Two easy programs that I use weekly in my business to help me prepare for tax season as a small business owner. Knowing your finances and being organized in your business can save you time and money and make for a quick and painless tax prep process.
Were you totally prepared for tax season or did it kick you in the butt? I bet you’d answer the later. Well I have a secret, you shouldn’t be waiting until April to review all of your transactions, miles, receipts etc. from the previous year. You really should be looking at them monthly, heck maybe even weekly!
No matter how far you are in your business endeavors, just starting out or 3 years in, it’s really important to be in control of your finances. As an entrepreneur it’s really important to understand where every dollar comes from, goes out, and how you save it.
For me it doesn’t make sense to spend an entire day (or more) looking through all of my mileage, receipts, and writing down my bank transactions from the previous year. For one, I can’t remember what I wore last week much less how many miles I drove a year ago. I just don’t have time for that and I’m sure you don’t either.
There are two super easy programs that I use almost daily to track and keep up with all of my finances: Quickbooks Self-Employed App and Google Drive Spreadsheets.
Quickbooks Self-Employed
Quickbooks Self-Employed is an app on your phone that when synced with your bank transactions you can classify what category they fall under. For example, every time I spend money in my business all I have to do is go in to my app and mark it off as “postage”, “office supplies”, or “equipment” (there are many options available).
Another really easy and awesome feature in the Quickbooks Self-Employed App is how it tracks my mileage. Everytime I get in the car and go somewhere it tracks my drive via bluetooth and calculates the total miles all by itself. All I have to do (and I do this weekly) is swipe right for personal or left for business and then add a note for what the trip was for.
If you aren’t already tracking your mileage in another app this app can kill two birds with one stone and at the end of the year, just send your accountant a link to your files and they can access everything to file your taxes! IT’S SO SIMPLE. I could write a whole blog about this app alone but hopefully you’re already convinced!
You can get 50% off if you sign up through my special link that can only be found right here!
Google Drive
Google Drive has been a life saver in my business, honestly! It sounds so silly because it’s so simple. It’s completely free and as long as you have a gmail email address you can have google drive! I use this for personal and business purposes but 90% of everything on my drive is business related.
I write my blog content, website content, but mostly I have a ton of spreadsheets that help me keep track of my finances, budgeting and goals. My two favorite spreadsheets help me budget, set goals and see where all of my dollars go and how to pay myself. Once I was able to hire a bookkeeper I shared my spreadsheet with him and I’m pretty sure I became his favorite client. LOL. I’m so organized and particular about my business structure and finances.
If you struggle with goal setting, understanding how to create profit in your business, not sure where to start with how to pay yourself, knowing how to keep your finances in order for an easy tax preparation, then I have something just for you!
I’m going to be sharing my exact spreadsheet templates VERY soon. If you want on the early access list make sure you get on my email list!