10 Apps to Help With Home Business Taxes

Tax time is never fun, but for home business owners, it can seem particularly daunting. Business receipts, travel logs, non-paid invoices, returns, and all the other items that need to be tracked can be overwhelming. Fortunately, the digital age has provided tools to make tax time easier. Even better, many of these tools can now travel with you on your phone. Here are 10 apps to help you track expenses, manage your books, and prepare your taxes.

Apps for Tracking Expenses

The first challenge in taxes is wrangling all the receipts and expenses. These apps help you track this data for easy sorting and report creation at tax time. Several options allow you to scan receipts for easy data input. Don’t forget to track any expense you have related to these apps, as those are tax-deductible business expenses.

Expensify

• Available for both iOS and Android—free and paid versions
• Track and report expenses, including travel
• Use SmartScan to input your receipt information
• Create expense reports
• Reimburse cash expenses

Everlance

• Available in iOS and Android—free and paid version
• Designed with the IRS in mind
• Email reports in PDF or CSV
• Customize categories
• Easy to categorize trips for business and personal
• Free admin accounts

Mint

• Available for both iOS and Android—free
• Track and manage expenses
• Manage bills
• Customize reports
• Create budgets

Shoeboxed

• Available for both iOS and Android—$18-$54 a month, depending on your business needs.
• Scanning with OCR and human data verification
• Send receipts and business cards in prepaid envelopes for entry
• Archive receipts from Gmail
• IRS-accepted receipt images
• Send expense reports
• Works with other business tools such as Quickbooks, Wave, Evernote, and other apps

Apps to Manage Your Accounting

Along with tracking expenses, home business owners need to manage income, returns, invoices, and all the other financial tasks related to financial management. These apps can assist you in your overall accounting needs.

FreshBooks

• Available for both iOS and Android—free trial, then $6.00 to $22 per month depending on client size
• Invoice clients
• Track expenses, bills, vendors and mileage
• Add team members (additional cost)
• Accept payments
• Scheduled late fees
• Payment reminders

inDinero (contact for pricing and app info)

• Two pricing plans are billed annually, starting at $300 and $900
• Invoicing and online bill payment
• Employee reimbursement
• Tax portal
• Customized reporting
• Month-to-date snapshot
• Credit card processing integration with Stripe
• Accounting and tax help

Quickbooks Online

• Available for both iOS and Android—offers a 30-day free trial, and then pricing is based on the plan and ranges from $15 to $100 a month
• Send invoices
• Accept credit/debit card payments
• Record bills, purchases, and expenses
• Manage payroll (additional fee)
• Run reports
• Integrate with many other online tools, including PayPal, Square, Shopify, and Gusto

Wave

• Available for both iOS and Android—free for invoicing, accounting, and banking; paid versions for payroll (starting at $20) and advisors (starting at $149)
• Free invoicing, accounting, receipt scanning
• Invoice estimates
• Track invoices and payments
• Accept payment (fee)
• Track income and expenses
• Payroll tax calculations
• Pay employees or contractors
• Direct deposit and online pay stubs

Apps to File or Assist With Taxes

For filing your taxes as a business, your best option is a platform that can integrate with your apps. Many of the accounting options above can work with tax software. Check with your app to find the ones it integrates with.

IRS2Go

• Available for both iOS and Android—free service
• Check the refund status of your return
• Make checking account, credit card, or debit card payments to IRS
• Find tax prep assistance
  

TurboTax

• Available for both iOS and Android—small business options start at $119 for federal filing (additional for state)
• Self-employed option
• Live expert help
• Take a photo of W-2 to import data into tax forms
• Smooth filing process that includes on-page explanations of what questions mean, as well as access to extensive support pages

The best way to make tax time easier is to start filing, tracking, and organizing your business-related financials into a digital tool that will provide reports, store receipts, and integrate with your tax software. Don’t wait. The sooner you start organizing, the easier your business money management and tax preparation will be.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)