You earn rewards by sharing your referral link. When a friend signs up using your link and completes their first service, both you and your friend will receive $100 worth of Inkle Credits or an Amazon Gift Voucher.

An LUT lets an Indian exporter supply services without paying IGST upfront, instead of paying and claiming a refund later. It is filed annually with the GST authorities.

For an Indian subsidiary invoicing a US parent, it is the difference between cash tied up in refunds and not. More on cross-border compliance.

Dissolution is the formal filing that legally ends your company's existence. It's different from just stopping operations — until you file, the state and the IRS still consider the company active.

Yes. You authorise on Ramp's own login screen, so Inkle never receives your credentials, and access is read-only. We can pull transactions into your books but cannot issue cards, adjust limits, or move money. Revoke access from Data Sources whenever you want.

Deadlines depend on when the company was formed and whether its information has changed since the last report. Newly formed companies have a shorter window than existing ones.

Because the timelines have been revised more than once, check the current deadline for your situation. Our BOI guide covers the filing.

No. Sales tax you collect is money held on behalf of the state, not revenue, so it is a liability until remitted rather than an expense.

Sales tax you pay on your own purchases is different and is deductible as part of the cost of what you bought.

An EIN is a nine-digit federal tax ID the IRS assigns to a business. It identifies your company on tax returns the way an SSN identifies a person.

You need one to open a US business bank account, run payroll, issue 1099s, and file a corporate return. Most banks will not open an account without it. Here is how to get an EIN and what the IRS asks for.

Yes, through the IRS IRIS or FIRE systems, or via a filing provider. For most businesses it is now mandatory rather than optional.

If you file 10 or more information returns in total across all types, electronic filing is required. Our 1099 guide covers the process.

Form 2553 is the IRS election by which a corporation or eligible LLC chooses to be taxed as an S corporation.

It needs every shareholder's signed consent and has a deadline tied to the start of the tax year. Filing it does not change your legal entity, only how the IRS taxes it.

If you are a US citizen or green card holder, yes. US filing obligations follow status rather than location, and living abroad does not remove them.

Non-US persons file Form 1040-NR instead, and only when they have US-source income. Owning shares in a US company does not by itself create a personal filing obligation.

There is no penalty for the extension itself. The consequence is that the extension is not granted, so the underlying return becomes late and its own penalties start accruing.

That is why the extension has to be in on or before the original due date. More on Form 7004.

Several states align with the federal quarters, and others do not. Thresholds for who must pay also differ.

Check each state separately. Companies routinely stay current federally while missing a state schedule nobody looked up.

Stripe Connect accounts appear on the Reconciliations dashboard the same way and are a common high-volume case for Smart Reconcile.

For tax, MACRS is generally required, and the recovery period follows the asset class rather than your judgment.

For your books you can use a method that reflects reality, straight line for most things, declining balance for assets that lose value fast. Book and tax depreciation differing is normal.

Inkle offers a flat fee revenue-sharing model based on the volume of referrals and the services your clients use. Apply to learn more about your earning potential.

Form 1040 is the federal income tax return for US citizens and resident individuals. It reports all income earned during the year from every source, applies deductions and credits, and calculates the tax owed or the refund due. It is the central document in your annual personal tax filing.

In many states, yes, though some require a professional entity such as a PLLC or professional corporation for licensed practitioners.

The entity type and the tax election are separate decisions. An LLC can elect S-Corp taxation, which is how many practices end up structured.

Indian CA/CS/law firms can direct their customers to this page, or handle the process for them end-to-end. We will need certain documents/details from the founders, which can be routed through you.

The IRS charges an underpayment penalty calculated per period, so paying double next quarter does not cancel the shortfall from the one you missed.

Pay as soon as you notice, since the penalty accrues with time. Safe harbour based on prior-year tax is the usual way to avoid this entirely. More on Form 1040.

It is necessary but not sufficient. Banks also want formation documents, proof of address, identification for the beneficial owners, and sometimes a US presence.

Requirements vary by bank, and policies for foreign-owned companies differ widely. The EIN is the first step rather than the whole answer.

