When self-employed, you have the choice to account for yourself or use a third-party accounting service. Being self-employed means more tax and expense calculations and more income tracking.
Let’s take a look at everything that is necessary, from utilizing accounting software to calculating earnings from your business and managing financial information.
Track taxes
You must track taxes regularly to avoid facing penalties. Avoid last-minute hassles and penalties by gathering information from your bank, credit card companies, or the IRS at your earliest convenience.
Use an accounting platform like Divvy that provides appropriate by-the-book accounting features and adequate tax accounting capabilities. Additionally, keep all your tax accounting documents in one place, including past tax returns, receipts, and property records for future reference.
Invest in accounting software
Once you have all the financial information about your business startup, turn to account software to help you manage it. A good platform will automatically track your income and expenses.
The software will also allow you to access years of data from previous accounting periods and reference information on transactions, balances, and profit margins over time.
The accounting platform will have various features, from compiling expense summaries and sales tax returns to creating tax and profit reports to handling payroll and direct deposit functions.
Accounting software that automates functions eliminates most daily tasks so that you can spend more time on higher-value activities. Your software should enable you to track your income and expenses regularly, which will help grow your knowledge and confidence as an entrepreneur.
Automate accounting processes
Automating tax and expense activity enables you to reduce stress, increase accuracy, and improve productivity throughout the year. The automation reduces manual data entry and enhances basic bookkeeping and cash flow management tasks.
Track income and expenses
In addition to your gross receipts, you must track income from your entrepreneurship. When you self-account, you use cash accounting to keep tabs on your business income and expenses. With cash accounting, you track your income and transactions immediately when they occur.
Self-employed accounting also includes tracking expenses from your business. You can maximize your profit by minimizing and accounting for all business-related costs you incur throughout the year.
Read more: how to bill a client.
Calculate net income
Calculate your net income by subtracting expenses from revenue. You can also use an accounting platform to calculate net profit for your business. These platforms provide automated features that allow you to organize and summarize all financial actions in one place.
Follow-up invoices
Start a payment reminder system to follow up on unpaid invoices. To help you track and manage these transactions, create a system that documents each invoice, including the amount owed and payment terms.
Give clients a specific time to pay pending invoices, and then send reminders after that time has passed. You can incorporate an email autoresponder to simplify the process.
Wrap up
With the right software for accounting, you can control your expenses and keep track of your income. To help you get started, consider the benefits of using accounting systems to improve your business’s financial stability.
