6 months of expenses "tucked/socked" away? No way. sm
Posted By: SmallMTSO on 2008-05-31
In Reply to: That is just such bs. An employer should have..at least.. - giddy pc guru
I am the owner of a small transcription company. We have 50 transcriptionists. We invoice $150,000 per month. Our payroll, taxes, manager salaries, postage, bank fees, overhead, etc run approximately $140,000 per month. That means that we should have $840,000 tucked away somewhere. No way. We depend on our customers to pay. Our employees are paid on time and paid a decent rate. Our bills are paid. To say that someone needs 6 months of expenses put away is unrealistic and naive. Where did I attend school? For undergrad, University of Michigan, for graduate school, Northwestern University, with a master's degree in Business Management and a Bach degree in Finance. The rule of thumb is to have one payroll worth of cash on hand or a line of credit available equal to that amount.
It's really annoying that people can toss out comments like that, stating them as if they were fact, without any basis of fact. Most companies do not have close to a million dollars lying around. If they do, it is foolish.
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Anyone getting socked by heating bill yet?
My latest was $88 - hmm...I've almost never had my heat going since I use space heaters. Hmm...odd.
I have no expenses except to buy my
computer, desk and chair, which after time becomes a wash and are nominal expenses. All my references are online paid for by the company (all Stedman electronic word books, my free personal subscription to Monthly Prescribing Reference, etc.)
Maybe you can cut your expenses? sm
If you are using telephones for dictation, maybe switch to handheld units? Or use a TASP to save money on calls? Use the Internet more to cut down on expenses. Hope this helps. If you can, keep your clients. They are hard to come by nowadays.
Remember that's $40 before all expenses. nm
x
Medical expenses
January, 2000 - DH tore rotator cuff, needed MRI/arthrogram, followed by rotator cuff repair.
January, 2001 - I had foot surgery in podiatrist's office.
January, 2002 - DH had cervical MRI/myelogram, followed by anterior cervical diskectomy with fusion, two levels.
January, 2003 - DH had knee MRI, followed by arthroscopy.
January, 2004 - I had LASIK surgery.
OMYGOSH, it's almost January again! 
Why not just add it to your business expenses? nm
x
You can still deduct your MT expenses if your and IC - sm
regardless of taking the standard deduction. Your write offs for MT are on the Schedule C (not B). My husband and I take the standard deduction as we don't have enough on our Sch. B; then I write off all my IC deductions and report my income on the Sch. C.; putting the bottom line (income minus IC write-offs) on the 1040 line 12. So I am not quite clear on what you are talking about but I know how I do it is how most of us (if not all) do our deductions. You may want to do an amended return.
Tax Deductible Expenses
We ran a business for years from our home. As far as I know, you can take the base rate of your telephone bill as an expense (which includes FCC taxes) and any long distance calls related directly to the business. As for Home Owners Insurance, you can take 7% of the insurance because you use 7% of your home for your business. Also, anything related to the business such as equipment, paper, tapes or special software programs can be taken as well. If you have to travel to deliver the finished reports, I believe the rate is 28 cents a mile. If you travel, you can also deduct any maintenance on your vehicle. Hope this helps. 
Taxes, Expenses
I would have internet anyway; now I get to write it off. I would have long distance anyway; now I get to write it off. Everyone pays taxes and insurance, it is just a matter of who is doing the bookkeeping. Walmart STARTS at $8/hour and then when they pay all that same stuff they are really making $5- $6. You can write off ALL your health insurance, a portion of your utilities and the area you work in, computer, software, and other supplies.....save on gas (this is HUGE right now), work clothes, make up, day care, and and and. There's always more than one way to view something.
Also, are these figures before tax/expenses or after? sm
Some ICs might be quoting their pay before taxes and expense deductions, which isn't their ACTUAL pay for the year. If someone has their own accounts and says they bring in $50K per year, that's possible, but probably not the amount they receive free and clear.
I find it hard to believe anyone makes that much free and clear unless they are working 12 hours a day, every day, and pulling in a significantly high per-line rate. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I base this opinion on the fact that I make a very good line rate, type over 100 wpm for easy accounts I've had for years, and still don't bring in that kind of money free and clear. I come close with my gross income, but after taxes and expenses, it's only about 65% of that! And I work 9-10 hours a day with only one week of vacation per year.
