What program/spreadsheet do you use for income/expenses?
We have a duplex and a PM taking care of both sides while we work over the road. What software/spreadsheet do you use to track expenses and income? We don't have a LLC or anything, but want to take advantage of tax savings at the end of the year.
Most Popular Reply
As a CPA, I'd suggest not using Excel unless you are very organized and have a rental property dedicated bank account/credit card. If you're not super organized most CPAs will charge some kind of clean-up fee either explicitly or implicitly (and it would have been cheaper/easier just to get tracking software). If you go with software instead of Excel you still need to stay on top of it or hire someone to help with bookkeeping.
Also, @Michele Fischer you aren't required to keep receipts for purchases from your business credit card or bank account. The IRS says to keep records for your business tax deductions indicating:
- What you bought
- When you bought it
- How much you spent
It doesn't mention requiring paper receipts at all. There is an exception. A receipt is required if you make an out-of-pocket cash purchase for > $75. As a result, photo-tracking functionality in apps like Stessa and Apartments.com become kinda redundant.
Aside from Excel, here are the most common REI accounting software programs out there:
- Quickbooks Online ($85 per month).
- Stessa (Free, but eventually $19 a month, let’s be honest)
- Digb ($1 a month, but $19 a month if you have > 1 property).
Please stop talking about taking pictures of all of your receipts and uploading them to apps. This is so 2019 :)