Is accounting the proverbial closed book for you? You’re like many other freelancers. Here you can read simply and understandably how you can do your bookkeeping yourself and whether it makes sense for you to entrust a tax advisor with this task.
Table of contents
- Do your own accounting or hand it over?
- How to do the bookkeeping yourself
- How to hand over the bookkeeping to a tax advisor
- Streamline accounting with GetMyInvoices
**Do bookkeeping yourself or hand it over: What is the best way for freelancers? **
Unfortunately, this question cannot be answered in general. It’s better to consider for yourself:
- Do you have enough time for accounting?
- Do you have the necessary specialist knowledge?
If you can answer “yes” to both, that suggests doing the bookkeeping yourself. If you answer both questions in the negative, outsourcing the bookkeeping to the tax advisor may be the more sensible choice for you.
How do freelancers do the bookkeeping themselves?
In its most basic form, you can do accounting yourself in an Excel spreadsheet. To do this, you should list the following information for each document in one column:
- Number all documents
- Date of invoice
- Date of booking
- Declare as income or expense
- Note what kind of receipt it is
Tip: Alternatively, accounting software can also support you!
How do freelancers hand over bookkeeping to a tax advisor?
Unfortunately, the tax advisor also depends on your help by carrying out the preparatory accounting for him. This refers to tasks such as collecting, organizing and, if necessary, digitizing your receipts and invoices. In addition, the tax advisor must know into which category the receipt (receipt, expenditure for office supplies, etc.) must be classified.
Most freelancers don’t want to deal with accounting. Their focus is more on acquiring orders, managing projects and delivering the best possible results to their customers. Questions about accounting seem irrelevant. However, as a self-employed person, it is important for you to deal with the topic of accounting. It doesn’t matter whether you ultimately hand it over or do it yourself.
Should freelancers do the bookkeeping themselves or hand it over?
Unfortunately, this question cannot be answered across the board for every freelancer. It’s better to first ask yourself the question: How much time do you have left for accounting and what professional qualifications do you have for it?
Because please remember: Every minute you spend on accounting cannot be spent on customer projects from which you earn your money. In addition, you should have at least some technical expertise in the area: Otherwise, errors are inevitable which, in case of doubt, will later cost you more time and money than if you had handed over the accounting directly to a tax advisor.
Advantages and disadvantages of doing bookkeeping yourself or handing it over
Whether you do the bookkeeping yourself or outsource it depends largely on how much time you have for it and whether you have the professional requirements for this work. Essentially, you can weigh these factors and make a decision based on your current needs:
This speaks for doing the accounting yourself:
- You save costs for the tax advisor or accountant
- You have full control over your receipts and bookings
This speaks in favor of handing over the accounting:
- You have more time for customer orders
- You don’t have to worry about getting in trouble with the tax office
- You don’t need to acquire any knowledge about accounting
- You don’t miss any deadlines for annual financial statements, advance sales tax returns, etc.
Freelancers do the accounting themselves {#“So}
If you decide to do your bookkeeping yourself, you can either use an Excel spreadsheet or an Accounting software use that supports you. Only the good old shoebox, in which paper receipts are usually stored unsorted, should be a thing of the past.
The simplest form of accounting is to post all income and expenses in Excel. To do this, number the receipts, list the respective invoice date, note the date of the booking, compare the income with the expenses and briefly note what type of receipt it is. How exactly freelancers do their own bookkeeping in Excel is here for you broken down clearly and understandably in this article .
It is very important to observe the basic law of accounting that you have probably heard before: No booking without a receipt! All your receipts should be organized according to a system and ideally stored exclusively in digital form. You should scan paper receipts from restaurant visits, office supplies, etc. as quickly as possible. Especially on receipts, the writing fades after just 1-2 years!
Freelancers have their bookkeeping done by a tax advisor
If you choose to do so, the Hand over bookkeeping to a tax advisor , you don’t have to worry about deadlines and correct bookings. Your tax advisor will have to take care of this in the future. But: It doesn’t work without your help. Preparatory accounting is the key word here.
This refers to all tasks that prepare the documents for the tax advisor. Because they also need some information from you so that they can do the accounting correctly for you. This includes, for example, collecting, organizing and, if necessary, digitizing any documents. In addition, the tax advisor needs a short note for each receipt as to what he should record the receipt as: As income? As an expense for third-party services, software solutions or training?
Streamline your accounting with GetMyInvoices
Collecting and assigning the receipts can be a real Sisyphean task. If you have the invoices that you send to your customers at hand relatively quickly, the receipts for expenses such as office supplies, Google Ads, software solutions and the like become more confusing. Because they are hidden in numerous email programs and accounts such as Amazon. So just collecting the receipts can cost you a few hours per month - even if you outsource the bookkeeping to the tax advisor.
This is definitely easier with GetMyInvoices! With the software you can easily collect and organize all receipts and invoices automatically. Try it now!
