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One of the most important tasks that a SaaS company must do each year is to estimate and project future revenue. Tracking both your monthly and annual subscription revenue is one of the most effective ways to do this, as it is a strong reflection of customer growth. Let’s take a look at the correct way to do both.Your calculations will largely depend upon the way that you have structured your subscription model. SaaS companies may offer either monthly or annual subscription plans and may have multiple levels of each from which customers can choose. These variables will make a big difference in how you calculate and use your metrics.Monthly Recurring Revenue and Annual Recurring RevenueEvery company can choose whether to use their Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) or their Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) to gauge and forecast growth, and the figures for one can be used to extrapolate the other – if you offer monthly subscriptions then you can annualize the recurring revenue by simply multiplying by twelve to get to the annual revenue, and likewise you can divide the annual by twelve to get to that revenue figure.The most obvious difference between the two is clearly the amount of time that clients for which clients are paying for subscriptions. Each is calculated by multiplying the number of customers by the amount of the subscription to yield the amount of revenue expected. If several plans are offered at different price points, then you calculate the revenue for each and add them together.When you want to forecast future revenue, it makes sense to use the current numbers as a base, but in order to do so you have to assume that you will neither lose nor gain subscribers and that subscribers will not change from one of the plans you offer to another.

If you had to make a list of some of the fastest-growing industries in the United States, activewear would undoubtedly be on it.It's a field that is made up of a few different categories: athletic clothing, swimwear, yoga items and footwear, to name a few. According to one recent study, the industry was worth about $354 million in 2020. By as soon as 2026, that number is expected to grow by an impressive 25%.Yes, some of this can be attributed to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. People suddenly found themselves stuck in their homes and were looking for any opportunity to get outdoors; physical fitness was just as good as any. But there's also been an increasing trend over the last decade of people taking more accountability in terms of their health and well-being, and an entire industry has benefited during the process.It's also an incredibly competitive marketplace, with new organizations cropping up all the time. At this point, you'd think that there wasn't room for new companies and that every possible niche had already been exploited.You'd think that, but you'd be wrong.Enter: VuoriFlashing back to 2015, entrepreneur Joe Kudla decided to create a new company based on a significant gap that he saw in the activewear industry.Roughly 10 years prior, he was experiencing significant back pain, and after trying a variety of different methods for relief, he ended up turning to yoga to ease his pain. The issues themselves stemmed from a lifetime of playing everything from football to lacrosse. Even after his problems were resolved, he still found that he loved yoga on a conceptual level.Around the same time, he watched other activewear companies like Lululemon become enormously successful, but there was a catch. Almost all of these brands catered mainly to women, as that is who was seen to be the primary audience. Some of them offered yoga clothing for men, but to him it always came off as an afterthought.With that simple realization, an idea was born.Joe Kudla got to work on the organization that would eventually become Vuori. It was inspired not only to give men similar options to those that had always been available to women, but also by where he lived in Southern California. The place where he was living at the time was a big beach community, and he wanted to bring a "surf-inspired DNA" into the world of performance clothing.Kudla had a hunch that he had identified a woefully underserved part of the activewear marketplace... and he was absolutely right. After a somewhat slow start in 2015, the company became profitable just two years later in 2017. Earlier in 2021, the company was able to raise $400 million from the Vision Fund, which valued the company at an incredible $4 billion at the same time.All this from someone who ultimately just wanted to be more comfortable while practicing yoga.

Preparing for your tax return beforehand can help avoid mistakes and reduce delays in receiving a tax refund. Watch this video for simple steps that you can take to be ready for your tax return in 2022.

