Author Topic: Doing Self-Employed Taxes Like a Ninja  (Read 2744 times)

SmartMoves

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 8
    • SmartMoves.Life
Doing Self-Employed Taxes Like a Ninja
« on: May 03, 2018, 06:48:20 AM »
I’ve been self-employed for a few years now. One of the things that I really wasn’t looking forwards to as I embarked on the whole work for yourself journey was the “now you have to do your own taxes” bit.

I just did my yearly accounts in record time: basically in one morning, with time to chill and have a coffee as well. The secret sauce was that I keep a spreadsheet ready to go on my computer to add the income and expenses numbers as they come in during the year. It’s set up with formulas so that it calculates all the totals that I’ll need for my tax forms automatically: I know the format I’ll need from previous years accounts. Purchases with a physical receipt go in immediately / CC & bank info goes in each quarter.

This really helps to eliminate the nagging “have I forgotten anything” feeling or trying to do a year’s worth of accounting in one day and makes the filling in of the final forms pretty breezy.

I hope this helps fellow Mustachians! If you get a bit stressed around tax time I really recommend it!

OtherJen

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5267
  • Location: Metro Detroit
Re: Doing Self-Employed Taxes Like a Ninja
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2018, 07:22:44 AM »
Seconding this! I’ve been fully self-employed for 5 years. The income/expense spreadsheets are essential to my sanity. My yearly Excel files have separate pages for each month and various tallies for each client. Accounting doesn’t come naturally to me, but once I got over the big hurdle it became routine and fairly easy.

I also learned the hard way to set aside a bigger chunk of each client payment than I expect to need for taxes. I had a couple of years in which I’d made more than expected (yay?), had therefore underpaid on quarterly taxes, and had to scramble to make up the shortfall. I increased my income again in 2017 but was able to cover the shortfall with my tax buffer so no stress!

MrSal

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 889
Re: Doing Self-Employed Taxes Like a Ninja
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2018, 01:09:18 PM »
For those interested....

Fiskl is having a lifetime limited only for their product which enables you to track all your accounting...

It;s a no brainer:

You can check here:

https://appsumo.com/r/hocb3g/ (Yes it's referral link you are free to go outside of it if you'd like)

I bought 2 copies and so far so great! Waveapps is free but this one has a few more options and their roadmap is really good!

terran

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3796
Re: Doing Self-Employed Taxes Like a Ninja
« Reply #3 on: June 28, 2018, 06:12:56 AM »
For those interested....

Fiskl is having a lifetime limited only for their product which enables you to track all your accounting...

It;s a no brainer:

You can check here:

https://appsumo.com/r/hocb3g/ (Yes it's referral link you are free to go outside of it if you'd like)

I bought 2 copies and so far so great! Waveapps is free but this one has a few more options and their roadmap is really good!

Looks like you got the link wrong. That brings me to something called Crystal for helping manage social media.

Here's Fiskl: https://appsumo.com/fiskl/ -- Looks interesting, but I think I'll stick with my spreadsheets.