Sigh… it’s that time of year again.
I’ve excuses galore: last year it was “I’ve just had a kid and haven’t slept for 7 months,” this year it’s: “I have a toddler and haven’t slept for 18 months,” along with: “Dave said he’d do it once a month for me, didn’t he??” and: I have too much post production to do, the marketing needs to be done, the Dancers Replacing Body Parts project is calling, the dishes are calling, the baking of the chocolate cake is calling…
Sigh.. it’s that time of year again and I’m completely in the weeds.
Taxes.
The accountant (who somehow likes to make it emphatically clear that my bank account has to match up to my books) says every March since I incorporated, “if you keep up with it a few hours every month it won’t come to this,” and like a punished puppy I nod my head and make promises that I’m just so sure I will keep. This year. So I don’t have to go through this pain again.
Until I don’t keep the promises. And here I am again.
Sigh.. taxes.
As a small business owner, I somehow thought this would be easy. You invoice, you receive payment, you pay your bills right? And if you keep everything on one credit card and one checking account everything is easy right? So where, then, did all these misc receipts come from and why is that pile higher than my desk??? And because sometimes you do a barter or half barter for services, sometimes (often) you forget to pay yourself or forget that you bought that new $2,400 lens and the business only paid you 1/2 back… then there’s your vendors (aka trusty assistants who would prefer that you forgot they ever got paid) who need 1099’s and what the hell is a 1096 and to whom do I send copy 1, A, B and C to?
Sigh.. taxes.
If you’ve read this far, thanks for letting me vent in my corner of the world. I should be back to my regular self next week when my wonderful husband takes all this over and proceeds to throw me out of our home. And then the accountant, whereby I will nod my head like a punished puppy, make more promises, and proceed to forget them again in 2012.
First of all, Rachel, this was hilarious to read. lol. All the way to the bottom. I felt the same way some years ago, when Purelements first got started, your not alone. It can be a bit dawnting when it’s thrown down your throat all at once, even if it’s after the second year. I’m writing because I agree with your accountant. If you spend a couple of hours per month on it, it wont be this bad during tax season. Some time people believe hiring a bookkeeper is for big organizations / companies. But I beg to differ. You are the artist, and a damn amazing one at that. You are so right, you don’t have the time to do this, especially if it’s not your expertise. I would suggest like a suggest to every small company, get a bookkeeper NOW!. A good bookkeeper can handle hundreds of transactions on a checking account / credit card for a company. Why can’t they handle maybe 50 transactions per day on Nevilles’ account. Remember this is what they do. They can properly categorize everything for you every month and tax time can be about analyzing vs sweating and hating your business. Most people thinks it’s very costly to have a bookkeeper, but it really isnt. Quite frankly, to save the stress of tax season, I would pay a little more. It such a relief when you have someone recording all of the transactions and you can concentrate on what you do best: Photography! Let me know if you want to talk about it, I can help guide you through this. Ok good luck, or should I tell your husband good luck. LOL Night, great read. Sending Love and Light. Kevin.