Come to think of it, that's pretty sad when I see it on paper. LOL I'm going to go look for a new line of work now.
What is the cost of your living expenses? sm
I would really like to know this as mine seem high. My cost for the bare minimum, not including insurance, medical costs or entertainment, is about $1,800.00 per month.
Is that high to most people? TIA.
$350 a month for my share of expenses.
z
get a credit card just for your IC expenses
it will keep all your expenses in one place and you won't need to keep receipts, just the credit card statements. Other than that, track mileage, though to be frank most people will just claim an average mileage and then create a mileage journal if audited. Also if you will take the home office deduction, you can claim percentage of heating, etc. but easy enough to do that. Might be worth your while to consult with a CPA if you take the IC job, and then the first year that you do your taxes. He can explain everything you need and then you can take it from there. Just one or two more forms to fill out, nothing earth-shattering.
Poll: Earnings vs Expenses
1. What are your monthly earnings -- just you (no spousal income) -- doesn't matter how many jobs....monthly earnings?
2. Do you work more than one job?
3. What is your base line rate? If you have more than 1 job, list all base rates.
4. Now what is the minimum bring-home pay you need to survive each month? This is your housing, energy, transportation, insurances, food -- what you have to have to make it.
5. What's the difference? Are you in the hole? Got surplus? Breaking even?
My answers:
1. About $3100 each month.
2. One job.
3. $0.095 cpl plus some incentive bonus each month.
4. $2287 gets everything paid. Savings and pocket money not included in that figure.
5. Surplus but not much. Trying to save as much as possible and have a few greenbacks in my wallet each week.
Was told could deduct pet expenses. sm.
If it is a dog and is over 50 pounds, you can claim its food, vet bills, pet insurance, vaccinations all that as long as your business is run from your home. It applies as a guard dog. It does not matter which breed the dog is either. This is the state of Missouri, not sure about other states.
I am gonna try it as we shelled out alot of money over a period of time for a dog that was poisoned. Luckily, he lived.
WORK-AT-HOME EXPENSES JUST AS MUCH - sm
as if I were working outside the home, if not more. The only thing I would spend money on an outside job would be the $4.00 daily bus fare. I have more than enough clothes for work, no problem there, maybe lunch or can brown-bag. The company pays the office space, light, electricity, internet, cable, AIR CONDITIONING in summer (imp.)
On the other hand, even as an employee, I am not reimbursed for my high-speed, HIGH-COST cable/DSL/telephone I need to make these few cents a line, electric costs, lights, AC BILL JUMPS WHEN SITTING AT PC ALL DAY IN SUMMER, buy my own office supplies, books, references.
Just another mind sc---ing they give you by telling you it's cheaper to work at home. (I have no kids).  
I also took home office expenses as an employee, but --
You can only get any good out of it if you are also a homeowner with a lot of mortgage interest or have a lot of medical expenses, etc., that would make it higher than the standard deduction.
deducting home office expenses -
For the home office expense - You would measure the amount of space you actually use to work (your desk area) and figure the percentage of that square footage to your total square footage. Then you would use that percentage of your utilities costs, etc., to count on your taxes.
I got into this because it paid more money and I didn't have daycare expenses.
I have more time for a social life now that I work at home. I go to lunch or coffee with family and friends. I used to run errands on my lunch half-hour at my old job and either pay my bills or balance my checkbook on my breaks. I know all the other parents at the school now, so we get together on weekends or chitchat at the school. When I used to work outside the home, I was so exhausted from dealing with crabby people all day long that I just wanted to isolate myself at home on evenings and weekends. Now that I work at home, I actually seek out friends to keep from getting isolated.
You could take him to small claims to get expenses and pain and suffering.
