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With the end of the year fast approaching, I know that the looming tax season can feel like one big, scary monster. But, it doesn’t have to be! Imagine sitting down to tackle your taxes, and you feel READY instead of overwhelmed. That sounds great, right? Here are a few of my bookkeeping organization tips to help you feel READY and prepared, without having to stress out or be anxious about it.

Bookkeeping Organization for your Documents: Keep Everything in One Place

One of the biggest sources of tax-time stress is scrambling to piece together all the information you need from different sources – digging for invoices & receipts from your inbox, pulling Shopify reports to show your sales & fees, pulling credit card statements…it’s a mess. AND it’s a great way to ensure that you miss something.

Instead, have a designated “home” for all those documents throughout the year so it’s all being saved in one place. (For a few suggestions on how to do this, you can check out the 3 Ways to Save Receipts: My Good, Better, Best Approach). While this post only talks about receipts, the same methods/concepts can be applied to ALL reports & documents you need to help keep your business records organized.

Bookkeeping Organization for your Transactions: Categorize Your Expenses Regularly

I know it can be so tempting to just leave your bookkeeping until the end of the year, but again, that’s a great way to ensure that something gets missed. Plus, I can guarantee you that you’re not going to remember what some of your purchases from February were for nearly a year later. 

The best way to do this is to use a bookkeeping software such as QuickBooks Online. A software will allow you to connect your bank & credit card accounts so all of those transactions are pulled in, and you can sort them into the appropriate expense categories with just the click of a button. 

One of my favorite features of Quickbooks is that you can set up automation rules, where Quickbooks can automatically categorize all your transactions to certain categories based on the transaction detail. This will save you even more time, and help ensure that your bookkeeping remains consistent. For more of my favorite time-saving features that Quickbooks has to offer, you can check out this post. I know that bookkeeping isn’t your favorite task, so let’s spend as LITTLE time on it as possible! 

Double Check for Accuracy: Reconcile Your Accounts Every Month

While “reconcile” may be an unknown bookkeeping term for you, it really just means that you’re comparing your information in Quickbooks (or whatever you use to help with your bookkeeping) to the statements provided by your bank, credit card, or payment processors. This helps ensure that nothing is missed or duplicated in error.

While I LOVE the connected bank & credit card feeds in Quickbooks, they are NOT perfect, and sometimes transactions don’t pull in perfectly. This process of reconciling your accounts every month will make sure that any of those errors are caught and corrected ASAP. 

Wrapping It Up

Tax season doesn’t have to make you sweat. With just a little bit of organization, and just 15 minutes a week, you can totally feel in control of your boutique’s finances. Start developing the habits now to get caught up on your 2024 bookkeeping, and start 2025 off strong! 

If you need a little extra guidance on how you should be organizing and maintaining your boutique bookkeeping, then register to watch my free on-demand training to help you master the Bookkeeping Basics.