So at the end of the year I was thinking about taxes. And how big of a pain in the ass its going to be for me to do them. Last year I was incredibly unorganized i had multiple cc that i would fund adwords yahoo and everything with, ohave had multiple facebook accounts . I have payed designers and content people through paypal. Also bought a couple of tools for AM and i realized I have not been keeping track. I get achs wires check paypals from networks. Of course ever day and week i would figure out how much profit i made but i never really recorded it. Some networks are sending me 1099s others arent. It really is a mess so this year i decided to just keep track of everything as i do it so i dont have to spend 2 days in march puting everthing together. I have Quickin so i was just going to set something up there but i thought i would ask you guys what you do to keep everything in order. Thanks
How do you keep track ?
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I set aside one day every month when I go over the entire last month's finances. Then I stick everything for that month in one envelope with a summary and put it in a drawer so I'm ready for August when I do my taxes.
Similar to Hannah, I spend 1-2 hours every Sunday organizing my finances over the last week. I just toss all receipts and notes-to-self about wires in a basket I go through during that time on Sunday.
It's simple and it doesn't require me to spend an entire day or two (which I don't have the patience for) every year figuring out shit.
It's simple and it doesn't require me to spend an entire day or two (which I don't have the patience for) every year figuring out shit.
Wow, you guys are good. I could never manage to sort my finances every week or month. I'm so lazy that I do it... like, once a year!
At the end of each month, when I go to pay my credit cards, I record all transactions in a spreadsheet, categorize them, and record all income. I could use Quickbooks, but spreadsheets are working just fine - It's pretty much just copy and paste from my credit card statement csv, and copy and paste from my online bank statement. For PayPal, it would be the same - just export a csv and categorize away!
I make a spreadsheet for each month. The spreadsheet includes revenue, cost, and profit from all different sources. If I need to/want to I will include individual campaign data in the monthly reports. Then I have a yearly spreadsheet that takes the totals from monthly spreadsheets (not automatically, but that would be sweet) and calculates totals for the year.
To estimate the money I owe taxes on I take the yearly profit and subtract other expenses like server, domain, retirement contributions, etc.
It's pretty easy and doesn't take much time. The only thing I have a hard time doing is trying to figure out how much I should pay in estimated taxes each quarter. Since my profit each month is very volatile, it's hard to forecast how much I will make in a year.
Most affiliate networks based in the US will send out 1099s. ALWAYS make sure you report all of this income on your taxes. If you don't you are pretty much asking for an audit.
To estimate the money I owe taxes on I take the yearly profit and subtract other expenses like server, domain, retirement contributions, etc.
It's pretty easy and doesn't take much time. The only thing I have a hard time doing is trying to figure out how much I should pay in estimated taxes each quarter. Since my profit each month is very volatile, it's hard to forecast how much I will make in a year.
Most affiliate networks based in the US will send out 1099s. ALWAYS make sure you report all of this income on your taxes. If you don't you are pretty much asking for an audit.
QB FTW
you can get super in-depth w/ the program or keep it very simplistic and just run a daily check register system. Reconcile statements at the end of every month and you should be in great shape.
In terms of your quarterlies. I'm from the mindset that if you're disciplined enough to set aside x amount and not dip into it and have an investment vehicle or opportunity that can give you an ROI above that of the small penalties of not paying quarterly, go that route. And then at the end of the year, you'll be pretty spot on w/ what your taxes are. Sucks writing the check, but imo the opportunity costs far outweigh those minimal fees.
you can get super in-depth w/ the program or keep it very simplistic and just run a daily check register system. Reconcile statements at the end of every month and you should be in great shape.
In terms of your quarterlies. I'm from the mindset that if you're disciplined enough to set aside x amount and not dip into it and have an investment vehicle or opportunity that can give you an ROI above that of the small penalties of not paying quarterly, go that route. And then at the end of the year, you'll be pretty spot on w/ what your taxes are. Sucks writing the check, but imo the opportunity costs far outweigh those minimal fees.
I keep a daily tally of revenues and expenditures - along with notes for the day - stretching back to June 25th, 2008 (when I first got started with marketing). Every month I take the data and throw it in a "sub" historic worksheet.
At the top of the primary spreadsheet is a continuous "mini" balance sheet. It shows my assets, liabilities and worth. This, too, is updated once daily. It helps with reconciling my liabilities (advertising expenditures) when they appear on my credit card, which is a convenient way of identifying discrepancies.
When it comes time for taxes this year, I intend on just handing over this spreadsheet to my accountant. From my meeting with him, he will then take the average conversion rates for the year to determine my income in CA$. Shouldn't be too difficult.
At the top of the primary spreadsheet is a continuous "mini" balance sheet. It shows my assets, liabilities and worth. This, too, is updated once daily. It helps with reconciling my liabilities (advertising expenditures) when they appear on my credit card, which is a convenient way of identifying discrepancies.
When it comes time for taxes this year, I intend on just handing over this spreadsheet to my accountant. From my meeting with him, he will then take the average conversion rates for the year to determine my income in CA$. Shouldn't be too difficult.
I pretty much do it on the fly when I got my invoices etc.
I'm using Xero at the moment, while I test out all the software. The support is great and the web interface is rocking!
I like to keep things in check as often as possible, so I can always see cash flow etc. Keeps me in check too, so I don't overspend etc.
I'm using Xero at the moment, while I test out all the software. The support is great and the web interface is rocking!
I like to keep things in check as often as possible, so I can always see cash flow etc. Keeps me in check too, so I don't overspend etc.
Xero looks pretty cool. I just track everything in Microsoft Accounting Express. It's free and does a good job.
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