:+
Need help with calculating expenses for bid on large account. At the moment I do not know *sm*
how many lines they dictate per day/week. I am going to call the person who sent me the bid forms and ask. I do not have my own call-in system and would be using a TASP. Can someone tell me that currently uses a TASP how to go about figuring my costs in so that I do not under bid. I know that each dictator and the type of report is going to vary but on an average what would you say? Bottom line is I need to know how many cents per line I need to charge to cover the call-in system and my other expenses. Another thing they listed in the bid is that the vendor is to provide all other supplies including plain paper to complete each assignment. The hospital will provide any special letterhead, envelopes, etc. How do you provide the paper and probably the toner if you are doing this remotely? Would there be any other expenses that would fall under other supplies that you can think of other than toner and paper? How much toner and paper do I provide or should I ask the hospital what they use on a weekly basis? I would assume I have the right to ask questions as to how much paper, toner, how many lines they do each day or week on average. I want this account very much but I do not want to have to pay a cheap line rate and I need to make this worth my while. Thank you very much for you help.
One thing also - keep all your receipts of any business related expenses
I have a folder and everytime I buy anything related to work whether it be a pen, a printer ribbon, a book, a keyboard, etc. I put in that folder. Those things add up and they are all deductible which comes off of your gross. This is in addition to the home use of your office. A statutory IC is a great way to go because you don't have to pay the entire social security but you are still IC and can utilize the business deductions. If you pay your own health insurance and it is in your name that is also deductible. Keep good records...this is the most important I have learned being an IC. Also you will probably have to file quarterly if you make over a certain amount. If you don't you will be penalized by IRS and have to pay the penalty fee with your April 15th filing. And also remember to figure your state taxes for the year. However it does depend on your personal situation and if you file jointly with your husband that may change things. Good luck.
Personally I think IC is great but unless you have some really good deductions you can end up paying a lot in taxes. If you have to pay your own social security at 15% and you were taxed at 20% rate for federal and let's say 6% for state you would be paying 41% of your income in taxes which is no fun. But you only pay on your net income and not your gross so it sort of comes out in the wash.
home office expenses are still deductible if you are an employee - nm
x
$32K/part time 6 months/full time 6 months
I have kept my child home with me half the year, but when pre-K started I began working full time. Helps to only have a main account and one backup account for the 2nd year now, so my abbreviation program rocks and rolls when I focus.
My cost of living expenses monthly is $2200/month
I'm self employed, so I'm killed in taxes AND I live in NY...but I wouldn't have it any other way
I LOVE NEW YORK!!!!
Any help on form 8829*Expenses for Business Use of your Home would be greatly
Hi All,
I was a statutory employee last year but not now. I usually do my own taxes but am having trouble with form 8829 and am not sure if the accountant can squeeze me in at this late date. Thought I would try here first for help. I use my den exclusively for work (almost) and am going to take this 7% of our home as a business expense.
Under Part II... Lines 10 and 11. Deductible mortgage interest and real estate taxes...I am going to take the entire amount on schedule A, so, hopefully, do not have to enter anything here.
line 17. Insurance. Are we allowed to take a portion of our homeowners insurance as a deduction? I have no separate business insurance.
Line 19. Utilities. I know I can take 7% of my electric, gas, water, garbage (I think), but what about phones? We have both cell and regular phone. When I call, I use the regular phone for toll free numbers, but the cell phone to my boss who does not have a toll free #.
Then, I need to find the value of my home for Part III. I guess I will check home sales in the neighborhood and go by that.
Geez..sorry for sounding like such a dummy. I can do all the other...capital gains, etc, just not sure what is allowed for home expenses.
As I say, I will try to get in to the accountant, but any advise for any of this form would be greatly appreciated. I cannot complete schedule A until I have my Profit or Loss done, which I cannot complete until I do this form.
Thanks.
I too question you overhead expenses. I work for a company that only gets 11-12 cpl and pays us 8-8.
/
True but that is to cover the expenses like rent, office supplies, sm
manager salaries. That does not include payroll that is based on service.
A good example woould be this: You are starting a book store. You need to plan the original inventory and six months worth of expenses. If you sell that inventory, you use the money from that to buy more books. If you do not sell any at first, you can stay in business for six months while you get noticed.
With transcription or any service business, you need enough in the bank to cover the same expenses, those that can keep you afloat while building your client base. However, you only hire more people as you get more customers. The payroll does not figure into the 6 months as it is based on what you provide, whereas the 6 months takes into account what it takes to get it going even if you do not have 1 employee.
Very, very few companies can have $800,000 lying around. If they did, they probably would need to invest it in equipment or spend it in other ways or the IRS would consider it profit and tax the heck out of it!
