Running a freelance business is not an easy task, so when it comes to doing taxes and bookkeeping, it’s very difficult to keep things in order. In this article I will go over some of the software and tools I use to help me keep track of my finances, pay my taxes, bill clients and create invoices as well as some other useful tips.
Freshbooks.com
I used Freshbooks.com for all my invoicing. It allows you to create automatic invoices, also known as recurring invoices, to your clients. As far as I’m concerned, this is a must have for any freelancer. You simply create a profile for each client and then set the recurring date. They also accept PayPal and or Stripe payments, which was a big plus for me, as I did not want to create a merchant account. Stripe is quite new but they allow you to start accepting credit cards right away without any hassle.
Godaddy Accounting Services
I use godaddy’s accounting service to keep track of all my income and expenses. It allows direct import of all my PayPal and bank information, and automatically organises it all into categories for tax time. I really don’t know what I’d do without this, I guess it would take many more hours of work as I have lots of small PayPal receipts.
DropBox
DropBox is great for sending information to my accountant at tax time, you just create a folder for the accountant, put all your tax files in there and then invite them to the folder. It’s certainly better than relying on email or sending everything by snail mail.
Shoeboxed
This is a great service for keeping track of all your receipts. It even has an app that allows you to scan receipts with your mobile device. You can send all your receipts via email and then export them all as PDF files.
