This guest blog post is brought to you by our friends at Intuit QuickBooks. Happy Holidays!
The best way to carry success into the New Year is to move down the checklist and make sure everything is wrapped up — figuratively and literally — for the holiday season. For business owners, this means final expenses, deductions, and tax preparations.
But don’t forget about preparation at home too. Owning a business can be a way of life and all-consuming, but if you’re not organized at home, that stress could impact your company as well. As you wind down the year and prepare for 2016, here are a few ways to make work and play the best they can be.
Organize Your To-Dos
From planning your company holiday party to finding everything you need for your expense reports, use a tool like Trello to manage all the small details. Knowing what you need to do is half the battle, and being organized helps you prepare for the whirlwind to come during the holiday season.
Defer Income until 2016
Why would anyone want to get paid later? Wage and salary earners usually can’t defer income, but small business owners have the option to hold invoices until the end of December so the bills aren’t paid until January. Holding a month of income over to the next year can help reduce your tax burden if you already planned on paying more than the expected amount.
Donate Old Items to Make Room for New Presents
Who doesn’t love presents? The allure of shiny, new toys is enough to get even adults out of bed on Christmas morning. But new toys also means more stuff taking up room in the house. There’s no need to be a Grinch about the new gear in your home. Before the holidays, gather up unused and unwanted items and donate them to your local Goodwill or consignment shop. At the very least, you can deduct those donations on your taxes. Talk about getting on the “nice” list!
Find Deductions on Your Expense Reports. Be Happy.
Generating accurate expense reports is crucial to finding eligible deductions at the end of the year. Expensify already makes this process so much easier during the expense reporting process; simply SmartScan your receipts for easy entries and simplified reporting. Plus, Expensify also automatically syncs your data with QuickBooks Online with a single click, so you can move on to other important end-of-year priorities. Want to learn more about automating your expenses with Expensify and QuickBooks Online? Head to Apps.com!
In the meantime, all of us at Intuit and Expensify wish you a happy and prosperous New Year!
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