15 Jun Tax Tip Thursday! Your Bookkeeping on Auto-Pilot

Tax Tip Thursday Presented by TaxBot!
Get to know TaxBot! A new version of the TaxBot mobile app was recently released and Surge365 is pleased to share helpful tips on the TaxBot App! Be sure to take advantage of this valuable business tool that is INCLUDED in your monthly SBA fee. All you need to do is log in to your Surge365 Back Office, select the TaxBot ad and complete the short registration form. Do it today and learn how to keep more of your money! You can also find Tax Tip Thursday tips on the Wavebreak blog.

Automatically Match Receipts to Expenses
Today we are going to talk about automating your expense management. Did you know, that you should keep a copy of almost every receipt or invoice you get for proof in an audit Most expense tracking and accounting applications don’t take this part seriously… At Taxbot we put this compliance on autopilot with our SmartMatch technology.

• First thing you should do is connect your business bank or credit card to Taxbot. Do that by going to “Settings” and then to “Add Bank” and follow the on-screen instructions. Once you have that set up you can…

• Take pictures of your receipts! Your receipts will be “read” by Taxbot.

• Taxbot will SmartMatch the picture of the receipt to the bank transaction. (This usually takes a day or two for a credit card purchase to show up in your account. When it does it will be matched).

• Then Taxbot will categorize the expense, fill in missing details, and deliver it back to you for your review!

• Swipe it right to approve it as business and left to classify it as a personal expense.

• Taxbot will also learn how you categorize certain expenses so it can do it for you in the future.

— Mileage Tracking FAQs —
How does Taxbot access my bank and credit card transactions? Taxbot partners with a top-tier, third party aggregation vendor to securely connect to and access internal bank transaction systems. Upon entering your username and password, Taxbot gains read-only access to your statements, utilizing the highest level of security with 256-bit encryption. Rest assured, Taxbot does not store or save your credentials, nor does it have the ability to access or transfer funds within and/or between your accounts.

Does Taxbot ever require any additional information about an expense or mileage? Yes, some categories do require additional information in order to be tax compliant. For example, by regulation, expenses associated with meals and entertainment require that you include a description of individuals with whom you met, along with a detailed explanation of the business purpose to support the expense. When Taxbot spots a category that requires additional information, you will be automatically prompted for it.

What happens if I incorrectly approve or reject an expense or mileage? As always, you have full control over the classification of all expense and mileage tracking within the Taxbot app. If you incorrectly approve or reject an entry, you can simply go into the Classified Expenses section and edit the entry.

How does Taxbot categorize my transactions and what are the different categories it uses? When categorizing transactions, Taxbot uses all of the standard categories that are recognized by the IRS. Taxbot does quite a bit to make categorizing your transactions as easy as possible. We aggregate data across all users to learn how vendors are most commonly categorized, then use that information to automatically categorize transactions for you. However, we realize that our educated assumptions won’t always produce the most appropriate result. With that in mind, Taxbot will learn from and adjust to your personal categorization behavior. In other words, Taxbot will notice when you re-categorize a transaction and remember to use the new category for future transactions from that particular vendor.

How does Taxbot ensure that my expense and mileage tracking will be compliant? Taxbot will always prompt you to provide any information that the IRS may require for each type of expense. Of course, it is up to you to provide accurate, legitimate and truthful records and details. Doing so will help ensure the best possible outcome in terms of being compliant. Additionally, we offer a wide variety of resources within our Knowledge Base that you can use to educate yourself on current tax laws and regulations.