1,897/yr total. The total-cost curve is FLAT near the minimum, so rounding to a case or pallet quantity barely raises cost -- but hand-to-mouth or a full-truckload discount does. Steady demand, no quantity discounts. A planning aid; the demand, lead time, and supplier terms govern.
• Reorder Point and Safety Stock (Service Level) - The trigger level, and why 99% service costs double the buffer: reorder_point = demand during the lead time (avg_daily x lead_time) + safety stock, where safety_stock = z x demand_sd x sqrt(lead_time) and z is the service-level z-score (95% = 1.645, 99% = 2.326). 100 units/day, 7-day lead, sd 20, 95% service -> 87 units safety stock, reorder at 787; raise to 99% (z 2.326) and it is 123 units of buffer, reorder at 823 -- 36 more units for the last 4 points of service. Safety stock scales with sqrt(lead time) and the z-score, so chasing the last points is expensive. Normal demand, fixed lead time. A planning aid; the demand pattern and supplier reliability govern.
• Units-of-Production Depreciation - Depreciation by USAGE, floored at salvage -- the activity method the time-based tiles skip: rate = (cost - salvage) / total_estimated_units; period = rate x period_units; book_value = max(cost - rate x accumulated_units, salvage). A $50,000 machine, $5,000 salvage, 100,000-unit life used 8,000 units this period depreciates $0.45/unit -> $3,600, book value $46,400. Two catches: an IDLE asset takes zero depreciation that period (time-based methods keep expensing), and the book value can never fall below salvage even past the unit life (run to 110,000 units and it floors at $5,000). A GAAP/book method for hours/miles-driven assets, not tax MACRS. A bookkeeping aid; the accounting policy and tax rules govern.