Although I absolutely love being a small-business owner and working for myself… there’s one thing I sure hate when it comes to being an entrepreneur… and that’s tax time! No y’all…it’s not because I’m paying the actual taxes! It’s actually the whole record keeping process! I HATE having stacks and stacks of paper just laying around the house, hanging on to receipts or important papers for too long. You can ask anyone who knows me well…I’m not a huge fan of clutter!

It’s a fact that as a small business owner, you MUST keep record of EVERYTHING! When tax season rolls around, it’s very important to have all receipts and records of all purchases made throughout the last year.  As a small business owner, you CAN write off lots of different purchases from the year.  Heck, even a percentage of our utility bills, cell phone bills, any home improvements we’ve done over the past year, and anything bought for the business can be “written off” on your taxes…as long as you save the receipts…AND keep track of everything.

I’m not going to lie, it’s hard to keep up with everything throughout the year (especially when you’re quite a shopper like I am! hehe!) So I’ve decided to keep up with my receipts by utilizing a filing organizer.  I’m sure some of y’all are laughing at me right now, laughing at my old school method when it comes to keeping up with receipts and filing them away.  Sure, there are scanners and different programs I could use to store and file all of my receipts away, however, this system works for me…and it’s quite simple!

All I do is keep a file organizer in my purse or with me whenever I’m out.  I picked up mine from the dollar section at Target, but you can find a similar one like it here.  Inside the organizer I have the different pockets labeled according to what it holds.  I have one pocket for my receipts for personal purchases, and one pocket for my receipts for the business purchases.  Behind the business purchase pocket, I have different pockets that are categorized by what the expense was: Client Gifting/Client Meetings (if meeting a Bride or Groom, taking a Bride out to dinner, or buying coffee for a potential client.)  A section for supplies (anything for the office, equipment, etc.)  Also in the organizer I have other helpful things that I keep with me so I have it when I need it like stamps, measurements for walls or windows or floor space we need to fill in (this works great when I’m out and find a piece of furniture or art that I love!) and even our paint samples for when I need to color match something. 

At the end of each month, I simply clean out the organizer and put the business and personal receipts into envelopes categorized by month.  When the receipts have made their way into their own monthly envelope, I tuck them away into our filing cabinet.  There they will sit until we’re moving onto the next fiscal year, and then we’ll keep hanging onto them, only this time tucked away in box in our attic (and out of the way!) for the next 2 or 3 years.  Since I haven’t been in business THAT long, I’m not sure how long we’ll hang on to the smaller business receipts, but when it comes to our bigger purchases (like equipment, websites, computers, other expensive supplies) we’re planning on hanging on to those receipts for a while. 

Again…I know some of you may see this way of organization like REALLY old school, but like I said earlier…it just WORKS for ME.  There’s really no right or wrong way I believe.  I think if you’re doing what you’re needing to do for tax purposes, and if it’s working for you, why quit it?  I will always be on the search for different and more successful methods of doing things, but for now…it works! It’s as simple as that! Thankfully, it’s one thing that has stayed simple throughout the entire process of growing my business!

Happy Friday y’all! XO!

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