• Get all your bills converted on online/email delivery so you are not waiting for the mail
• Get your suppliers to set up direct deposits for you
• Use email for correspondence, you can scan almost anything now with the right software
• If you receive government monies have them directly deposited into your bank account
• Set up and use online banking to pay all your bills, you can also use “email money transfers” to pay individuals
• Set up your business to use Pay Pal or credit cards to take your customers payments
• Use couriers for delivery and cheque pickup
• Remember faxes are still an accepted business tool

The time your accounts receivables department spends opening envelopes, handling checks and payment coupons, writing deposit slips and going to the bank costs your company money.

Customers’ accounts are charged automatically on an agreed date and the money is directly deposited into your company’s bank account. (Direct payment can also be used to transfer money from an account at one bank to an account at another bank anywhere in the country. And, of course you can make the same arrangements to pay your employees.)  Among the benefits of direct deposit are:

Direct Payment can lower costs. Paper-based payment transactions are costly in part due to manual processing. Checks require that invoices and return payment coupons be printed, inserted into envelopes and mailed. Your company must then receive and deposit the checks. Checks are prone to high levels of errors by customers and employees, which can cause delays in collecting your money. For example, customers may neglect to sign the checks. Electronic processing removes much of the  human error.

Direct Payment can improve cash flow. With direct payment, your company has control over cash flow from customer payments. Your corporate cash managers can know the value of the payments collected on a given date. The  when and how much part of accounts receivable becomes certain.

Direct Payment can reduce delinquencies. Recurring bills are paid on time and late payments are significantly reduced. Companies report lower return item rates for direct payments than for checks. It’s the exception when direct payments are returned unpaid on the first submission.

Direct Payment can Increase  goodwill. By offering your customers the convenience of direct payments, you can capitalize on the goodwill generated by this free, convenient, reliable, and safe service. Your customers don’t have to pay postage and they can be certain that bills will be paid even when they’re out of town. Direct payment eliminates late charges, as long as the customer has money in the account to cover the payment.

Sage Simply Accounting Direct Payments is seamlessly integrated within Sage Simply Accounting—so the time you’ve invested entering figures into your accounting software is not wasted by having to re-enter the same numbers to separately pay vendors and employees or to receive payment from customers.

There is no need to duplicate efforts by using two systems nor do you have to install third party software. Bank information is stored within Sage Simply Accounting so you benefit from having one secure, central location for all Sage Simply Accounting Direct Payments data.

You can also easily find out who processed a payment, what payments were processed, and when a payment was processed by viewing a single report.

For more information

 http://www.simplyaccounting.com/productsServices/addOns/direct_payment/

Now you can easily accept VISA and MasterCard either while the customer is in your business, when you are working remotely with a customer or if a customer wants to use his credit card to build up his points and you have already delivered your product or service.  

Simplified payment processing with integrated payments

• Lower credit card processing costs - the agreement that I signed allows for a  monthly administration fee of $10 plus a Sage Gateway fee of $16 plus tax
• No additional equipment purchase - uses a secure website
• Works with your existing bank account – I use Royal Bank of Canada, but I believe it works with all Chartered Banks and some credit unions
• Faster bank account reconciliation because you can print out your own transaction history instead of waiting for a monthly email
• Save time and money spent on duplicate data entry- instead of entering the amount into a site on the Web and then going to Simply Accounting/customers/payment; you just go to Simply Accounting/customers/make a payment – enter the amount and then you are automatically sent to a secure website (the credit card number does not reside on your computer).
• Maximum security features including AVS and CVV

I looked at Versapay through the Chamber of Commerce, Chase through the Chartered Accountant program, Moneris through the Royal Bank and Sage had very close rates plus I had a one step process through Simply Accounting.

I just got my first statement today and I checked to make sure that they were charging what we had agreed up and they were, plus they offer a referral fee !

How to Get Started:

1. Follow this link for more information:

http://www.sagepayments.ca/Sage-Simply-Accounting/?WT.mc_id=RD_Productsimplyaccounting

1. Did you get any gift cards for Christmas? Staples, Visa or others that you can use to purchase equipment or supplies for your business that you can expense in 2010.

2. Budget 2009 allows a temporary 100-per-cent capital cost allowance (CCA) rate for computer hardware and systems software acquired after January 27, 2009 and before February 1, 2011. In addition, the rule that restricts CCA deductions to one-half of the CCA write-off otherwise available in the first year will not apply to these computers.

This temporary measure will allow taxpayers to fully expense their investment in computers in one year. The measure will provide stimulus by assisting businesses to increase or accelerate investment in computers. It will also contribute to boosting Canada’s productivity through the faster adoption of newer technology. Businesses in all sectors of the economy, including the service sector, will benefit from this incentive.

3. If you are a business owner, you can pay a salary to your spouse or family member for the work that they perform in respect of your business. The salaries paid must be reasonable, otherwise they may be challenged by Canada Revenue Agency.

4. Don’t forget the business use of home expense for those of you who work out of your home or have a home office. The expenses allowed to be claimed include:

•Heat
•Home Insurance
•Electricity
•Maintenance (i.e. cleaning materials)
•Mortgage Interest (interest only, not mortgage payment)
•Property Taxes
•Water (if applicable to your business)
The amount you can claim is based on the square footage of the area used for business use. For example, if your house is 1,500 sq ft and the office you work out of is 150 sq ft, then you can claim 10% of the expenses above if you use this room solely for business activities.

If you also use the room for personal use, you also have to calculate the fraction of time that it is used for business use. For example, if you do 4 hours of work a day, 5 days a week, then you have to take 20 hours (4 x 5) divided by 168 hours (24 x 7). In this example, that’s 11.9%. That would be multiplied by the square footage calculation and you would only be able to claim 1.19% of the above expenses. Obviously, you would be better off if you use the room only for business activities.

Unlike the business expenses and Capital Cost Allowance, Business-Use-Of-Home expenses can only be applied against a net income and cannot create a net loss. For example, if you have $2,000 in business net income and $1,500 in Business-Use-Of-Home expenses then you can claim the full amount. If you have a net loss (income minus expenses), then you cannot claim the Business-Use-Of-Home expenses that year. However, the dollar amount you calculated should still be entered into the tax form as it can be carried forward to future years. So once you are finally achieving a positive net income, you can claim the carried forward amount up to the amount of your net income. If you still can’t claim it all, carry forward the remaining to the next year.