‘Tax season’ is just a month away. Are you still waiting on an accountant to log your expenses and make a report at the very last moment?
Here’s what can go wrong if you continue to avoid the habit of expense tracking and bookkeeping:
i. Rapid rise in your business expenses every year
ii. Insufficient records of tax payment which can lead to being fined
iii. Fall in your annual savings
iv. Very less or even no savings from tax deductions
v. Insufficient documents when claiming insurance money
Is it mandatory to avail the services of an accountant?
The best advice will always be to run it through a professional for checks and balances but an accountant is not required throughout the process.
In fact, hiring an accountant can be really expensive and may even prove to be ineffective for certain steps that you could have finished by yourself.
Simple steps to manage your own taxes
The calculation, reporting and filing come at the final stages while orderly and regular tracking of expenses including the tax paid on them can save you a lot of time, trouble and money.
Here’s what you can do on your own without an accountant’s help:
i. Regularly track your expenses
ii. Separate your business and personal expenses (including insurance premiums)
iii. Track all of your income from as many sources/platforms you work with
iv. Track both income and expenses per km of your rideshare or delivery trips
v. Maintain a logbook of the same
vi. Additionally, you can keep track of how much interest you are paying on a debt if you’ve taken a loan
vii. Similarly, keep track of gains on investments or deposits
What is the easiest method to maintain an active logbook?
Manual or handwritten logbooks are quickly being replaced by digital and automatic alternatives.
A digital logbook is a personal data storage software that can be used on your computer, tablet or mobile phone. All you need to do is set preferences for time, alerts, calculation and tracking and then regularly put in your (per km) expenses and income.
Some digital logbooks come with the add on feature of separating and organising your expenses, in that case, you should first check the software’s data protection and privacy policy.
This should ensure that the data is secured amongst the application, yourself and other parties allowed to view exported information.
What to keep in mind when managing taxes on your own?
Growing a conscious habit towards your transactions and keeping it up throughout the year excuses you from the constant worry of money going to waste.
But there are a few points which needs to be kept in mind even if you are getting an accountant’s help at the final stage:
i. Log bookkeeping is different from tax bookkeeping
ii. There are certain important dates in the ‘tax season’ which you need to act on
iii. Tax benefits and deductions have certain conditions which are updated each financial year
iv. Which state you are working in and the latest taxation threshold
A multipurpose mobile toolkit that can track, bookkeep, budget and more!
Get the ‘miracle’ to work for you! All rideshare drivers, delivery drivers and sole traders in Australia can personalise the MyGigsters app to:
i. Track and organise their gig income
ii. Auto-generate tax deduction estimates
iii. Budget for your independent business
iv. Auto-create ready to export data sheets for accountants or financial advisors
v. Track savings, financial goals and debt repayments
Take charge of your finances with the MyGigsters app with added convenience of full user control and data protection.
Already loving the app? Get tax tips, latest business news, access to exclusive reward and loyalty programs and more on Australia’s most trusted network dedicated to independent workers.
