Keeping Financial Records
- Thread starter Fiver
- Start date
I probably shouldn't comment because you probably shouldn't follow in my footsteps, but I just basically have my accountant do everything. I send him my bank login and tell him what's an expense and what's income, and he mails me a package with a bunch of forms with "sign here" stickers. I just sign them and send the checks to the gov't.
I usually do it daily, but as this whole year went by I think I could have been fine keeping records weekly or even monthly. I usually use excel to record everything manually and make a back up of it just in case. My accountant just said to give him everything and he will do his magic.
Just have records of all transactions in, and all transactions out. When giving info to my accountant, I just give him a categorized breakdown of income/expenses for the year, but the records that I keep and review is a full ledger of all revenue and deposits into my business bank account, and all credit card transactions, expenses, and payment amounts/dates for those cards.
Wow, bro, good luck with that. Your trust in people is amazing (or foolish, depends how you look at it)
Accountants want to do everything so they can charge you more which is understandable...but hell if I trust one enough to give him access to my accounts, etc.
My bank account is my record - when the time comes I export bank accounts and credit cards as excel spreadsheets, go through the charges and remove any that are not business related and send them over to my accountant. All income is going into my bank account. All charges are on my credit cards. So its fairly easy.
Just gonna keep track of anything I paid in cash (extremely rare) and any other stuff thats tax deductible, like donations or large medical bills.
I did just mention in another thread what a tangle my cash flow is.
Dont think I'd be giving anyone the login info for my bank accounts to anyone, like uber above...
Just gonna keep track of anything I paid in cash (extremely rare) and any other stuff thats tax deductible, like donations or large medical bills.
I did just mention in another thread what a tangle my cash flow is.
Dont think I'd be giving anyone the login info for my bank accounts to anyone, like uber above...
I've been told by 2 accountants that if you do not do it, there is VERY HIGH chance to get fined. However, they do not usually fine 1-2 years old companies. Legally, IRS does not lend you money, as such you are required to pay them taxes every few months.
Absolutely not. Just splits up your payments to govt, so you aren't stuck with paying major load at once.
definitely use an accountant. level of involvement depends upon level of income.
Company accounts
Company cards
Pretty damn easy- if it's a business expense it gets broken out on there, between Amex and BofA it's pretty damn easy to see cash in versus cash out and group accordingly.
I'm also of the mentality that I'd much rather be less aggressive on taxes (that is- I don't write off cars as business vehicles, try to claim that my house is really 80% office or that the company rents the house as 'officespace' from a family trust, blah blah blah etc) and know I have a MUCH lower chance of an audit which pays for itself with both the time I don't spend dealing with 'creativity' in my time and a tax attorney's time, nor the huge loss of my time/stress/etc in an audit.
Company cards
Pretty damn easy- if it's a business expense it gets broken out on there, between Amex and BofA it's pretty damn easy to see cash in versus cash out and group accordingly.
I'm also of the mentality that I'd much rather be less aggressive on taxes (that is- I don't write off cars as business vehicles, try to claim that my house is really 80% office or that the company rents the house as 'officespace' from a family trust, blah blah blah etc) and know I have a MUCH lower chance of an audit which pays for itself with both the time I don't spend dealing with 'creativity' in my time and a tax attorney's time, nor the huge loss of my time/stress/etc in an audit.
Exactly - Once you start to claim part of your house as a business expense, your chance of getting audited goes up. I figure anyone from the IRS looking at my business tax return, seeing the profit margin and very few, by the book deductions, pretty much laughs and says "damn, this guy's a fool, he's definitely missing expenses and deductions here", and puts it in a pile labeled "great customers".
I've also only just started my business but my dad showed me what to do with accounts.
I basically just put my expenses and income into an excel spreadsheet throughout the month and it calculates how much tax I have to pay, then I put the tax I owe into a seperate bank account - ready for my tax bill
Pretty simple shit but I'm not earning a lot so...
Shouldn't he/she able able to tell what's an expense and what's income by looking at your statements?
I basically just put my expenses and income into an excel spreadsheet throughout the month and it calculates how much tax I have to pay, then I put the tax I owe into a seperate bank account - ready for my tax bill
Pretty simple shit but I'm not earning a lot so...Shouldn't he/she able able to tell what's an expense and what's income by looking at your statements?
This is what I do but if you have Chase you can request all your bank statements for the year so I just do that to prevent possible theft of my login. Then, I print out all PayPal histories and credit card statements and hand them over. Much safer and then you can highlight and make notes on them so you don't even have to go in to meet with him.
I gave him the login the first time he did my taxes a few years ago, should have clarified that.
Now I basically do what Dispel does, print out the full year of statements and just highlight expenses and income. 99% of my business expenses are on my Amex bill so I don't even bother counting anything else as an expense, other than some car/mortgage payments he cuts off from having a home office.
Now I basically do what Dispel does, print out the full year of statements and just highlight expenses and income. 99% of my business expenses are on my Amex bill so I don't even bother counting anything else as an expense, other than some car/mortgage payments he cuts off from having a home office.
We do the books internally, using Xero.com. I got it setup to pull the transactions from the bank daily, then it's just a matter of saying who it's paying or coming from, which account it's coming or going from and a description. Then I just create a login for the accountant and he does the rest.