I figure income minus expenses, send 23% for federal and 7.5% to state--sm
quarterly. The state probably differs state to state, but that is the percentile my accountant came up with. Have never had to pay and additional.
I deduct all expenses that relate to my home office-% of utilities, taxes, repairs to that room, --s
mortgage (we do not plan to sell our house so this deduction will not affect us)as my office is used only for that purpose, internet, phone, I print out a daily schedule so paper/ink, computer repairs, pens, pencils, tape, staples, file cabinets, storge bins for tax recepts/tax returns,file folders. Anything/everything I use to do my job.
I was using mileage for another account where I pick up tapes every day, but found for me the time it took to keep track of the mileage, write it down, add it up was not worth the effort so I quit doing it this year.
I have been doing VR for 6-7 months.
The system has not improved in that time and it is much more time consuming to edit VR than to transcribe. I believe the companies are selling VR to the doctors saying it will eventually be perfected and dictation will be done cheaper and quicker. Right now that is definitely not the case at this point in time. On the other hand, VR for banking and other services seems to be working well. I do believe it's the future of transcription but for now it leaves a lot to be desired and is very, very tedious and kind of nerve wracking if you are used to transcribing. 
On the other hand, for someone who cannot transcribe but has medical terminology course, you may be able to make some money on VR and I suspect that is exactly what companies have in mind when they push VR. Eventually all MTs will be replaced by MEs (medical editors) at a lower line rate. I have seen as low as 4 cpl posted for editing so for someone who wants to work at home, I guess that's good enough especially if you can't transcribe all that well utilizing expanders, etc.
I have been there 5 months and have never (sm)
been happier. They are great!!
Sure! It took me 3 months to get (sm)
good at MT (no formal training, just science background); like you, I sort of fell into it -- was getting divorced and leaving grad school, needed a job, had done transcription at temp jobs, so saw an ad and jumped -- made a grand total of $300 the first month, 10x that after 3 months. There is only one other job I've ever had that kept me as interested as MT -- working as a paralegal doing insurance defense work. I love the challenge of researching a new piece of equipment, I love hearing people's stories, and I adore working at home and avoiding all the politics and other garbage of a worksite. I love working all night when the work is plentiful and breaking my days up how I like. What's not to like?
I like it. I have used it for a few months
and it is very easy to get used to. The only thing I don't like is it doesn't spell check your work until the end, I'd prefer to have it checked as I go along, like in MS Word.
About 2 1/2 months here
My biggest problem is in the evenings. I am so sick that all I want to do is lay down and sleep until it passes. I work two jobs, so I am having the difficulties you are talking about. I am moody, too. This is my first experience with this while being an MT, so I'm right there with you on not knowing what to do. Good luck!
At the very least 6 months
It is absolutely overwhelming in the beginning. Worked in-office and tried to quit my first day after a half hour! How lucky I was to have a patient supervisor and kind co-workers. (Plus good references that actually showed sample reports--so helpful to see what the ''finished product'' should look like.) I hated my former job so I just kept coming back, reading everything available, and taking terminology classes. Maybe I was a ''slow study'' but after around 10 months, things started to make sense.
As a new MT myself, not quite 6 months
on the job yet, I take any and all feedback with a grain of salt. The tone of the e-mail does not bother me as long as useful information is being given. I did not graduate from one of the top 3 schools either, so I appreciate the opportunity to work and learn at the same time. Feedback often makes you feel degraded and dumb to a degree, but let us face it, we are. We are ignorant to the world of MTing. We do not know everything. We learn daily. Once you begin implementing the advice given you will probably find that critical e-mail will lessen. Also, trainers often do not have the time or resources to be "sweet" to everyone they train. Their primary responsibility is to make you the best MT you can possibly be. Learn, grow, and do not take it all to heart. Good luck.
I did for 6 months sm
a loooonnnnngggg time ago when my kids were tiny. I started out pouring the models but had to leave due to babysitter issues. There is very good money to be made there. Based on production but I believe they pay by the hour. Go for it. Not any more boring than MT can be at times. Around here if you can paint the porcelain teeth, the pay is close to $20 an hour.
about 7 months
they have been using it on my account.
it really depends on the voice.
