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jovan and i took a day off “turistiando” and stayed in for me to catch up on some projects and for him to catch up on school. while getting through my to-do’s yet another to-do popped in my head. updating my books (bookkeeping) at least once more before the new year is here.
i’ve been bad since i started my travels in june and have not done my bookkeeping. thank goodness i did some serious planning ahead. i knew all the excitement of traveling to new places would make me want to forget about responsibility for a little while.
that doesn’t mean i haven’t been on top of my finances. that’s a weekly thing. i just haven’t updated the books to wrap up the year. all your planning should be done fall (right now) and spring for the most part. summer is for fun and winter is for cuddling under a blanket in the couch eating soup or ice cream depending where you are in the world.
i always start thinking about tax season in november. this is because november is when the first holiday happens that leads to people slowing down and spending time with family. christmas and new year’s eve celebrations in december and boom! january 1st is here in a flash.
in the US you only have three months to file your taxes by March 15th if you’re a business, and four months to file your personal by April 15th. As far as businesses go, Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), S Corporations, and other entities are due to be filed by March 15th. Sole-proprietors’ tax deadline is April 15th.
i’m a sole proprietor so i only worry about the april 15th deadline. freelancers and contractors, and DBAs (“doing business as”) file as sole proprietors. i don’t need an llc or an scorp for my accounting practice. the two main reasons being (1) it doesn’t make millions and (2) sole proprietorship has always worked for me, especially since I’ve worked from home almost the entire 17 years. from a tax stand-point, i get more write offs as a sole proprietor working from home than an LLC with a brick and mortar office.
again, my motto of simplicity being bliss shines through.
if you can’t make the march 15th or april 15th deadline you have the option to file for an extension for free. the irs just requires you to make an estimated payment of what you think you’ll owe for the previous year by the march or april deadline. the extension does not apply to the money due, only to the filing.
for tax preparation a great program i’ve used for years is TaxAct.com. i never liked turbo tax. i did someone’s taxes in it once and I didn’t find it user-friendly nor intuitive nor helpful at the time. this was around 2011 so don’t take my word for it now-a-days. for all I know they’ve gotten better but if you’ve read other posts in this blog you will know that i tend to stay away from most things people flock to as there are often better products, opportunities or experiences where it’s “less crowded.”
back to catching up with my bookkeeping, i use quickbooks online. i have been for many years. over the years i’ve used quicken, mint, freshbooks, and wave accounting for myself and some my clients, among many others. in the last decade i introduced xero to some of my clients and i use it for a handful to this day.
here’s my experience with each:
my sister uses wave accounting for her side hustle (Denisse Marie) and personal finance. she doesn’t need anything complicated because she’s also a full-time remote employee. wave accounting is perfect for this side hustle setup. i’ve migrated clients from it to quickbooks or xero once they grow. it’s a great free program that i highly recommend. you can track your bank accounts and credit cards, invoice your clients/customers, and run basic reports. it’s great for freelancers, or contractors with typical activity of a solo practice. it offers paid payroll service if you have employees or want to pay yourself payroll to get ahead of your taxes throughout the year (feel free to ask any questions below, through my Insta, or shoot me an email at [email protected]). i offer paid strategy sessions on tactics to reduce your tax bill and even how to run your side hustle or your fully setup business at yari.solutions If you don’t go with wave payroll, the one I usually recommend is Gusto for many different reasons. If you’re a business use this link to Gusto for business owners. If you’re an accounting/finance professional reading this, use this Gusto link to check it out.
I feel like wave accounting is better than quicken and mint when it comes to starting with an app that is free. it’s been too many years since i’ve used quicken and mint so i won’t cover them here nor recommend them. i’m not up to date on their programs anymore and whether they still work as great as they once did.
wave accounting is my choice for several years now as a free app and one for one-person companies.
as i mentioned i use xero to this day for some clients. it’s a really neat program and a great replacement for quickbooks since quickbooks can be expensive for startups and freelancers / contractors / solopreneurs. the cheapest plan is $12 per month at the time of this writing but if you have an advisor like myself sign you up it can be as cheap as $9/month. i can extend discounts on the other plans as well. just contact me and i’ll extend the discount at no charge. if you’re in need of more from a professional, i’m certified in migrations to xero and can offer my services to get you set up.
their plans start at $15 per month at the time of this writing for their very basic simple start program. however, if you have a business running already, and are starting to have more complex needs, you want to start with the essentials plan for $27.50 per month. As a quickbooks pro advisor i am able to get you a discounted rate on these at no charge.
i use quickbooks online for combined personal and business bookkeeping. as a contractor/freelancer/sole-proprietor you don’t need two separate accounting files as some might think.
If you have an llc or scorp or ccorp you definitely must keep two separate accounting files to have separate financial records of each. although, i’ve helped a lot of clients with these setups start a combined personal/business financial file until the business grows a bit more and they can afford to separate the two.
if you’re starting small it’s all the same money when you’re starting no matter the entity you create. you can worry about the details while doing your bookkeeping or having it done as you go along. best to consult with someone once it goes past that very basic startup stage.
quickbooks is a great program offering different editions for different businesses. there’s even an enterprise edition for medium to large businesses with amazing features. i prefer quickbooks online for myself and my clients i work on on a remote basis from all over the world.
i was actually sad when i stopped using freshbooks and switched my invoicing to quickbooks. the reason i had to do it was because i switched my business to a subscription model and needed quickbooks to automatically invoice and charge my clients every month. i LOVED freshbooks! it’s such an awesome program that started as just an invoicing program. it later evolved – by users’ request – to include the whole accounting package such as bill pay and bank feeds and credit card fees. if you charge by the hour i recommend this program as it has a super cool timer feature where you, your employees, and contractors can track your time and convert it into beautiful invoices for your clients. the owner created this program because of his frustration with lack of invoicing programs at the time. it’s one of the coolest apps i have used.
PAYROLL RECOMMENDATIONS:
if you need payroll, I recommend Gusto – click here if you’re an accountant/finance professional/consultant with clients. click here if you’re a business owner, freelancer, sole proprietor, or contractor. gusto syncs with your accounting software so you don’t have to do double-entry.
intuit payroll is the other payroll program i recommend and use with my clients. as a quickbooks pro advisor i am able to get you a discounted rate on these at no charge. DM me in Insta.
intuit payroll pricing for contractors only
intuit payroll pricing if you need to pay employees and contractors, or employees only
intuit payroll makes a lot more sense if you already have quickbooks or plan on getting it. this is because the payroll module is inside quickbooks. i focus on quickbooks online only for the last decade.
intuit payroll combined with quickbooks accounting file
these prices above are without the discount i’m able to get you at no charge, being a quickbooks pro advisor. DM me in Insta.
in my blog post “why you’ll never be wealthy as an employee” i explain how important it is to take control of time and how to maximize your tax situation. so time and money are the two things you want to take control of and master in order to achieve goals, reach dreams, and become the CEO of your life!
i’m living proof of it!
bookkeeping, as boring as it is, (trust me i know being that i’m an expert with numbers with a very creative personality and brain of a serial entrepreneur), it’s the first step towards reaching that level. time is the most important thing to tackle but if you still have a full time job and are starting a side hustle, then money is the most possible to start mastering right away.
sign up for either of these programs to get you started on taking control of your money and making it work for you. i have been doing my own bookkeeping since i was 18. granted, it was my chosen field but, everything in life takes just a little research, attention, time, effort and work.
money is not an exception to that rule of life. remember that absolutely NOTHING in life is too late to start. in this area professional advice is golden.
If you have any questions on how to set these up DM me in Insta or email me at [email protected].
