If you’re like most business owners, you’ve been hard at work building your business, and as a result, some of your workflow and processes may have taken a backseat. But let’s face it – as an owner, the lack of organization may have resulted in lost money (do you remember if all invoices were paid?) and quite a bit of frustration (exactly how long did it take to find that sales receipt last week?). Plus, every receipt-less deduction and lost invoice could be setting the stage for an audit and no one needs any extra attention from the CRA.
It’s time to clean house and get organized, so it no longer has control over you.
Here are 3 tips to help you not lose sleep and to see that come tax season, you’re not frantically searching for those misplaced gas receipts.
1. Get Familiar with Telpay’s Amazing All-In-One Payments Solutions
As you may or may not know, Telpay has live webinars every week to show our clients how to get the most out of their Telpay software. They’re FREE and all you have to do is register to attend on our website! All webinars are 30 minutes long and give you the ability to ask a real, live person any questions you may have after the session. As the shooting star says, “The More You Know”!
2. Download an App for Keeping Track of Your Mileage
If you’re like most small business owners, you probably spend a lot of time in your vehicle but you have to keep clear records of your mileage and travel expenses if you are going to enjoy the benefits of business deductions. Enter the mileage tracking app! Versatile apps like Everlance not only track your mileage but also helps you keep track of all your other business expenses, too.
- Automatic Tracking: Everlance detects when your car starts moving and records the miles you drive with background tracking.
- Mileage Classification: With a quick swipe of your finger, you can categorize each trip as personal or work-related. You can also set your work hours, automatically classifying drives during those hours as work-related.
- Expense Tracking: Sync your bank account or credit card to the app to keep track of other business expenses. Everlance will even scan your expenses and note which ones might qualify as tax write-offs.
- Data reports: Get Excel or PDF reports of your mileage and business spending to make everything easy when it’s time to file your taxes. And so much more! You can download Everlance from the App Store or Google Play.
3. Be Prepared in Case of Theft, Loss, or Computer Failure
Your best line of defense for protecting your digital records is through computer backup, every night. If you don’t have a computer backup plan in place, now may be the time to talk to a computer specialist. Saving your data at the end of each day can save you from a host of bookkeeping problems if your computer suddenly decides to die. Telpay will prompt you to back up your software each time you complete a payroll or payment session. Should you forget to do so, you can manually back up your software by following these easy instructions or watching our instructional video.
Many professionals suggest leaving an audit trail, as well. This includes printing records of everything at the end of the month or at least moving them over to a removable thumb drive or external storage device. This way, if you get the blue screen of death, at least you won’t panic because you’ll have all of your files safely stored in another location.