Spring Clean Your Etsy Business Finances

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Tax time has been over for weeks now but you’re still feeling the aftereffects. It was a rough couple of months there when you weren’t sure you were going to actually get everything done on time. All your paperwork was strewn about the house and you found yourself mumbling to the cat at 3 AM just before the due date. You may have even had to fill out a tax extension form because your records were just too crazy.

Instead of chalking it up to “taxes are supposed to be tough,” it’s time to do something about your finances. Namely, it’s time to get them organized! There’s no need for your tax documents to take months to finish. If your files are driving you crazy and eating up more of your time, now is the time to start spring cleaning.

Below are a few ways for you to get your finances in order so the rest of the year goes smoothly. Next year, when tax time rolls around again, you’ll be more than prepared!

Receipts

Remember how annoying it was to go and find every single receipt you needed when figuring out deductions? It was good you saved them in the first place, but storing them in random drawers around the house probably wasn’t the best idea. If you’re to use receipts accurately you need a better system in place.

One idea is to create separate folders, bins, or boxes for your receipts. For example, one folder could be for “supplies” and another could be for “gas.” This way when you need a receipt for whatever reason you know exactly where it is rather than rifling through a box or drawer for hours.

Another idea is to digitize all your receipts. This saves room in your office or home so you don’t have folders and boxes sitting around everywhere. Everything is stored on your computer so it’s super simple to pull everything up. You can scan everything yourself or use a company like Shoeboxed to assist you.

Calendar

Besides physical forms and receipts, another thing that can actively work against you if it’s disorganized is your calendar. How many times have you looked at the date and realized you’ve got sales tax due in two days or that April 15^th is right around the corner and you haven’t even started?

It’s not like you don’t know these dates are coming up. There are a multitude of tax calendars that keep you updated on everything you need to pay and file. However, if the calendar you actually use isn’t up to date, you have a problem.

Go ahead and update your Google calendar or whatever you currently use so everything is up to date for the next year. Mark every quarterly estimated tax date, sales tax due date, and everything in between.

Income & Expenses

Manually updating your finances all the time gets tedious, especially when you’re doing so many other tasks every day. Worse, it seems like every time you get caught up something goes wrong and you have to go back over your records to find out what happened. This can eat up even more of your business-running time.

Why not let someone else do it for you? Grab an account at Outright so the entire process becomes automated. You buy supplies at the store and it goes right to your account. Later you can see just how much you’ve spent on supplies over the course of the month and amend your business to save money.

Plus, an automated service like Outright can help you with your taxes next year! The process will be so much quicker when everything you need is right at your fingertips.

Still feeling disorganized? Sign up to Outright’s Spring Clean Your Small Business Finances email series. People how subscribe today will also receive a discount code good for $20 off an Outright Plus subscription. (But hurry – it expires at midnight PST!)