Hello Reader,

The initial tax filing deadline has come and gone and hopefully you’ve crossed that finish line without too much sweat and tears!

Of course, if you’ve filed an extension, you still might be in the thick of it. 😰

I realize that the last thing you probably want to spend time on right now is planning for next year’s tax filing deadline.

But now is actually the perfect time to plan.

Why?

Because everything is fresh in your mind.

What went well?

What didn’t go so well?

What would you like to be different?

Take some time to think it over.

If you have any questions, feel unsure or stuck about anything, HIT REPLY and ask away. Happy to help if I can.

And if you found your bookkeeping process caused some difficulties getting your taxes done, I have a fun gift for you! (It’s not that fun, but hopefully it’s useful.)

👉 Click here to get your copy of my Simple Bookkeeping Tracker spreadsheet! 🧮

It comes with a video explainer walking you through how to use it, what you need to keep track of (and why).

Even if you have a great bookkeeper you’ve outsourced this work to, there are a couple tax-related items you’ll need to keep track of yourself.

Those include personal health expenses, expenses “shared” between your personal life and your business, business miles driven and personal vehicle expenses.

Yes, tracking all this stuff is a pain.

But keeping careful track now will greatly help the next season go more smoothly. Plus, it helps you reduce your tax bill!

As always, if you have any questions about what I’ve covered today — or anything else happening in your financial life — HIT REPLY and ask away! I read and respond to every email.

Best,
Dave

PS: the best bookkeeping and tax deduction hack I know of is to use dedicated accounts and credit cards. Keep all your business expenses in your business bank accounts or credit cards. If you’re incurring a lot of personal medical bills and want to keep track of those for the medical expense tax deduction, have a credit card JUST for medical bills. This way if you fall behind on keeping track of those transactions (which almost inevitably will happen), you can just download all the transactions from that account and know you’ve got everything you need!