Article Highlights:1099-NEC Filing RequirementsIndependent Contractor Filing ThresholdForm W-9Form 1099-MISCIf you use independent contractors to perform services for your business, for each one that you pay $600 or more for the year, you are required to issue the worker and the IRS a Form 1099-NEC no later than January 31, 2022, for 2021 payments.Generally, a 1099-NEC is not required to be issued if the independent contractor or service provider is a corporation. However, payments to attorneys for legal fees of $600 or more must be reported, even if the attorney operates as a corporation. To properly complete the form, you’ll need the individual’s name and tax identification number. But it isn’t unusual to, say, hire a repairman early in the year to whom you pay less than $600, and then use the repairman’s services again later and have the total for the year exceed the $600 limit. If you overlooked getting the information, such as the individual’s complete name and tax identification number (TIN), needed to file the 1099-NEC for the year, you may have difficulty getting the information after-the-fact. Therefore, it is good practice to have individuals who are not incorporated complete and sign the IRS Form W-9 the first time you use their services. Having properly completed and signed Form W-9s for all independent contractors and service providers eliminates any oversights and protects you against IRS penalties and conflicts. IRS Form W-9 is provided by the government as a way for you to obtain the data required to file the 1099s for your contract workers and service providers. This data includes the person’s name, address, type of business entity and TIN (usually a Social Security number or an Employer Identification Number), plus certifications as to the ID number and citizenship status, among others. It also provides you with verification that you complied with the law should the independent contractor provide you with incorrect information. We highly recommend that you have a potential independent contractor complete the Form W-9 prior to engaging in business with them. The form can either be printed out or filled onscreen on the IRS’ website and then printed out. A Spanish-language version is also available. The W-9 is for your use only and is not submitted to the IRS. The W-9 was last revised by the IRS in October 2018, so if you have older blank W-9s that you give to your service providers, you may want to print copies of the latest version (including the instructions) and discard the older unused forms.

Entrepreneurs have plenty of ideas and vision, but they don’t always have the capital that’s needed to make their dreams a reality. Small and medium-sized businesses that want to grow beyond what they’re able to accomplish with their own resources often seek funding from investors who want to both support their goals and realize a profit while doing so. Funding is a process that evolves with the company itself, starting with a seed round and then moving forward. Whether you’re looking for funding or you’re a potential investor who wants the rewards that come from supporting entrepreneurs through developmental funding, you need a firm understanding of what Series A, B, and C funding are and the differences between each round. Let’s take a closer look.One of the most important aspects of every funding round is the analysis that’s performed to assess its value. As a business grows and gains in reputation and market share, its needs change, and so does the amount of money it seeks and the type of investors it will attract. Seed FundingWhere initial money tends to come from the entrepreneurs themselves as well as their family, friends, and others, this “pre-seed” financing is usually less of an investment than a show of support. It’s not until a company’s valuation is between $3 million and $6 million that it seeks “seed funding” that is exchanged for equity in the company. Seed funding’s name is apt, as it evokes a sense of nourishing and nurturing something that is in its earliest stage of growth – beyond the idea stage but still at the point where it is gathering momentum and attracting attention. Whether the monies raised from seed funding are as little as $10,000 or as much as $2 million, they are used to help a company make its first foray into real growth. What it’s used for depends upon the type of business and what the founders need to achieve their goals. Monies may be used for research and development or marketing or for hiring new staff, moving into a larger facility, or establishing a manufacturing plant. Its source may continue to be those close to the entrepreneur but is also open to outsiders including venture capital companies, incubators, and angel investors.

ALERT: The Treasury Department has directed the IRS to transition away from using the controversial ID.me ID facial recognition verification services after deciding that much of the biometric information is inherently risky, pointing out that many facial recognition systems have deep racial and gender biases. So, you will not need an ID.me verification if the future IRS requirement is your only need for one.Article Highlights:IRS Identity VerificationAccess to Online Tools and ApplicationsAbout ID.meHow to Create an ID.me AccountIn November of 2021, the Internal Revenue Service launched an improved identity verification and sign-in process that enables more people to securely access and use IRS online tools and applications.Taxpayers using this new mobile-friendly verification procedure can gain entry to existing IRS online services such as the:Child Tax Credit Update Portal,Online Account,Get Transcript Online,Get an Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN) andOnline Payment Agreement.The IRS will transition additional IRS applications to the new method over the next year.Identity verification is critical to protect taxpayers and their information and is the reason the IRS has been making improvements in this area, and this new verification process is designed to make IRS online applications and tools as secure as possible.This new process can reach more people through the expanded use of identity documents and increased help desk assistance for taxpayers who encounter a problem when attempting to verify their identity online.