paperwork

[GQuigley67]

what system do you guys have in place to keep ontop of the mountain of paperwork we have to deal with mostly receipts. I have a big pile of paperwork to go through and its going to be a nightmare !!

 

[justlead1]

Hi I have used Quick Books with success. But i think the banks are marketing even better software products now. It is often better to put all the expense receipts in a box and give them to a third party to sort them and log on the soft ware. Once you become accustomed, your vat return and tax are 90% sorted. Good Luck

 

[GQuigley67]

I have a books program on my computer that I use, I just end up leaving it until i've got a mountain to do instead of doing it weekly lol will need to get a rythm in place

 

[Barry98]

the woman does my invoicing and ive now just employed a book keeper / accountant , am just wayyy to busy

 

[diamondgas]

what system do you guys have in place to keep ontop of the mountain of paperwork we have to deal with mostly receipts. I have a big pile of paperwork to go through and its going to be a nightmare !!

I pin anything bought for a particular invoice together with the invoice. Have a separate box for consumables, stock, and other. I've got myself into a discipline of invoicing and paperwork once a job is complete! Use Microsoft Money for my records and a Microsoft works spread sheet to keep tabs on things.......! And I have an accountant to pass it all too end of the year! lol

 

[dontknowitall]

I have a spreadsheet and lever arch file for all the paperwork.

Takes me around an hour to write the annual letter to the accountant, email the spreadsheet and post the paperwork.

 

[Dannypipe]

I wait until the pile of paper work is about 4" deep, then I throw all my toys out the pram until the wife helps me work through it.

Well you wanted the truth.

Oh and I get a large accountants bill every year.

I keep all the receipts in a monthly folder. That gets sent to the accountant. I had a meeting with him the other week and he said I could save a good few quid if I did the book keeping myself. I think we do enough with working on the tools, finding more business, invoicing, quoting.....

I also have to have a sit down with the accountant twice a year to go through things...I've just gone Ltd, which means new bank accountants, and all the other hell that goes with it. I hate paper work.

 

[GQuigley67]

that sounds like me, when i get home from work its relaxing time lol. I keep my receipts seperated monthly and do my own books, but it is seriously annoying and boring, and this is me with not alot of customers so can't imagine what it would be like when im much busier. Guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and get on with it.

I need to do my tax return for last year as I am due a rebate since I was employed until october plus I have a van and other capital to claim, will the accountant take their money off of the rebate or will I have to pay them ?

 

[diamondgas]

By-the-way ... Don't forget to pay yourself cash as wages now and again out of your 'petty cash' !!! Helps IRS account for your lack of cash withdraws from the hole in the wall!.. 😀

 

[Mrs Tara Plumbi]

Invoices are filed monthly - that means kept in big envelopes - i don't buy them i recycle ones we receive.
I put all the details onto my own spreadsheet.
All income details are on another page of same spreadsheet.

There is a separate spread sheet to record details of payments & In Rev deductions for subcontractors.

So far this is all simple - simple but boring!

The only difficult thing i find is recording materials supp;ied by subcontactors - even more complicated if the subbies are VAT registered.
At the moment I record this info on my subcontractors spreadsheet and I just have to remember I have some details of materials there as well as on the main spreadsheet.

 

[Puddle]

I just find the paperwork is getting more and more boring,thinking of taking hypnotic treatment to null the pain, its just never ending

And I hate the way all the big institutions you have to deal with ,think we are like them, able to afford staff to sit about most of the day and spend 5 hours looking for a old gsr or invoice for 57p

Was promised a paperless society but now we have the paper side and the computerside

Am really depressed now thinking about it and I have to spend today just doing paperwork ,printing off gas safety reports ,invoicing, registering ,filling in ledgers,filing away bits of paper, saving bits of spread sheet ,attaching bits and replying to e mails
Where’s that Samaritans number,what fool mentioned paperwork !!!

:banghead: :mad2:

:banghead::banghead:

 

[Mrs Tara Plumbi]

Speaking of paperwork - what about comply with all the red tape most of which we might not know about or did know about and have forgotten....
1. I think the van is supposed to have a no smoking sign in it.
2. My house is supposed to have details of the limited company on a sign outside (but only a sign of a certain size to make sure it does not conflict with that other bit of legislation about no boards outside the house without planning permission except for sale signs.
3. Am I supposed to be displaying some health and safety info? should that be in the office or at every site of work? Or perhaps I don't have to. i can't remember.
4. And these days we are all supposed to give the customer something in writing about their right to cancel -with the date on it and a tear off slip so they can send it back and cancel the job! How ridiculous and what another load of paperwork and admin. I can't remember any of our customers cancelling - but if they want to it is not a problem.

 

[kay-jay]

well i keep all my receipts in my pocket til the end of the week then they go in a box file indexed monthly.

each full month gets totted up and figures recorded on paper kept with that months receipts.

i do my own returns and use the 'simple method' of claiming mileage only so i don't have to faff about calculating depreciation etc.

i have invoice book with payments received. and at year end take outgoings from incoming, add on my taxable mileage allowance and i got my figure to pay tax on. IR website input figures and they tell me what to pay.