how to keep receipts organized - tax solutions...
TRANSCRIPT
1
Tax Solutions Canada - 1220 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M2K 2S5 Tel: 1-888-868-1400 Fax: 416-496-9651 Email: [email protected]
How to Keep Receipts
Organized:
Valuable Free Apps That Make
Keeping and Maintaining
Receipts Effortless
2
Tax Solutions Canada - 1220 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M2K 2S5 Tel: 1-888-868-1400 Fax: 416-496-9651 Email: [email protected]
Table of Contents Overview
Page Number 3
Shoeboxed 4 OneReceipt 5 Receipts by Wave 6 Digital Receipts 7 Expensify 8 Smart Receipts 9 Conclusion 10 Author Bio 11-12
3
Tax Solutions Canada - 1220 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M2K 2S5 Tel: 1-888-868-1400 Fax: 416-496-9651 Email: [email protected]
Overview
If you do not track your expenses you will not be able to support your tax
deductions – and CRA can assess you penalties and interest. The good news is that
the days of an accordion file or separate envelopes for every different type of
claim are gone.
There are countless finance tracking expense apps available. The big “but” is that
they are not all created equal – far from it actually. This e-guide will give you a
breakdown of our favourite apps, how they work, and the pros and cons to help
you narrow down your search.
Some different apps for organizing
recipets:
Shoeboxed
OneReceipt
Receipts by Wave
Digital Receipts
Expensify
Smart Receipts
4
Tax Solutions Canada - 1220 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M2K 2S5 Tel: 1-888-868-1400 Fax: 416-496-9651 Email: [email protected]
Shoeboxed
What it is?
Shoeboxed is a photo scanning app for iOS and Android.
Once you have downloaded the free app, you simply open it
on your device and scan the document.
How it works
When you scan a receipt, business card, or other important document to the app,
the data retrieved and the important information (vendor, total, date, payment
type, etc.) is extracted and verified to ensure accuracy. This information is then
logged and categorized to make is searchable and to keep it organized.
Pros/Cons
We like this app, firstly, because it is free. There is no trial for the DIY package,
which lets you submit up to 5 receipts per month, and the information is extracted
by a Shoebox team member. With this package you also get unlimited document
storage and access to all of their add-ons.
However, after you have met your 5 receipt per month limit, you can still scan the
receipts, you just have to do the extracting and logging on your own. This is ok if
you have the time, but if you are getting the app in order to have this work done
for you, you will have to go with the premium plan.
Ideal for the small or mid-sized business - premium plans start at $9.95/month for
50 documents processed, to $99.95/month for up to 1000 documents processed.
Other additions included in the premium plans include QuickBooks integration and
tax advice.
5
Tax Solutions Canada - 1220 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M2K 2S5 Tel: 1-888-868-1400 Fax: 416-496-9651 Email: [email protected]
OneReceipt What is it?
OneReceipt is an iOS app that lets you track and store
spending as well as manage your bank and credit card
statements. The features allow for categorization, making it
easy to search and file both new and older receipts.
How it works
OneReceipt lets you import receipts a few different ways.
Obviously taking a picture is the simplest way to import
paper receipts, but you can also track email receipts (which
the app automatically pulls in), or you can manually enter
the information on your own.
Pros/Cons
We like OneReceipt because it is extremely easy to use, both in its ability to import
pictures as well as its logging methods and tracking tools. A month-end spending
report keeps you up to date, and the ability to separate purchases, even on the
same receipt, to help manage, for example, business vs. personal expenses, is also
incredibly handy.
For the cons, the manual entry form could be a bit more robust. Also, the app does
not offer customization, so tailoring the organizational tools to suit your needs is
not possible. Furthermore, older versions of iOS, do not support OneReceipt.
As far as costs, OneReceipt is completely free.
6
Tax Solutions Canada - 1220 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M2K 2S5 Tel: 1-888-868-1400 Fax: 416-496-9651 Email: [email protected]
Receipts by Wave
What is it?
Receipts by Wave was created by Wave Accounting Inc. This app allows you to
easily track and categorize all of your purchases and then connects them to your
small business accounting.
Receipts by Wave is available for iOS and Android users.
How it works
When you snap a picture of a receipt, Receipts by
Wave uses character recognition technology to
analyze the information and organize it. The original
image is then stored in the system if you need to
access it later.
Pros/Cons
Receipts by Wave’s ‘Freemium’ account is completely free, the only additional add-
on being the payroll option, which starts at $9 a month. Unlike some other apps, it
can download your most recent transactions from the bank and credit card
companies, which is really convenient.
Cons – some users have companied about inconsistencies when it comes to
updating bank accounts, so be wary of this. Also, there is no automatic log-off with
Wave, which can be especially problematic for an accounting/finance app.
Furthermore, your initial account set-up has to be done from the website – it can’t
be done from the app itself. It is also sponsored by an accounting company and it is
unclear if and how they might plan to use your information.
7
Tax Solutions Canada - 1220 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M2K 2S5 Tel: 1-888-868-1400 Fax: 416-496-9651 Email: [email protected]
Digital Receipts
What is it?
Like so many of the other apps looked at in this e-guide, Digital Receipts is an app
that lets you organize and track spending by collecting and logging your receipts.
Digital Receipts is available for iOS and Android.
