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Tradies, Here Are Some Must-Know Tips For Your Accounting

Andrew Jeffers | May 30, 2018

Keeping receipts, managing workers and reporting your earnings to the ATO without being hassled?

Oh, and who wouldn’t like that, on top of it all, you had enough time to spend with your family or go to a pub with your mates? Yeah, who wouldn’t like that?

Good news, tradies: there are some easy ways of keeping receipts

I know what you’re thinking. If there was one way - just one way - to make this receipt keeping easier…

Well, ta-daaaa, there is! Actually, there are a bunch of ways to not lose receipts ever again.

> Hubdoc is a simple and sweet program you can use to keep track of your receipts

> If you have a Diners or American Express card, you don’t have to keep receipts at all - yay! (P.S.: It doesn’t work with your normal VISA and MasterCard cards; your bank statements are not sufficient to claim tax either).

> You can also use Receipt Bank - this thing does wonders with taking pics of your receipts!

> You know another program that enables you to take pics of receipts? You guessed it, it’s Xero.

You might also be interested in: 5 Accounting Software That Are Probably Perfect For Your Business

Subbies: employees or subcontractors?

If you’re getting a handful of subcontractors to work for you, you need to figure out if they’re can be actually classified employees rather than subcontractors.

Here’s how this works...

> If they have their own ABN, nine times out of ten you might be responsible for their workers’ comp and their super.

> If they are a company and are running a business, it is are far more likely that they can work for you on a contractor basis.

Note: It doesn’t mean someone with just an ABN is less of a contractor, but the things that you need to jump through from the ATO are a lot higher.

Is the ATO chasing you for money?

The ATO is chasing many people for late activity statements and payments.

If you are late, you may be getting phone calls from collection agents.

Some of my clients have even got letters saying, “If you don't lodge this, you could end up with thousands of dollars in fines and you could end up going to jail.”

Not a reason to panic if you have everything under control. The key message that the ATO is sending is: Be on top of your reporting.

If you feel like you’re getting hassled by the ATO, contact your accountant about it. They can explain what is going on and can speak to the ATO on your behalf.

Tools for smart time management for tradies

There are several job management tools that can do wonders in terms of how well you manage your time at work.

What does this mean for you? More time with your family, more beers with the mates at the pub. More free time, a more relaxed business. And a better-organised business.

The tools I’m talking about are Geoops, AroFlow and a couple of others. With software such as this, you can:

> log and track your jobs

> produce invoices

> connect them into the back of Xero or MYOB, which allows you to get bills to your clients straight away

You know exactly where you’ve been and you have a history of the work you’ve done at your fingertips.

Systemisation just make life so much easier… you should try it out!

You might also be interested in: The Benefits Of Business Planning

Need help systemising your business?

Whether we’re talking about getting things in order with the ATO, keeping track of your receipts or knowing if your the people who work with you in your business are employees or contractors, I’m here to help you. Contact me, or one of my qualified expert colleagues and we can jump in to help as easy as 1, 2, 3.

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Andrew Jeffers

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Accountant

www.andrewjeffers.com.au

Sydney, New South Wales

0423 308442

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