A Guide to Small Business Expense Tracking

Tax season is right around the corner. Now is the time to prepare your small business taxes. This includes everything from invoices, receipt books, bank statements, and any records pertaining to your small business expenses.

Maybe you’re well-prepared and already a pro at keeping a detailed daily expense tracker. Or maybe you’ve let some things slide over the past year, and tracking business expenses has taken a back seat to other priorities. If you need a refresher course on how to keep track of small business expenses, read on for all the details. 

What Qualifies as a Business Expense?

If you’re a new small business owner, you might be surprised at all the day-to-day expenses you accumulate to keep your company up and running. Certain items are expected, like payroll or utilities, but others might be one-time expenses or vary in cost over time. 

Any cash that flows in and out of your business should ideally be tracked with some simple record-keeping habits. 

It’s also important to remember that the process for small business expense tracking should differentiate two types of costs. The IRS gives guidance on which records to keep, noting that purchases and expenses are separate. 

Purchase: A purchase is an item that you pay for and then resell to a customer. Raw materials or components that are used to manufacture a finished good are considered purchases.

Expense: An expense falls under a much broader category than purchases. This is any type of “ordinary and necessary” cost needed to maintain your business operations. 

Here’s the key takeaway: A small business expense can be deducted from your taxes. If you still need help understanding what qualifies as an expense, here are a few examples:

Travel: Lodging and meals may be deducted for some individuals, like self-employed truck drivers.

Taxes: Certain taxes, like property taxes, are considered an expense for rental property owners.

Office supplies: This is often overlooked by small business owners, so don’t forget to keep track of all the office supplies you purchase solely for the use of your business.

Insurance: If you’re a freelancer who pays for an independent healthcare plan, you can consider this a business expense.

Why You Should Be Tracking Business Expenses

Maintaining good business records of any type is important, especially for financials like expenses and payroll. 

When the IRS is involved, you don’t want to be anxiously searching for receipts and pay stubs because you failed to track your business expenses properly. 

Here are a few reasons why expense tracking for small businesses is a must: 

Identify your credits and deductions: If you’re not a tax professional, it’s easy to miss common deductions that will otherwise save you money. Using a daily expense tracker will save you valuable time when you need to identify any credits or deductions.

Highlight budget issues: In personal finance, it’s often recommended to use a cash-only budget if you have trouble limiting your spending. Once you see how much cash you’re spending, you’re more likely to think twice about an unnecessary purchase. While you may not want to use cash only for your business expenses, using a tracking system will help you see exactly where your money is going and whether you can cut back in any areas.

Audit preparation: If you put in the effort now to track your small business expenses and maintain other financial records, you’ll be better prepared to resolve an IRS audit. 

4 Simple Steps to Track Your Small Business Expenses

Tracking business expenses and understanding some common forms like a 1099 expense tracker are both small bookkeeping basics that you can’t ignore. It’s also important to learn some common bookkeeping terms so you can better communicate your needs with a small business professional. 

Here are 4 simple steps you can take today to ensure that your small business expense tracking strategy is efficient:

1. Understand some basic tax forms

When you own a business, there are a lot of documents you’ll need to complete related to taxes. For example, a 1099 tax form is one you’ll need to know if your expenses include independent contractors or freelancers. There are a variety of 1099 forms, but you can consider a 1099-MISC expense tracker as a form that documents money spent by your business.

2. Create a method for organizing different records

Bookkeeping software and spreadsheets are both common methods for tracking expenses. Whichever method you use, take extra care to organize your expenses in different categories. It might be tempting to include taxes, payroll, and insurance all in the same expense category, but this will inevitably cost you more work when tax season approaches.

3. Audit your existing expenses

Once you have a solid method in place to organize your documents, it’s best to complete an audit of all your current expenses so you know exactly where everything belongs. Several expenses are probably recurring, so performing an audit will help in creating a more detailed budget. 

4. Partner with a professional

Small business owners already have a lot of responsibilities outside of tracking expenses and dealing with taxes. Trying to do everything yourself likely isn’t feasible as a long-term solution. The best strategy to stay organized is to use a trusted, automated expense management solution like 1-800 Accountant. Creating a partnership with experienced bookkeeping professionals will keep your business expenses tracked properly and efficiently. 

Leave Your Tax Prep to a Trusted Professional

It can be challenging to keep track of small business expenses, not to mention all the nuances of tax deductions and credits. 

Rather than trying to sort out the details yourself, consider working with a professional who can ensure that your financial reporting remains accurate. 1-800Accountant has a team of experienced bookkeepers who understand the best practices for your small business expenses. We offer a robust suite of services, including payroll management, year-round small business tax advisory, audit defense, and more. Contact us today and speak to a pro who can manage your expenses.