How to use your tax refund to grow your small business

Investing your tax refund

The pain of tax season is over, and some businesses have yet to take advantage of their refunds – where should that money go?

Carla Freberg, Vendor Services Manager at Balboa Capital notes that not only is it one of the most stressful times of the year for small business owners, it involves a great deal of time and effort to compile the necessary paperwork. CNBC reported that half of small businesses in the United States will spend at least $5,000 to come to terms with their tax bills. Ouch.

“If you run a small business, the best thing you can do is present your accountant with organized financial statements, receipts, expense reports, etc. Doing so can help you maximize your tax deductions,” Freberg notes. “Now that Tax Day 2015 has passed, many small business owners are looking at tax refunds. If Uncle Sam is sending you a tax refund, you might want to use it to grow your small business.”

In her own words below, Freberg offers three ways you can invest your tax refund back into your company:

1. Mobile Technology

Small businesses are using smartphones, tablets and other types of mobile technology to assist with a variety of functions. A recent survey conducted by the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council reveals that 74% use it to manage social media marketing, 71% for email marketing, 34% for mobile websites and 18% to manage operations. Now is thetime to embrace mobile technology, because it gives you and your employees the ability to manage things quickly, and with greater cost-efficiency. Popularmobile technologies in 2015 include point-of-sale (POS) software, mobile credit card processing, and customized small business apps.

2. Cloud-Based Technology

Advances in cloud-based technology are changing the way small businesses operate. As you know, the cost to purchase and maintain office equipment such as computers, monitors, software, printers and servers can chip away at your bottom line. Moving software and certain IT functions to the cloud can reduce your expenses and enable you and your employees to work with more mobility. There are cloud-based services available for a whole host of small business tasks, such as data storage and document sharing, and they are scalable. You can easily upscale or downscale your cloud computing requirements based on your company’s needs.

3. Cybersecurity Solutions

Just because you run a small business doesn’t mean you can hide from hackers who want to compromise your website. In today’s world, cyber thieves from all over the world scroll through the Internet looking for vulnerable websites. A cyberattack, computer virus, or internalsecurity breach would turn your small business upside down and result in decreased productivity, lost revenues and frustrated customers. Investing in cybersecurity solutions can help protect your company’s online infrastructure from malware, spyware, worms and more. Commonly used solutions include dataloss prevention (DLP) software, hardware firewalls, software firewalls and antivirus software.

Start Preparing for 2016

“If you manage your tax-related paperwork throughout the year, you won’t need to rush to get everything ready at the last minute, which can result in costly mistakes,” said Freberg. “All you need to do is establish an organized bookkeeping system with accurate records and receipts, and update it as needed. It’s a great way to prepare your company for a successful and stress-free 2016 tax season.”

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