Great topic @Christine1426, for I really needed this when I first started. Great for newbies! Unfortunately, I procrastinate when it comes to accounting. But I’ve got there....
- I keep all my receipts in one tray and label what they are straight away. Using a clip to hold them.
- I now need to log my odometer for Australian ATO, so have put a log book in the car for shopping kms..I always forget this one!
I’m not listed as a business, and am a standard PAYE. I’ve made an excel spreadsheet for the financial year, but here in Australia our PAYE tax year is 1 July through to 30th June. So that’s the reservation and transaction information I import as CSV from the Airbnb website. Download and save as an Excel worksheet. Then I add to a new excel book and have a separate worksheet for expenses.
To avoid my bigger than Ben Hur accounting sessions:
- I retreat with coffee and cake, or wine 🍷 glass and nibbles... whatever gets me into the study.
- I’m now setting myself “regular detention”, to enter the information on the spreadsheet monthly.
- I now have set myself up to scan the receipts as a PDF for each month, in retrospect. (This has become important as many new cash register receipts fade, and then you lose your evidence to claim.) it also means I get to scan utilities statements, council rates etc and they can then be filed away, without stock piling.
- This has made it easier for tax. I was scanning each receipt via my phone, but that was more cumbersome to the iCloud and not well labelled. This way I save each PDF with the name and month of the year - Airbnb tax receipts.
They can then be saved on the desktop, plus an external device & iCloud in that tax year’s airbnb folder.
🙌🏼 MInd, you really need to check out tax agents. The first year I had a very unhelpful, and uninformed agent. Wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole again! Lol...The second year was someone who had tolerance with a learning host, and good tax understanding, and had crammed herself some studies in Airbnb ATO tax requirements. Even though my excel sheet is not exact, because I still don’t understand the process, she was very happy as she just calculated from the separate columns and info. I asked could I do it differently and she said it’s fine! So now it’s a monthly reconcile. ✔️
💡If you do it better, let me know as I’m never too old to learn! I’m mindful that a cyclone could blow it away, so the hard copy needs to not be the priority in any part of my life. 🌬💨:sweat_droplets:
As an aside, now I’m decluttering and getting better organised. I’ve in turn been scanning old photographs and documents as well! I’ve been able to then place on a USB and give to other family members for their keepsakes. Giving them their photo albums and keeping just a few photos and a set on a USB.