Let's Talk Record Keeping / Tax Prep

[NickM]

So I finally incorporated and have not been to see an accountant yet to get tax advice or anything yet. I am making an appointment as we speak though, so save your comments on that.

I am interested in making the record keeping and tax preparation portion as simple, efficient and cheap as possible. That means I would like to do as much as possible for myself within reason.

So what does everyone do for record keeping? Something that I input my itemized income and expenses into, along with payroll (me, for now), and it spits out what I should be withholding for taxes, along with important reminders ("Send $xx,xxx tax check today") would be ideal.

Also, something not as ridiculously difficult to set up as QuickBooks would definitely be preferred.

Discuss.

[schwallie]

Quickbooks just didn't seem to have a good way of doing a business like the ones we run.

I currently use Excel, but would love to hear what others are using.

[PokerNations]

I use Quickbooks Pro, as most accountants are going to be able to easily grab your data from this and complete your tax returns.

They may be able to assist you with advice on how to navigate the program as well.

[TheShortStack]

To be honest, I've been using iBank for the Mac although I don't think it's quite as advanced as you're hoping for.

It's pretty useful for keeping track of all incomings and expenditure though ....

[Tim]

I have two limited companies, and an accountant. I just have an excel spreadsheet called "accounts", and use different worksheets for income/expenditure, then a breakdown by date. When my accountant needs the data I send it to him, and he does the tax calculations etc.

I did buy a copy of QuickBooks years ago but never really used it as it was far more advanced that what I needed it for. I found it was more styled towards offline businesses with more than one employee, which isn't what I need.

[JeremyM]

I use excel and it seems to work great for the accountant. It really depends how well you keep your information sorted (ex - make sure you mark/sort which is advertising, equipment, contracting, etc).

I can't say excel is better than one program to the other as excel is all I've used. I can say that it is extremely easy to use and very quick to set up. And once you get set up you can use the same format year after year.

[Gydian]

Quickbook or Money are pretty good programs.

I also have a ledger that I keep everything handwritten in for my own records as I've lost my backups on the computer before and that's an absolute nightmare.

[NickM]

Anyone have a good excel template for me to try out?

[schwallie]

FYI-

You can upload and use Excel spreadsheets in the online Google Docs. I use that so I have a backup already and so I can edit from all my computers

[Giorgio]

I use Freshbooks for all my invoices since a short while and am really happy with it.

It's only $14/month and if you use one of the coupon codes (search for it) you will get a discount as well.

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