I just learned that "lungs are clear to sedation"
and parentheses do not know if they want to be princesses or impressions.
took over 2 months for me
I worked for them last year. It took over two months for them to get it together and then I finally had typing to do. They do not go by their contract. In it, it says you would have so many (50 maybe?) typings before they got out out of training (which has less pay of course) and it was over 200 and then it was only after I asked about it when they moved me to an actual account. After that, I worked for about 3 months and every time I would be put on an account and start making decent money, they would switch me to another account and I'd have to start all over getting used to....thus not making money. I finally resigned and explained why and the owner sent me an email, saying she didn't bother to read my email....but she didn't understand what the problem was....duh...if you had read the email, you might understand. It was a mess and not worth my time at all. There were actually hours where I could have made more money at McDonald's. Oh, and when they fax you back any corrections, they charge for fax time......even when they're having problems with their fax...they charge you the time!!!....they charged me nearly 1/2 hour once because they were having problems with the fax and they were faxing MY work.....just not worth it to me....I'm sticking to my own accounts.
Gee, my 'E' is okay after a few months, it's my
a,c.v.b.k.l. and the period that are worn on this new keyboard.
I wish I would have known about the clear nail polish before I started using this. I would have tried it. I have gone through 3 keyboards in as many years and my first keyboard keys were worn down to nothing. 
2 months before they pay you?
I would explain that to them, that this is not ONE month, but it is TWO months before you will see a dime for work done, and that you have MTs that depend on paychecks much more often than that. Ask them if there can't be some kind of negotiation. I really don't see how they are even requesting that set up. NO one pays just every 2 months. If I paid my bills only every two months, I'd be sitting in the dark, for sure. I wish you the best on figuring this out. It's an awful situation for you.
when I was very new, about 2 months ago actually
the doc said to avoid NSAIDs and I typed incense!
Ot maybe this is the first time in six months that the
account has been out of work because ALL medical providers are slow this time of year.
All you need to do is stay there for 3-6 months to get the
We all start out in really crappy jobs, but stay there because it looks good on the resume for a better company. My first place I worked with, I had to work with a guy who had no idea what he was doing, would type just about anything he wanted just to get paid (at that time 7 bucks an hour was big bucks) and when i'd correct him, because it would look bad on me too (there were only two of us per shift in the small room connected to the ER), he'd flip me off behind my back and make faces. It was complete nonsense, but it got me into a better company.
I complained over 6 months ago about J. sm
I was using my computer but i believe it boils down to J doesn't have a clue what he is doing. somethings he couldn't figure out and i knew exactly how to do them. i think they got him off the street holding a work for food sign maybe. he likes for you to use company computer because he doesn't know crap about fixing yours. loved the company other than J and the hatefulness/stupidness that came along with him.
Thnx, been 4 months sm
She has been here once in that time and she just started crying all over again until hubby felt bad for HER and started taking her side and I have just had it. He is a big one on the few house rules we have DUE TO HIS MOTHER being so lax and not responsible, so rules are rules apparently except when his mother is involved.
We have been over this issue the past 15 years (since first child) as she is the one who always trys to break any discipline just becuase she happens to be there. Sorry, they knew you coming and if they decided to get in trouble that is their doing and letting things slide all the time just becuase she is around made a mess of things and I am just full of it and decided if this is not a big deal for her...it should be for my husband and until the two of them realize how serious her actions were they will not be left with her for any reason as I have no clue what serious is to her if that was not. I could see if she did not know that the kids were to tell us anything that is/might be an issue first hand, but she has been in on that rule for many years, so it was not new or something I just decided to get upset about...standing rule so that we can discuss and find alternative solutions for next time, etc. depending on if an issue at all or something that might come up down the road again.
If you asked that 2 months ago
I would have told you MQ whom I was happily with for years and years but now I sorrowfully have to say, NOT HERE!
3 years, 9 months - nm
x
I spoke with them a few months ago SM
and they said they are getting a pool of resumes together to fill positions AS THEY BECOME OPEN. So there is really no "position" there, they are just getting a bunch of them together to go to if they need to.
We've been using ours for two months now.
No more $20 gas bills like in the summertime.
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