No Job's Finished Until the Paperwork is DoneBy Peggy Hazelwood www.albooktross.comThat time of year has come and gone... I'm talking about dreaded taxes! Tomake tax time easier next year, read on. As is the case with many other smallbusiness owners I've talked with, taxes, recordkeeping, and all that darnedpaperwork are the hardest and most unpleasant parts of having your ownbusiness. However, I have established a system for tracking my antiques andcollectibles business inventory and expenses, which keeps headaches to aminimum.Keeping Uncle Sam happy (KUSH) is important, too!Numerous books on small business operation are available today.
I suggestvisiting a local bookstore or library and just sitting down with a stack (andthere are stacks of them!) to see which one will work best for you.My inventory-tracking system works for me because it's simple. I don't liketo do this part of my antiques business, so I have to keep it simple or itwould be overwhelming. But as long as I stay on top of things, I'm fine.
Iestimate that I spend four to six hours a month at the task of recordkeeping(a little more than one hour per week).I keep an inventory sheet that has five columns: Inventory Number,Description, Purchase Price, Marked Price, and Date Sold. Using this simplemethod helps me track what I've purchased and for what price as well as whenit sold.
To track expenses other than inventory, I use a simple software package(Quicken) on my computer that totals the numbers I input. The same resultscan be realized by using a good old notebook, writing down the date ofpurchase, where purchased, and purchase amount, and totaling the amountsyourself.Tax preparation is not what I call fun, so I use a tax preparer. For about$100 a year (which is tax deductible), he does the dirty work, and I keep mysanity. Good luck in the business end of your antiquing!~~~~~Peggy Hazelwood is the author of From Old to Gold: How to Start and Run anAntiques Business, $7.95 ebook available at http://www.albooktross.com in theHow To category.Peggy Hazelwoodwww.ezeewriter.comwww.albooktross.com, sign up forthe Albooktross Web-foot News
I suggestvisiting a local bookstore or library and just sitting down with a stack (andthere are stacks of them!) to see which one will work best for you.My inventory-tracking system works for me because it's simple. I don't liketo do this part of my antiques business, so I have to keep it simple or itwould be overwhelming. But as long as I stay on top of things, I'm fine.
Iestimate that I spend four to six hours a month at the task of recordkeeping(a little more than one hour per week).I keep an inventory sheet that has five columns: Inventory Number,Description, Purchase Price, Marked Price, and Date Sold. Using this simplemethod helps me track what I've purchased and for what price as well as whenit sold.
To track expenses other than inventory, I use a simple software package(Quicken) on my computer that totals the numbers I input. The same resultscan be realized by using a good old notebook, writing down the date ofpurchase, where purchased, and purchase amount, and totaling the amountsyourself.Tax preparation is not what I call fun, so I use a tax preparer. For about$100 a year (which is tax deductible), he does the dirty work, and I keep mysanity. Good luck in the business end of your antiquing!~~~~~Peggy Hazelwood is the author of From Old to Gold: How to Start and Run anAntiques Business, $7.95 ebook available at http://www.albooktross.com in theHow To category.Peggy Hazelwoodwww.ezeewriter.comwww.albooktross.com, sign up forthe Albooktross Web-foot News
