Why You Need to Be Expense Tracking Throughout the Year

Tracking your expenses is important, but it’s also something that a lot of gig workers don’t do. It could be because they forget, or they’re busy. It could even be because they don’t see the importance of it, or don’t understand why it matters so much. If you’re not making time for expense tracking, it’s time you adjusted your schedule, so you can keep things more organized and feel more prepared at tax time. Here’s what to consider, so your expenses get tracked properly.

Tracking saves year-end time

Expense tracking is one of the best ways to save time at the end of the year. Even if you saved all your receipts and other pieces of information, just tossing them in a box or putting them in a drawer or a folder isn’t really tracking them. You’ll have the information you need, but you’ll also have a lot of hours of sorting through things and trying to remember what some of it was for.

Instead of having those kinds of issues, you should track your expenses more fully and completely. That reduces the chances of losing receipts, forgetting to add in expenses, and spending long hours sorting things out. When you’re more organized, you can close out your year, file your taxes, or just see where you’re at, financially, and it’s quick and easy to do so.

Understand what you need (and don’t need) to track

Before you dive right into expense tracking, take a little time to make sure you understand what kinds of things need to be tracked, and which ones don’t. If you forgot things, or you kept too many things, throughout the year, that can make your year-end accounting stressful and frustrating. Fortunately, it’s avoidable.

Instead of saving everything, understand the kinds of things you’ll be able to write off in your field or industry. The types of gigs you have, or the kinds of work you do, will affect what you track. For example, you may want to track mileage or gasoline, but it’s probably not necessary to track both. Good understanding will equal far less annoyance at the end of the year.

Plan ahead for the holidays and tax time

The holidays can be a really fun time, but tax time comes soon after that. You don’t want to get distracted and make mistakes. By focusing on expense tracking and planning ahead throughout the year, tax time is much easier.

The easier you make your expense tracking, the more likely you’ll be to follow through with good tracking and the right steps to reduce stress, clutter, and year-end aggravation. There are great tools to help you track your expenses all year, and taking advantage of those tools is great for your business.

About the Author: Michelle Dakota Beck has worked as a professional freelance writer since the 1990s. During that time she has written everything from product descriptions to full-length books. Her areas of specialization include real estate, home services, legal topics, relationships, family life, and mental health issues. You can find her on WriterAccess.