Before I begin to write the blog, I am going to do my traditional disclaimer: I am not an accountant. The purpose of this blog is for FUN and for educational purposes, and anyone facing the situations I describe should consult an accountant.
Okay . . . now that I got that off my chest, here I go.
It is tax time again, but this year I am ready. I am organized. I have all of my documentation in order. I am so confident that anyone who wants to can feel free to challenge me. Why am I finally so organized?
It has taken over 40 years to get to this point. But, thanks to Intuit, the makers of QuickBooks, and thanks to a wonderful accountant who I have worked with and who has coached me for over 15 years, I finally have all of my ducks in a row.
In the back of Gary Keller's book, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, he lists a number of accounts or expense categories which really help the average real estate agent (like myself) to get organized. So, about 5 years ago, I bought QuickBooks and used his list of expense accounts as a starting point. I then began to manually enter every check I wrote or every receipt that I had. Bought dog food--entered it as a pet care expense. Bought pens--entered it as office supplies. Even if I paid cash for parking for a real estate related workshop, I entered in the expense. I did this for every account that we have, even the credit cards. (I later realized that I could save time by downloading the credit card charges directly into QuickBooks.)
Then, I saved all the receipts. Yes . . . all the receipts. I labeled envelopes for each of the expense accounts and threw the receipts into the envelopes. January came . . . no problem. All I had to do was print out a detailed report by account and all of my expenses were listed. In February, I sent that off to the accountant and put the box of large envelopes on a shelf in the garage. I feel good now. I feel thrilled that I did this and did not have to stay up nights fretting over it.
Now, I am just waiting for the accountant to fill me in on what I owe. Then, I probably will not feel so great.
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