Yes. IRS Direct Pay, your IRS online account, and EFTPS all accept estimated payments, and all three give you a confirmation.

EFTPS is worth enrolling in if you also make business deposits, since it handles both. Enrolment takes several days because the IRS mails a PIN.

Automatic Stripe revenue sync is part of the Books Standard Plan. (See note below, this needs sign-off.)

A FIRA, or Foreign Inward Remittance Advice, is the document an Indian bank issues confirming money came in from abroad and for what purpose.

It is the proof of export earnings that auditors, the RBI, and GST refund claims rely on. Without it, an inbound payment from your US parent is hard to substantiate.

Once you submit your pitch, our team reviews it and selects a curated cohort of early-stage startups to showcase. If selected, you will be introduced to investors on a double opt-in basis. If not, you are welcome to apply again after further traction.

Yes, if the US company will have an Indian subsidiary, because FEMA rules then require India-resident founders to hold their shares through a personal Indian LLP. Founders who aren’t India residents don’t need one.

The payment appears in both places, and reconciliation is where they meet. The bill records the expense and the liability, the bank transaction records the cash leaving, and reconciling the account ties the two together so nothing double-counts.

Form 1040-ES is how individuals pay estimated tax on income that has no withholding: self-employment income, K-1 distributions, interest, and capital gains.

It runs on a quarterly schedule rather than annually. Owners drawing from a pass-through entity usually need it, because no employer is withholding on their behalf. More on Form 1040.

No.

10,000,000 authorized, with a smaller number actually issued to founders, is the standard template. It leaves room for an option pool and future rounds.

Authorizing more does not help and raises franchise tax under Delaware's default calculation method.

If the corporation is doing business in California, yes, regardless of where it was incorporated. A Delaware C-Corp with California operations files it.

Having a founder or employee working from the state is often enough to count. Our California Form 100 guide covers the test.

Yes. The obligation follows the election, not the activity. A dormant S corporation still files and still issues K-1s showing zero.

Penalties for a late 1120-S are charged per shareholder per month, so a quiet year can produce a real bill. More on corporate returns.

Typically 10 to 20 percent, sized against the hiring plan rather than a rule of thumb. Work out what the next 18 months of grants will need and reserve that.

Investors often require the pool to be topped up before a round, which dilutes existing holders rather than the incoming investor.

Profits pass through to shareholders rather than being taxed at the corporate level, which removes the second layer of tax on distributions.

For an owner-operated profitable business that is a real saving. For a company planning to raise venture capital it is usually the wrong move. Our Form 2553 guide covers the trade-offs.

Costs incurred in developing or improving a product, process, or software: engineering salaries, contract research, and supplies consumed in development.

They matter twice over, for Section 174 treatment and for the R&D tax credit, and the definitions for the two are not identical.

15 March for calendar-year S corporations, a month earlier than the C-Corp deadline. Extensions run six months from there.

The earlier date exists so shareholders receive their K-1s in time for their own April filing. More on corporate returns.

Form 1040 is for US citizens and residents, who report worldwide income. Form 1040-NR is for non-resident aliens, who report only US-source income.

Which applies turns on the substantial presence test and your immigration status, not on where you were born. Getting it wrong means filing the wrong return entirely.

On Schedule E, which carries income from partnerships and S corporations through to your Form 1040. Specific items on the K-1 may also route to other schedules.

The K-1 itself is not attached to your return, but the figures have to match what the entity filed.

Bookkeeping fees are usually monthly, based on transaction volume, number of accounts, and complexity.

Inkle Raise is not an accelerator, incubator or investor. We provide warm introductions, events and tools for free to the community of founders who apply. Many of these founders will hopefully elect to do business with Inkle.

An SSN identifies a US individual. An ITIN identifies an individual who needs to file US taxes but cannot get an SSN, which is most non-resident founders. An EIN identifies a business.

They are not interchangeable. Your company needs its own EIN even if you already hold an ITIN. We compare all three and explain which one you need for banking, payroll, and filing.

Software categorises transactions and imports bank feeds. It does not decide how to treat a prepaid annual contract, a SAFE, or deferred revenue.

