surprised no one has mentioned Wave. Has free filing for taxes and federal depending on state.

Pretty straightforward, add timesheets and run payroll. i think its $6 or $4 for each additional employee after 10 or 11 employees. have had no issues with it and have used it for the last 2 and a half years

i own a restaurant so its a different order of magnitude but you really need to see what your breakeven point would be and how youll be servicing the debt along with payroll, taxes, insurance, rent, etc.

If anything, maybe re-evaluate the renovations and what you can wait on. We got a turnkey restaurant, theres a lot to upgrade, but we decided to open earlier instead of changing it and living with it. 3 years later we are still living with it but considering all the expenses that have come up, its for the best at the moment. We’d probably be out of business by now if we renovated to our liking.

I’d try to keep your start up costs as low as possible. youll need the extra cash once you open.

Not an accountant but took some accounting classes so am a little fuzzy

If they pay for a year up front you would need to recognize the first month as revenue and the other 11 months as a liability, since you owe them the service. So I guess technically you would only recognize about $35 in revenue for dec 23 and pay taxes accordingly for that. Assuming you are using the accrual basis of accounting. For cash based accounting, then you’d recognize it at time of sale.

im in a seasonal area so for us, its pretty much the same as last year. the down time, summer months, were off about 10 - 15% but the season so far has been about the same levels as last year. will see how the rest of the season goes.