How To Run Your Small Business With Free Open Source Software

1099 Software and Forms Updated for 2014; Announces W2Mate.com

By Paul Rubens CIO Take a look at the next desktop PC or laptop you come across. Odds are good it won't be running an open-source operating system. Microsoft's closed-source Windows has by far the highest share of the PC client operating system market, followed in a distant second by Apple's Mac OS X. Linux and other wholly open source operating systems have only a tiny market share. It's not hard to see why. Despite the advances made by distributions such as Ubuntu, desktop Linux is still miles behind Windows and OS X in terms of the look, the feel and the slickness that most office workers have come to expect. visit here The vast majority of companies simply aren't prepared to make office workers use an open source OS and most office workers aren't prepared to use them, either. Even if you want to stick with a closed source operating system (or, the case of OS X, partially closed source), your business can still take advantage of a vast amount of open source software. The most attractive benefit of doing so: It's generally available to download and run for nothing. While support usually isn't available for such free software, it's frequently offered at an additional cost by the author or a third party. It may be included in a low-cost commercially licensed version as well. Is it possible, then, to run a business entirely on software that can be downloaded for free? There certainly are many options that make it possible and many more that aren't included in this guide.

Each year, thousands of users trust W2 Mate for high-quality, easy, affordable and above all reliable 1099 processing. The 1099 tax returns generated using W2 Mate are government-approved and comply with SSA publication 1141 (General Rules and Specifications for Substitute Forms W-2) and IRS publication 1179 (General Rules and Specifications for Substitute Forms 1099). In a statement Nancy Walters, W2 Mate product manager at Real Business Solutions said, "Keeping up with all the 1099 filing regulations can be a bit overwhelming and time consuming for business filers. That is why we built W2 Mate, the easy-to-use W2 1099 processing solution for US businesses and tax practitioners." Software highlights: Complies with 2013 IRS Specifications for Filing Forms 1099 electronically and complies with SSA Specifications for Filing Forms W-2 Electronically (EFW2). Supports Electronic Delivery of W2s to employees and 1099 Forms to recipients. Supports Bulk 1099 TIN Matching. Supports SSN masking on 1099 forms. Ability to file 1099 corrections. Supports Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. For paper filers, fills in pre-printed 1099 Copy-A forms and prints other copies such as recipient and payer copies on plain paper using black ink. Free updates and free technical support. Creates employee W2's as PDF and recipient (contractor) 1099's as PDF. Prints government-approved W-2 W-3 forms on regular paper . Automatically calculates Social Security and Medicare. Imports data from Intuit QuickBooks, Microsoft Dynamics (GP or SL), Sage 50 (Peachtree), Sage DacEasy or CSV/ Excel. Efficient and intuitive manual W2 / 1099 data entry.

10 open-source alternatives for small business software

As an alternative, consider 7-Zip . It works with a broad range of compression formats, just like WinZip. It also offers 256-bit AES encryption, integration with Windows, and localization in 79 different languages. Desktop publishing: Scribus Many small and medium businesses also create their own marketing and advertising, designing brochures, fliers, and other content using a product like Microsoft Publisher.Like Outlook, Publisher is included with some of the pricier versions of Microsoft Office, or it can be purchased separately for $95. Scribus has all the tools you need to create professional-quality marketing materials. You can get the same page layout capabilities with Scribus . The open source software includes the tools you need to create professional-looking marketing materials, including press-ready output using color separations, CMYK and spot colors, and ICC color management. Invoicing: Simple Invoices No matter what business youre in, one of the most important functionsif not the most importantis getting paid. A lot of small businesses turn to services like Freshbooks to create professional, custom invoices to send to customers. The basic Freshbooks service is about $240 per year, though. Simple Invoices lets you handle all your billing from any Web browser. For an affordable alternative, take a look at Simple Invoices . This invoicing tool lets you track clients, manage recurring billing, adjust tax rates, and more. And Like Freshbooks, you can access it from any Web browser. Diagram creation: Dia If you need to create flowcharts or other visual diagrams, Microsoft Visio is a great tool to use. It will also cost you $250 per license. Dia lets you visualize complex information through flowcharts and diagrams. Instead, try Dia . Inspired by Visio, Dia includes a variety of tools and special objects to help create entity relationship diagrams, flowcharts, network diagrams, and more. It can also save diagrams in a variety of file formats, such as XML, EPS, WMF, SVG, PNG, and XFIG.