Those judgment calls are what a bookkeeper or accountant adds. The common failure is a clean-looking ledger with a balance sheet nobody has ever reconciled.

Foreign currency spend is recorded at the rate on the transaction date and revalued where required, which is what produces exchange gains and losses in your accounts.

Netting them away hides real movement in your margins. Our guide to multi-currency accounting covers the mechanics.

No. The connection is read-only. Inkle reads your bills and vendor records for bookkeeping. Approving and sending payments stays entirely in Bill, where your approval rules live.

Yes. When you file, you can apply an overpayment to next year's estimated tax instead of taking it as a refund.

That is often the better choice if you expect to owe again, since it covers the first instalment without a separate payment. Our Form 1040 guide covers the election.

Yes, under the mailbox rule, if it is postmarked within the 30-day window. Use certified mail with return receipt so you have dated proof.

The postmark is what matters, not the date the IRS opens it. Keep the receipt permanently, because the IRS does not acknowledge these filings.

Rewards are processed once your friend completes their first service with Inkle. Payments are typically processed monthly.

Work performed physically in the US is US-source income, even for a short visit, which changes both the withholding analysis and potentially the contractor's own filing position.

Track where work is performed rather than where the person usually lives. A week of US-based work is enough to matter.

Generally yes. A partnership that exists during the year files, even with no income and no expenses.

The penalty for not filing is charged per partner per month, which makes a dormant partnership an expensive thing to forget. More on partnership returns.

The issuance may be defective, which puts the founder's ownership in question. Delaware has a ratification procedure to fix it, but it costs legal time.

It is usually discovered during diligence, when counsel asks for the consent and nobody can find one. Cleaning it up mid-round delays the round.

Yes. Data Sources supports multiple connections, and the Reconciliations dashboard groups accounts by source, so SVB sits alongside your cards, Stripe, and anything connected through Plaid. Reconcile the operating account first, then cards, then processors.

Within the authorized limit, generally yes. The board approves issuances, which is why board consents matter so much in diligence.

Issuing beyond the authorized number requires amending the certificate of incorporation, and that needs stockholder approval. Check your charter and any investor rights agreements, which often add consent requirements of their own.

Before the first employee is paid, including yourself if the practice is a corporation and you are taking salary. Payroll registration, withholding, and deposit schedules all start from the first payment.

Paying staff as contractors to defer this is the misclassification risk that creates back taxes and penalties.

The IRS publishes the form and its worksheet on irs.gov, updated each tax year with the current rates and thresholds.

Use the current year's version, since the brackets and standard deduction change annually and the worksheet is built around them. More on Form 1040.

A benchmarking study establishes what unrelated parties charge for comparable services, which is how you justify the markup between your US parent and Indian subsidiary as arm's length.

Indian entities with international related-party transactions also need an annual accountant's report. Our transfer pricing guide covers both.

The BE-12 is the Bureau of Economic Analysis benchmark survey of foreign direct investment in the US, conducted every five years. It is a statistical filing, not a tax one.

A US company with significant foreign ownership is in scope whether or not the BEA contacts it. More on foreign investment reporting.

Yes. It is filed with your Form 1040 and the deduction carries through to the return itself.

Keep the supporting calculation for each business included, since the form shows the totals rather than the working. Our Form 8995 guide covers what to document.

Ramp's category, department, and location come through with each transaction, which gives Inkle Books a head start on categorisation and maps to your classes. You keep final control: anything sitting uncategorised gets resolved on the closing checklist before the period locks.

A brand name, your entity names, and confirmation that neither conflicts with an existing US or Indian trademark or a similarly named entity.

The brand name and entity names do not have to match, and usually do not. Entity names also have to meet the naming rules of each jurisdiction. More on choosing a name.

Yes. Above a taxable income threshold the deduction is limited by W-2 wages paid and the value of qualified property, and certain service businesses phase out entirely.

The thresholds are indexed each year, so check the figure for your tax year rather than carrying one forward. Our Form 8995 guide explains the limits.

