The Secret to Receipts
Being a business owner comes with expenses, we all know that. But what the heck are you supposed to do with the receipts?!
Keeping receipts might feel messy or overwhelming, especially if you have all the paper copies lying around. Luckily for you, I have a really simple method or system for keeping receipts that I’ll share with you today.
Before we dive in, remember the IRS requires that you have good documentation on business purchases, and that includes receipts.
Now to my simple method for keeping receipts:
1. Create a Google Drive folder for Receipts
This works really well because you can keep everything digital, and have it all in one place. I use Drive for my business marketing, content, etc.
2. Inside the Receipt folder, create an additional folder for each year (ex. 2022)
Normally the IRS requires that you keep a receipt for 3 years from the date that you file the original tax return (disclaimer: but make sure you check the rules and stipulations based on your specific situation. More info HERE). That way if something comes up and you need to find a receipt from 2020, you’ve got it.
3. Within each “year” folder, create a folder for each month
This is pretty self explanatory, but you want a folder for each month (Jan, Feb, March, or 1, 2, 3, depending how you want to label it) to further organize and sort your receipts.
4. Save your receipts in the folder for that month, and label with what it was for and the date
Whether you upload a photo or screenshot, just rename it with what it was for and the date of purchase. So if I took a client out to lunch last month, I’d snap a photo of my receipt, put it in 2022 - April - labeled “client lunch 4.12”.
The great thing about this method is that it’s REALLY simple and easy to use as a biz owner.
You can do it from your phone
You can forward emails directly to a specific Drive folder
You can screenshot/take a picture of receipts
I’m sure there’s other great ways to organize receipts, but I’ve found this is the easiest way to keep track of them.
If you do your own bookkeeping but need a better system, check out my DIY Money Manager. I’m a systems, numbers girl, so it’s designed to make keeping track of your money (just like with my receipt method) super simple and easy to do.
