How to Track Your Receipts as a Freelancer
- in Finance
One of the most time-consuming tasks freelancers have to do is track receipts. You must keep track of your expenses so that you can adequately report them on your taxes at the end of the year. If you’re not keeping up with this, it could lead to an audit and a lot more work for you! This blog post will show you how to save yourself time by automating your receipt tracking process so that all your receipts are organized in one place.
Keep Business Expenses Separate From Personal Expenses
The first step is to make sure that you’re keeping your business expenses separate from your personal ones. This can be done by creating a specific folder or account to store all of your receipts related to your freelance work. You should also have a system for tracking each expense’s date, amount, and purpose.
Keep All Your Receipts in One Place
The next step is to make sure you keep all of your receipts in one place. You can do this by asking for digital copies when making a purchase or taking photos with your phone and uploading the image right away (that way, there’s no risk of losing it). If you cannot get a copy, at least try to get the receipt emailed to you. It would help if you also kept any receipts from a digital purchase, such as those for meals or other miscellaneous items. These can be stored in an envelope with each month’s name on it and kept at home until tax time comes around (it doesn’t hurt to check them off once in a while to make sure everything is still there).
Sort From the Beginning, Not the End
When you’re ready to start filing your taxes, make sure you sort your receipts from the beginning of the year and not the end. This way, you’ll have everything you need in front of you, and it won’t be such a daunting task. You can either do this physically by putting them in chronological order or electronically using software to do your taxes (make sure you don’t delete anything).
At the end of the year, having a system for organizing all of your expenses will be incredibly helpful. You can save yourself from stress and potentially miss out on some deductions that would have been very beneficial to you by spending just a little bit more time now.…