I found PayPal helpful in that I was able to print out all my income from payment for my writing this past year! I didn’t pay all my business expenses with my PayPal business debit card, so I had to search through some receipts and go to my hosting company and my domain registering company to get that information. If you haven’t done so already…….get a PayPal account to keep track of the following for tax time:

• Income/invoices
• Business Related expenses

Those pesky fees that PayPal charges are all deductible!

Felter’s Accounting has a great tax organizing tool to download for free. It is also helpful for this year to use it as a reference to know what kind of information you will need at tax time and what kind of expenses can be deductible.

Get one of those file folders that have all 12 pockets in an expandable and cheap holder. Throw receipts in there with a little notation on the back to remind you at tax time what it was for. Keep away from extreme heat because it can damage some receipts’ print.

If you have some free time on your hands at the end of the month you can:

• Sort each receipt by type of expense
• Copy on a sheet of paper in case the original receipts’ ink fades.
• Keep a running total of expenses (a basic rule of thumb is to have expenses that equal about 10% of your income)

To really pay the lowest tax payment or to get the biggest refund that you can, an accountant can come in handy for consulting even if you can’t afford monthly service or to have one do your taxes. I learned enough ways to save money in an hour when I first met with Linda to more than cover what she charged!