Electronic tax record keeping

[Tools]

Does anyone use an electronic system to keep tax records? With the new financial year creeping up on us I would like to upgrade the shoebox approach to something a little more modern, Any methods and reviews of proprietary products would be appreciated.

Tools

[Handyjack]

I use a couple of things to help me do my return.
Car log is done in the car using a log book in ink. Before the end of the year I start adding up the Km, so on 1st July I only have a page or so to add up. All fuel purchases are recorded in a log book in the car.
My pay, dividends, interest and donations are recorded in a multi-column book making it easier to find the numbers at tax time. When the current book is filled I don't know if I will find a replacement so will record it all on the computer.
Excel is my friend, all income and expenses are recorded as they occur so at the end of the financial year all I do is add up the columns. It is easier to record purchases as they occur, or at least weekly and then clip all the receipts together.
Other expenses like clothing and tools, I keep the receipts on a clip and when I do my tax, enter them onto excel.
Before I see my accountant I print off the necessary pages.

Please note as my private business earns under the threshold I do not worry about GST.

[scuzyboy]

Have a look at taxrecord.com.au/home/ very simple is a subscription but very minimal cost.


Acoustic and Electric guitars and Basses.

[Simplicity]

We use wave accounting for our business.
We use the free one and find it ok
There are versions you can pay for with more features if needed
Google will find them [emoji3]

Cheers Matt

[rrich]

A few things are different here.
First the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) created the need for the term, cranial - rectal inversion. That is what we have to deal with.

Second my accountant says that the IRS likes people to use electronic records for two reasons. The computer is easily searchable for fishing expeditions and people that use computers for records tend to be more accurate and explicit.

My accountant said that it is a good idea to scan the thermal printer receipts but not to digitize them. I don't have a business so it doesn't matter. By digitizing the receipts it makes the receipts searchable by content. Just scanning them makes the image available if needed.

Windows has a wonderful directory and file naming system. Use a directory structure folder by year, then month, then category, etc.

[q9]

...By digitizing the receipts it makes the receipts searchable by content. Just scanning them makes the image available if needed...

Your accountant is living in the distant past. Searching images for text is a thing.

I use Google docs/sheets extensively for record keeping, and Google Drive for storing receipts etc. The app for Drive has a scan to drive function, and does multi-page pdf's. Working on a project with some people in Australia, it makes the whole thing super easy - expenses can be tracked instantly and everyone can see what is going on.