Beat The Year End Panic

Apr 21, 2021 | Guest Blog, Tax and Book Keeping

Beat The Year End Panic! Bookkeeping Tips!

Are you the type of person what leaves all your receipts in a box to deal with ‘later’?

Do you get them out, start looking through then, panic and put them away again?

Do you spend hours looking through your bank statement to pick out the Business Transactions?

Then this is just for you!

 

How do I keep on top of my Bookkeeping?

 It’s quite simple really when you think about it, but there are so many people that get really overwhelmed when it comes to Year End.

With the new Tax Year having started on 6th April 2021, here are some tips to start the year off with a bang.

 

3 Simple Steps

 1. Get a Business Bank Account

2. Use some Bookkeeping Software

3. Process your Invoices and Purchases on a Weekly/Monthly Basis

Get a Business Bank Account

One of the things we find is that when you run your Business through your Personal Bank Account, you end up thinking of your Business as ‘YOUR’ money, which it is to a degree, but you have a Tax and NI Liability to pay on the money that you receive into your business. 

Therefore all the money that comes into the business is not ‘YOURS’ on average I advise any Self-Assessment Clients to put aside a minimum 30% each month of their earnings, this is to cover 20% Tax, and 9% for NI.

Get some Bookkeeping Software

These packages are simple to use and inexpensive.

Most packages have app’s that you can download onto your phone, where you can take a photograph of your receipts.  This not only means you are recording everything, it means you do not then have to keep the receipt as you have a copy stored within your software.

Following on from this in Apr 2023, HMRC is going to be introducing Making Tax Digital for Self-Assessment, you will be required to have Digital Links for your financial transactions.

Bookkeeping Packages Available

Three choices of packages that might suit you are :

QuickBooks

If you are a Sole Trader starting out your journey into Cloud Based Bookkeeping, take a look at QuickBooks, it is really easy to use and the customer support is brilliant, they will even do a 121 Onboarding with you!

FreeAgent

This is good for Sole Traders and Limited Companies, it’s a bit more expensive than QuickBooks, but if you bank via NatWest, RBS or Mettle you can get your subscription as part of your business bank account.

Xero

This is a favourite for many Bookkeepers, it is a very comprehensive package that is great for Sole Traders and Limited Companies alike.

Doing your Bookkeeping regularly

This is important simply because when you have all the information you need on a timely basis you are able to make better business decisions.

Also, it means there is less work to do, and less stress when it comes to the Tax Year End and submitting your your information.

Conclusion

Keeping on top of your business finances is vitally important to you and your business, this is something that you need to schedule into your time monthly at the very least.  So get to it – no time like the present and all that.