Four instalments across the year, in April, June, September, and January of the following year. The periods they cover are not equal quarters, which catches people out.

Missing one and catching up later does not undo the underpayment for that period. Our Form 1040 guide covers the schedule.

No, these are separate. Connecting Stripe under Data Sources brings your revenue into your books. Separately, Inkle processes its own invoice payments through Stripe when you pay for services at checkout. One is your revenue, the other is your Inkle bill.

Yes. Authorisation happens on Brex's own login screen, so Inkle never receives your credentials. The connection is read-only: we can pull transaction data into your books, but we cannot issue cards, adjust spend limits, or move money. You can revoke access from Data Sources whenever you want.

No. Some states accept out-of-state certificates, and others require one issued by their own revenue department.

Multistate forms cover several states at once but not all of them. Check acceptance in each state where you buy for resale.

Due to the high volume of submissions, we regretfully cannot offer personalised feedback on individual pitch submissions. Nevertheless, you can enhance your pitch or prepare for future submissions by participating in our expert sessions or exploring our published content on our blog.

Thresholds depend on filing status and whether you live in the US or abroad, and are tested both on the year-end value and the highest value during the year.

Living abroad raises the threshold substantially. Our Form 8938 page covers the figures and how they are measured.

Yes. Estimated payments are instalments against the tax your return calculates, not a substitute for filing.

The return is where the final figure is worked out and where you claim any refund of overpaid instalments. Our Form 1040 guide covers what goes on it.

Transactions flow in automatically once connected, so your books stay current between closes rather than catching up at month-end.

Yes. Correcting depreciation that was understated or overstated in prior years is one of the most common uses of Form 3115, and it usually qualifies as an automatic change.

The catch-up comes through as a section 481(a) adjustment rather than by amending old returns.

If you have nexus in the customer's state, yes. Drop shipping does not remove the obligation, it just means someone else ships the goods.

The arrangement creates a second question too, whether your supplier charges you tax on the wholesale purchase, which a resale certificate addresses.

Estimate your income, deductions, and credits for the year, work out the tax, and divide across the four payment periods. The worksheet in the form instructions walks through it.

Safe harbour rules let you base payments on last year's tax instead, which avoids penalties when this year's income is hard to predict. More on Form 1040.

On or before the original due date of the return, which is 15 April for a calendar-year C-Corp. Filed on time, it extends the return to October.

Form 7004 extends filing only. Tax owed is still due in April, so estimate and pay with the extension.

Access to bank and card feeds, invoices issued and bills received, payroll reports, loan and investment documents, and the prior year's closed books or tax return.

The last one matters most at the start, since opening balances have to come from somewhere.

We provide an option to delete customer data upon request and will ensure that the data is erased within a set timeframe.

Not reliably. The partnership return and its K-1s are built from closed books, so filing from an unreconciled ledger means amending later.

File an extension, finish the bookkeeping, then file. Partners need their K-1s for their own returns, so the delay passes through to them. More on partnership returns.

No. You register your existing entity as a foreign entity in that state, which is a filing rather than a new company.

Registration brings an annual report, a registered agent in that state, and possibly state income or franchise tax. One remote employee is often enough to require it.

No fees to participate.

A monthly penalty charged per shareholder for each month the return is late, running up to a cap. A two-shareholder company accrues it twice over.

Filing an extension on time avoids it. Our guide to the Form 1120 late penalty covers how the corporate penalties work.

Your EIN itself is never cancelled — it's a permanent federal number. What you close instead is the IRS business account tied to it, by sending a letter with your business name, address, and reason for closing.

Transactions stream in automatically once the connection is live, so your expense ledger stays current between closes rather than catching up at month-end. If you run a distributed team spending on Brex cards, reconciling weekly rather than monthly tends to surface anomalies faster.

The company name, the registered agent and address, the number and class of authorized shares with par value, the purpose clause, and the incorporator's details.

Most startups file a single class of common stock at incorporation and amend later when preferred stock is issued.

No. It is disregarded for federal income tax, so its activity flows to the owner's return. It is still a separate entity for liability, for employment tax, and for excise tax.

