What kind of bookkeeping, expense and income tracker apps are you using on your mobile device for your inspection business?
I’ve been using Quickbooks Self Employed, which has been the most useful app that I’ve found. It works on my Iphone and my desktop computer.
However, the cost is going up a lot in 2024.
In the past I used Taxbot (before it became Hurdlr) app, but had a bad experience.
What I valued about Quickbooks Self Employed is it’s ability to interface with Turbotax for filing my tax returns. Most of my data could be transferred to the Turbotax software online where I could do the filing myself without having to hire an external CPA to help me.
Basically, I’m just reaching out to see if anyone has an easier, more affordable option for bookkeeping, expense and income tracking as self-employed inspector.
I have been using the free version of Wave for years, and it suits me. Paid versions are available also.
Check them out and see if it works for you. https://www.waveapps.com/
I switched to Freshbooks. Seamless estimates and invoices, email payment links, quick expense logging. End of year reports are clean. Very happy with it.
I keep up to date on the input of income and expenses. At tax time, I just print out or email the income report and categorized expense report to my accountant.
I use Triplog on iPhone/Android to track my milage. It gives weekly/monthly/ and most important EOY reports for taxes etc. Not 100% mind you. I have found that there are days / trips missed so I have come to a habit to check that it is running each day. 95% of the time it is running.
Also remember that if your vehicle is logo’ed your are in-fact advertising every mile driven regardless of trip purpose.
“In 2010, the Internal Revenue Service took a dental practice to court when the full use of the car was reported as a qualifier for a deduction because of an advertisement. It was determined that the dental practice was not allowed to deduct 100 percent of the car expenses simply because of vehicle advertising.”
I completely agree with Ryan. Deduct work driven miles only and keep in mind that you can also deduct mileage for trips to see health providers but at a different rate.
As for the advertising on your vehicle, I always deducted only the cost of having it installed on my vehicle.
Ditto that, but it does raise a question…
The article Ryan posted is regarding “Magnetic” Advertising, as those are generally not considered “permanent”.
Would the answer perhaps change if ‘Vinyl or Painted’ Advertising was applied, which are generally considered permanent?
Note, with the exception of my first (dedicated) work vehicle about 20 years ago, (Magnets for 6 months before flying off on the freeway), I have always used Vinyl on all vehicles which last about 2-3 years in Minnesota. I would readily switch over to ‘Painted’ if I could find someone with the necessary talent, expertise, and fair pricing in my area!
In my opinion, the media type probably doesn’t matter. Think of it this way, would the IRS allow me to put a business sticker on every vehicle I could and then deduct the mileage for all those vehicles? If so, I’d be ordering 1" diameter stickers to put on all my friends and family’s cars, lol.
IMO no, at least I couldn’t according to my CPA. The way I understand it, you either write of the vehicle if it’s owned by the business, which would include the cost of the vehicle, gas and maintenance, or you write off mileage.
Of course, you could always open a second business that rents space on your vehicle to advertise on, but would it be worth the hassle for the small amount of write off you’d be getting. IMO it wouldn’t be economically feasible unless you actually were renting space to advertise other businesses as well.
IMO, feasible or not, it’s just not worth the hassle or risk.
I have never been audited nor questioned about my finances, (whether personal or professional), with only one exception… that was when Biden came into power and began his game playing BS with the IRS. It took me 18 months to get them off my ass, and cost me another Grand with zero evidence of wrong doing. They ignored all my receipts of payments and filings. I basically paid them off to get rid of them. My time is much too valuable to waste on dealing with their BS!
Thanks for sharing, Russell. I have tried using apps to track my mileage, but it didn’t work out for me. It’s been easier for me to just view my mileage with Google maps and then manually enter it on the tax return, online software or mobile app.
