Tax Time – UGH!

Well, it’s that time of year again – tax time.  Time to gather all of our receipts, calculate our income, expenditures, and deductibles, and see how good or bad of a year we had.

How do you approach tax time?

I start by picking up a portfolio at Staples that holds at least 13 pockets of information.  I also buy a copy of Turbo Tax.

Then, the fun begins.  Time to sort all of those messy receipts.  Medical expenses, T4s, charitable donations, bank statements, utility accounts, and general receipts.  Then, time to download all of the electronic statements we get from banks, utilities, etc.

Then, for the writing and publishing part of things.  Time to visit the following:

• KDP
• CreateSpace
• ClickBank
• JV Zoo
• PayPal
• ACX
• Plus other affiliate income providers

Did I get everything by mail that I am expecting?  Once that is all gathered, it’s time to put it all on a spreadsheet.

I find there are two different approaches to entering receipts.  You can either:

• Enter your income and expenses on a spreadsheet and total up each column to plug into your tax software (or give to your accountant), or
• Create a set of books using the double-entry system that helps you create a statement of income, statement of equity, and balance sheet (note that if you take this approach, you are probably balancing your books each month)

Either way, you definitely want to know if your writing and publishing business made a profit in 2015.  If it did, great!  If not, what can you do to improve things for this year?  Were your expenses too high?  What can you spend less on in 2016?

I’ve set aside some time next week to gather my info and prepare my spreadsheets.  Have you finished yours? Wish me luck!

Barb Asselin