Foreign-owned single-member LLCs are also treated as corporations for the Form 5472 reporting requirement specifically.

Often yes. Depending on the corporation's circumstances, schedules such as Schedule R for apportioning income across states may be required alongside the return.

Apportionment is the one that catches multi-state companies. Our California Form 100 page covers the filing.

The ABC test is a worker classification standard used by several states, including California. A worker is an employee unless all three prongs are met, covering control, work outside the usual course of business, and an independent trade.

It is stricter than the federal test, so a worker can be a contractor federally and an employee under state law.

Through a virtual account opened for the Indian entity. You wire domestically from your US bank account to it, and the funds land in the Indian account in rupees after conversion.

Purpose codes and remittance documentation still apply on the India side. More on US-India payments.

FinCEN can charge civil penalties for wilful failure to file, with substantially higher criminal penalties for knowingly submitting false information.

Penalties are set per violation and accrue while the report stays unfiled. Because scope has changed, check first whether your company is currently covered. Our BOI page.

Yes, and it is a real risk. Many countries apply their own tests on control, exclusivity, and working hours, and will reclassify a long-term contractor as an employee.

The consequences, back social contributions, benefits, and penalties, fall on your company. An employer of record is the usual way to avoid it.

Form 1040 is your personal return. Form 1120 is your company's corporate return, filed by the C-Corp as a separate taxpayer.

Owning a C-Corp does not merge the two. The company files its own return and pays its own tax, and you file personally on salary or dividends you receive.

The one-off correction that prevents income being counted twice or missed entirely when you change accounting method. It captures the cumulative difference as of the change date.

A negative adjustment is generally taken in full in the year of change; a positive one is usually spread across four years. More on Form 3115.

No. The connection is read-only. Inkle reads customer and deal records and cannot edit deals, move stages, or contact anyone in your CRM.

No. The allowance is a book estimate, and tax generally allows a deduction only when a specific debt becomes worthless.

That difference is one of the standard book-to-tax reconciling items on Schedule M-1, alongside depreciation and accruals.

Equity documents, the cap table, prior-year returns, foreign ownership details, loan agreements, and anything affecting basis or elections.

Your books record what happened to cash. The return needs the legal picture behind it, which usually lives in a different folder.

Everything: C-Corp formation, bylaws, EIN and Bank account setup, India-specific SPAs, Clerky's Company Lifetime Package, which includes Equity Docs, SAFE Docs, NDAs, and much more. Managed 83(b) elections by Clerky, at $149/founder.

Automatic accounting method changes carry no user fee. Non-automatic changes do, and the amount is set by the IRS and revised periodically.

The fee is separate from whatever your accountant charges to prepare the filing. More on Form 3115.

Not for a standard single-class formation with a straightforward founder split. Those are templated, and a service or platform handles them.

A lawyer earns their fee when there is an unusual split, existing IP to assign, a foreign parent, or investors already involved. Our Delaware incorporation guide covers the standard path.

Required if US corporation did any reportable transactions at any time during tax year AND has any 25%+ foreign shareholder. See here https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i5472

File Form 8822-B. Putting the new address on your next return also updates their records, but that can leave months where notices go to the old address.

Updating your registered agent or state filing does not update the IRS. These are separate records, and penalty letters go to whatever the IRS has.

Form 5471 is filed by US persons who own a foreign corporation. Form 5472 is filed by US corporations that are foreign-owned, reporting transactions with their foreign related parties.

One looks outward at a foreign subsidiary, the other looks inward at foreign ownership. Many India-US structures file both.

Yes, and most startups do. They cover different spend: cards handle the subscriptions and day-to-day purchases, Bill handles invoiced vendors like contractors, agencies, and legal. Both feed the same ledger.

You file an amended return correcting the error. Small arithmetic mistakes are often caught and adjusted by the IRS, which sends a notice rather than requiring an amendment.

Errors that change taxable income need fixing properly. Our Form 1120 page covers what the return requires.

Yes. Inkle has built Inkle Practice specifically for non-US CA/CS and law firms to access the platform and collaborate with our shared customers.