Do you save every receipt?

[greenscaper123]

Last year was my first year in business and I mainly only saved the big receipts (ie. truck, trailer, equip etc.) Things like gas receipts, envelopes, business cards I just had my accountant refer to my bank statements. Do you literally need to save every receipt or are bank statements enough to show your expenses in case of an audit?

[willshome]

Lawn care business tips

Better save than sorry. Get a box and throw them in.

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[CHEESE2009]

I'll go through stages... I'll be hardcore and save every receipt.. then I get sick of it and start throwing them out.

I suppose anything over $20 is worth saving, it adds up. The smaller crap is just clutter to me.

However, all gas receipts (even $1) are saved. It's good to keep just in case you want to go over how much you spent on a certain thing later on.

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

I have so many receipts that I probably have yours.

[willshome]

Originally Posted by CHEESE2009

The smaller crap is just clutter to me.

Cheese you need a box

[Sprinkler Buddy]

Originally Posted by SECTLANDSCAPING

I have so many receipts that I probably have yours.

lol Me too! I get audited by my wife frequently. It better add up! lol

[MBLC]

In the words of my accountant "save every receipt". Why? because if you get audited and they want to make it hurt, not having a receipt means they may have the option to not "count" that as a legitimate business transaction and you lose it, and lose money. That's my dumbed down scary version because I'm obviously not an accountant

[ratchetmaster2]

It might be a hassle to save every single receipt at first, but it will become a habit after not long at all. Besides, saving all your receipts will improve your organizational skills overall. Not to mention your awareness of spending

[CHEESE2009]

If you're a sole-proprietorship or paying with a personal source of income ~~ it shouldn't be an issue in those 2 cases, just don't spend collected tax money.

I file all my receipts in an envelope, and they are placed in a folder for each month. bla bla bla. Over the winter I do get lazy and end up with 10 inches of receipts in my wallet I have to file, it can be a nightmare, kind of exhausting to go through.

[stevef1201]

I get a box every year you know the ones that paper comes in. I put every receipt for everything including personal expenses in there. I keep tracl of every penny with quickbooks, I feel that if I get and IRS audit, they can have fun going through tha box. It is completely filled by the end of the year.
Besides wich there are legit business expenses outthere that you can accidentally get if you get audited, all you have to have is the receipt. That happened to my neighbor two years ago, got an extra 1K back