5 Easy Ways To Keep Track Of Your Receipts

If you’re reading this article, you’re probably looking to get on top of your receipts once and for all. We don’t blame you. When half of your receipts are sprawled on your car floor, and the other half have vanished into thin air, you’re unable to make those claims and minimise your taxes. We also understand that keeping track of receipts is no mean feat when you’ve got your hands full running a business. That’s why we’ve created this list of easy ways to collect your receipts – both old-fashioned systems and new technological ways – so you can pay less come tax time.

Old Ways

There’s nothing wrong with doing things the old fashioned way, as long as you’re sticking to it and it works. If you’re the traditional type, and prefer working with records you can touch and hold, then read on for some old school record keeping tips.

The Shoebox

Although not the most efficient method, if you can get it to work for you, the shoebox method does its job. The trick is to keep your shoebox accessible, where you can put the receipts in as soon as you get them. Whether this is in your car, on your desk, or on a table beside the front door, filing them immediately will make a world of difference. It doesn’t have to be a shoebox. It can be a brightly coloured basket, container or something that will help you remember.

The Spiral-Bound Notebook

This method is a little more involved than stuffing your receipts into a shoebox until it’s time to go through them at tax time. It is however, neater and more precise. Whenever you get a receipt, immediately paste or staple it into a spiral bound notebook. You want to paste one receipt per page, and use the border around the receipt to make notes, for example, “New spanner for apprentice”.

New Ways

The tried and true receipt-collecting methods listed above will do you plenty of favours. However there is something to be said for using technology to help you keep track. It can be faster, more efficient, and all round easier. Here are some new ways of going about it.

Take Photos

As soon as you make a business-related purchase and find a receipt in your hand, simply whip your phone out of your pocket and take a photo. So simple, but there’s just one more step. Your business receipt photos will probably be all mixed up with the other photos you take of family, friends and outings. To save yourself having to sift through all your photos when it comes to tax time, email the receipt to your business address as soon as you’ve taken one. Usually this involves simply pressing the ‘share’ button, and emailing it to yourself. If you don’t have a business email, create a free one using Gmail.

Digitise

Technically, taking photos of your receipts and emailing them to yourself is a form of digitising your receipts. However there are even niftier tools that will perform this function for you and more. Just Done’s app will snap photos, store, dates and categorise your receipts for you. The beauty of using a tool like Just Done is that it also performs other key functions for your business finances, so you’ve got every part of your bookkeeping and accounting all in one place, just done for you.  With this method, you can feel free to throw your paper receipts into the bin, as your app will keep them safe for you for the 7 years required by the ATO.  

And One More…

Credit Card

The last way of collecting receipts is the credit card method. If you can, always make your purchases, no matter how small or how much change you have in your pockets, with your business credit card. That way your bank statement becomes a simple list of your expenses.