Hello All!
I am new to the forums and have been studying up on accounting and taxes because I am a new small businessperson and want to make my life easier. A little background, my business is real estate, I have a SMLLC in VA (sole proprietorship/1040schC). Right now I am suffering a little by letting receipts pile up and not keeping good books. I am about to do a complete audit and reconciliation of my books and at the same time create a filing system geared for success. I tried to think of everything I might want in a filing system, and I came up with 50 categories, if you could tell me if you think I'm missing something, or maybe I should group some files together, etc. I also plan to have a separate binder containing my balance sheet, income statement, cash flow, and 12 months worth of all my account statements (Should I put all accounts from a certain month together, or separate each account)? Here is what I have outlined:
FILES 1 - 20 -- Will be mirrored to line items on 1040 Schedule C for receipts containing deductible expenses (Advertising, car and truck expenses, etc.) My chart of accounts will also mirror these lines. Each folder to be sorted by date, newest item in the front.
FILES 21 - 27 -- One file per account for any receipts considered non-deductible, just in case I need them later.
21 -- Business Checking - Non-dedctible
22 -- Personal Checking - ""
23 -- Mastercard -- ""
24 -- Visa -- ""
25 -- Visa #2 -- ""
26 -- Amex -- ""
27 -- CASH -- ""
FILES 27 & 28 -- Deposit receipts for Business & Personal respectively
FILE 29 -- Any W2's if I work for a job of traditional employment
FILE 30 -- 1099 Received
FILE 31 -- 1099 Issued
FILE 32 -- Estimated Tax Payments -- IRS
FILE 33 -- Estimated Tax Payments -- Virginia
FILE 34 -- Employee Witholding -- IRS (no employees at present, for future)
FILE 35 -- Employee Witholding -- VA ""
FILE 36 -- Unemployment Insurance -- VA
FILE 37 -- Equipment/Supply Instruction Manuals
FILE 38 -- Warranties
FILE 39 -- Insurance Policy Information4
FILE 40 -- Agreements & Contracts
FILE 41 -- Articles of Organization/Licenses/Etc.
FILE 42 -- Mileage Logs
FILE 43 -- Previous Years Tax Returns
FILE 44 -- Accounts Payable, Current
FILE 45 -- Accounts Receivable, Current
FILE 46 -- Accounts Receivable, Past Due
FILE 47 -- Accounts Receivable, Write-downs
FILE 48 -- Client List, alphabetized
FILE 49 -- Tax Publications
FILE 50 -- ETC.
Links to a system would be nice as well! Thanks!
I am new to the forums and have been studying up on accounting and taxes because I am a new small businessperson and want to make my life easier. A little background, my business is real estate, I have a SMLLC in VA (sole proprietorship/1040schC). Right now I am suffering a little by letting receipts pile up and not keeping good books. I am about to do a complete audit and reconciliation of my books and at the same time create a filing system geared for success. I tried to think of everything I might want in a filing system, and I came up with 50 categories, if you could tell me if you think I'm missing something, or maybe I should group some files together, etc. I also plan to have a separate binder containing my balance sheet, income statement, cash flow, and 12 months worth of all my account statements (Should I put all accounts from a certain month together, or separate each account)? Here is what I have outlined:
FILES 1 - 20 -- Will be mirrored to line items on 1040 Schedule C for receipts containing deductible expenses (Advertising, car and truck expenses, etc.) My chart of accounts will also mirror these lines. Each folder to be sorted by date, newest item in the front.
FILES 21 - 27 -- One file per account for any receipts considered non-deductible, just in case I need them later.
21 -- Business Checking - Non-dedctible
22 -- Personal Checking - ""
23 -- Mastercard -- ""
24 -- Visa -- ""
25 -- Visa #2 -- ""
26 -- Amex -- ""
27 -- CASH -- ""
FILES 27 & 28 -- Deposit receipts for Business & Personal respectively
FILE 29 -- Any W2's if I work for a job of traditional employment
FILE 30 -- 1099 Received
FILE 31 -- 1099 Issued
FILE 32 -- Estimated Tax Payments -- IRS
FILE 33 -- Estimated Tax Payments -- Virginia
FILE 34 -- Employee Witholding -- IRS (no employees at present, for future)
FILE 35 -- Employee Witholding -- VA ""
FILE 36 -- Unemployment Insurance -- VA
FILE 37 -- Equipment/Supply Instruction Manuals
FILE 38 -- Warranties
FILE 39 -- Insurance Policy Information4
FILE 40 -- Agreements & Contracts
FILE 41 -- Articles of Organization/Licenses/Etc.
FILE 42 -- Mileage Logs
FILE 43 -- Previous Years Tax Returns
FILE 44 -- Accounts Payable, Current
FILE 45 -- Accounts Receivable, Current
FILE 46 -- Accounts Receivable, Past Due
FILE 47 -- Accounts Receivable, Write-downs
FILE 48 -- Client List, alphabetized
FILE 49 -- Tax Publications
FILE 50 -- ETC.
Links to a system would be nice as well! Thanks!