Banish Your Bookkeeping Nightmares

The Go-To Guide for the Self-Employed to Save Money, Reduce Frustration, and Satisfy the IRS

By: Lisa London

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 3 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Thousands of people are self-employed, but do they understand what that means for their taxes? Lisa London, CPA gives step-by-step instructions in setting up your accounting system and streamline the bookkeeping, explains how to keep on top of the paperwork, how to file quarterly employment taxes, and shows the detail behind deductions on Schedule C. Let London BANISH Your Bookkeeping Nightmares. Author of the top-selling The Accountant Beside You series and CPA Lisa London gives entrepreneurs step-by-step instruction in setting up your accounting systems explains how to keep on top of the paperwork, how to file quarterly employment taxes, and details what is deductible and what isn’t. London wants you to focus on growing your businesses, not on becoming accountants. Banish Your Bookkeeping Nightmares shows how to analyze what financial data is required, how to automate it where possible, how to keep it current without taking too much time from a business, and how to give the IRS what they need without any prior accounting knowledge. London’s trademark step-by-step instructions and generous illustrations take the fear and frustration out of accounting for the self-employed. She details the income and deductions behind Schedule C, how to keep track of them, and how to report them to the IRS. Learn: • A simple rule to determine if something is deductible or not • How to use your mobile phone to make tax time easier • A simple method to calculate the home office deduction • What self-employment taxes are and how to handle them • How to fill out the necessary federal forms, line by line • And so much more. Whether you are an AirBnB host, an Uber driver, a freelancer, or any other type of solo entrepreneur, let London BANISH Your Bookkeeping Nightmares. Contents The BANISH System BANISH Step 1—Brief Yourself A. How Do You Know What You Need? B. State Required Forms C. Bank or Other Lender Requirements D. What do YOU Need to Run Your Business? E. A Quick Accounting Lesson (I promise it won’t be painful.) F. Cash vs Accrual Methods of Recording Income and Expenses G. Financial Reports BANISH Step 2—Arrange Your Environment A. Computer Organization B. Office Organization C. Car/Mobile Organization D. Record Retention Guidelines E. Email and Other Electronic Information BANISH Step 3–Network Your Data A. Desktop or Online? B. Lower Cost, but Takes More Time Options C. Saves Time, But Costs a Bit More D. Automate Where Possible BANISH Step 4—Import Your Transactions A. Design a Chart of Accounts for Your Business B. Record Transactions—The Basics C. What is Deductible? D. Paying the Bills E. Recording Your Income F. Paying Yourself BANISH Step 5—Summarize Your Information A. The End of each Month B. The End of the Quarter C. It’s Year End. What Now? BANISH Step 6—Head Into Next Year A. Budgeting—An Annual Approach that is Your Secret Weapon B. Forecasting—Evaluating as The Environment Changes Appendix A. Deductible Expenses from Schedule C B. Home Office Deductions About the Author Acknowledgments Resources Index