How it works
When you take a picture of a receipt, or by using the
Touch-and-Go tagging technology (where available), the
app collects those receipts digitally. Those purchases can
then be logged and categorized to help manage your
weekly/monthly purchases.
Pros/Cons
Besides the big advantage of being free, Digital Receipts offer a number of features
that put it at the top of our list. You can stitch together multiple images for longer
receipts, and can easily search receipts by store name or label.
We also like that the app will generate expense reports as CSV (Concurrent
Versions System) for excel or PDF file – this can save you a great deal of time. The
information within these reports can be filtered by label and time period.
Although the Touch-and-Go technology is great, not all (or even many) stores seem
to have introduced it yet, so taking advantage of those benefits can be tough.
8
Tax Solutions Canada - 1220 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M2K 2S5 Tel: 1-888-868-1400 Fax: 416-496-9651 Email: [email protected]
Expensify
What is it?
Expensify is an app that (surprise,
surprise) lets you track and categorize
expenses.
Expensify is available to both iOS and Android users.
How it works
First, you sign up for an account, and use the web interface to enter and organize
expenses. You can use your mobile device to take photos of receipts and upload
them to your account. Once all of your purchases are uploaded, you can log into
your account, categorize those purchases and create a report.
Expensify does not automatically categorize the information – you have to
manually do this yourself, but it gives you the ability to add additional information
that you perhaps would not be able to with some of the other apps listed here.
Pros/Cons
There are several pros here, including the fact that you can import expenses
automatically from a credit card. The app lets you track email receipts as well,
which can be forwarded straight from your email account to your Expensify
account and then entered and categorized.
The app also offers seamless QuickBooks integration – a major bonus.
9
Tax Solutions Canada - 1220 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M2K 2S5 Tel: 1-888-868-1400 Fax: 416-496-9651 Email: [email protected]
Expensify is totally free for personal use, but if you want to upgrade to a Team Plan
or Corporate Plan, there are additional costs per user ($6 and $11 per month
respectively).
As far as cons go, Expensify does not support taxes as a separate line item, so this
can be an issue if you are looking for something specific to keep track of taxes
separately – it doesn’t support HST tracking in Canada.
Smart Receipts What is it?
Smart Receipts is a receipt scanner and expense report
generator that lets you organize your purchases into a
handy, easy-to-read report that can be emailed to you
at the end of every week.
How it works
Smart Receipts lets you take pictures of your receipts
and then email them to yourself in PDF or CSV format. PDF reports are tabulated
to improve readability and look professional so that expense reports can be
submitted.
Pros/Cons
Smart Receipt is simple and easy to use. Automatic categorization helps you save
time by sorting purchases depending on the time of day, etc. (i.e. lunch, dinner).
These categories are fully customizable.
Purchasing the full version ($3.31) supports further development of Smart
Receipts, and eliminates ads.
Smart Receipts seems to be the most basic of the apps examined here, but if all
you want to do is track spending and generate reports, simple is probably the best
way to go!
10
Tax Solutions Canada - 1220 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M2K 2S5 Tel: 1-888-868-1400 Fax: 416-496-9651 Email: [email protected]
Smart Receipts is only available for Android users.
Conclusion
There are so many different expense
tracking apps available in the
marketplace that it can be incredibly
difficult to choose one that meets your
needs most effectively.
Using an app to store and organize
your receipts will make you more efficient, but the right app for you will depend on
your goals. Are you using QuickBooks? Does QuickBooks integration matter? If so,
this reduces your options down to two apps that we reviewed in this e-guide. This
is just one example of things that you should consider when selecting the right app
for you.
We hope that this review of a number of different apps for storing and organizing
your receipts digitally helps you narrow down that long list of potential contenders.
With tax time just around the corner, it is probably becoming pretty clear that a
system to track your spending is crucial, so start tracking now for next year and
reap the benefits.
11
Tax Solutions Canada - 1220 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M2K 2S5 Tel: 1-888-868-1400 Fax: 416-496-9651 Email: [email protected]
Author Bio
James Bell is the Director of Tax Solutions at Tax Solutions
Canada.
A member of the Farber Financial Group, Tax Solutions
Canada is a firm that helps individuals and businesses
struggling with tax problems ranging from small matters
to the most complex negotiations.
Prior to James’ tenure at Tax Solutions Canada, James
worked in increasingly senior roles across many departments at Canada Revenue
Agency, including but not limited to: Audit, Investigations, Enforcement and
Appeals.
Through Tax Solutions Canada, James brings to bear his outstanding technical
knowledge, negotiation skills and deep understanding of the CRA processes and
mindset to assist individuals and businesses who:
Are at risk of being accused of tax evasion
Are being notionally assessed by CRA
Are dealing with CRA audits and/or investigations
Want to file an objection to an assessment or an audit
Want to apply for Taxpayer Relief
Want to apply for Voluntary Disclosure
Want to negotiate regarding the removal/reduction of enforcement action
such as wage garnishments and liens on houses
Want to negotiate payment plans and more…
In addition to working with the public, Tax Solutions Canada also supports
accountants, legal professionals, mortgage brokers and other financial
professionals in helping their clients put an end to their tax problems.
12
Tax Solutions Canada - 1220 Sheppard Ave E, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M2K 2S5 Tel: 1-888-868-1400 Fax: 416-496-9651 Email: [email protected]
If you would like to contact James for a free consultation:
Call: 1-888-868-1400
Email: [email protected]