My Etsy shop is open, and I have made a few sales. How can I easily track the funds in my small business? Is there an easy way to see my monthly profits?
Tracking sales is critical to any online business. Whether you track your expenses online or the old fashion way with pen and paper you need to know your shops financial snapshot. Read on to find out about some great tools to make your bookkeeping a breeze.
What you will learn!
- Advantages of tracking expenses
- What expenses should you track?
- Helpful printable tools to download today!
- Review of online tracking tools to use today!
- Step-By-Step: How to create a spreadsheet of monthly transactions within Etsy (priceless info)
Advantages to Tracking Your Expenses and Income
As each day approaches I’m sure you don’t wake to say “I can’t wait to track my expenses today!”
As crafters, we all want to spend our time creating product and crafting not crunching numbers. However, I found by just investing a small chunk of time monthly and focusing on my bookkeeping not only did it save me money it also eliminated a lot of stress come tax time.
You need to take control of your cash flow and actually see where you’re spending your money on a monthly basis. Find out where your money is going and find out if you have money to spare. Some questions to ask yourself:
- How much profit did you make this month in your shop?
- Did you spend too much on crafting supplies?
- Do you have some extra profits this month to buy that fancy new sewing machine?
It’s difficult to answer any of your financial questions without some kind of expense tracking in place. There are a few ways to tackle this chore of tracking your income. You can keep a traditional bookkeeping journal or even track your expenses online. Whichever method you choose you may be surprised at how simple it can be. Don’t worry, it’s easy, and we will show you how below.
Come on…. Read on……
Some Advantages
Total Cash Flow: Tracking gives you a better snapshot of your total cash flow ( income and expenses monthly).
Stops Over Spending: View any extra over spending purchases. How is what you’re buying impacting your business? Are your purchases moving your business forward? See what you are buying and assess if the purchase is a need.
See Clear Deductions For Taxes: As a business, you have many tax write-offs. By itemizing your purchases monthly you can clearly see what items are deductible as you work line-by-line through your purchases.
Budget Your Marketing: Do you want to order business cards? How about a subscription on Canva to create pins to promote your shop on Pinterest? Tracking your expense can help you budget a marketing allowance.
Be Clear on Taxable Income: Once you can clearly see ALL monthly taxable income in your account it will allow you to clarify your monthly business expenses.
Etsy tells us ” As an Etsy Seller you are required to pay taxes on income. Subtracting business expenses from sales gives you the lowest taxable income and lowers the amount of taxes you’ll have to pay”
ETSY: Tracking Your Business Expenses and Claiming Deductions
As you can see, there are so many solid advantages to tracking your expenses. Tracking your expenses can give you a true representational record of the financial state of your business.
What Expenses Should You Track As An Etsy Seller?
No matter how big or small your business it’s always a wise idea to keep track of all your transactions. As a seller, it’s important to know what expense you should be tracking. Knowing your deductions can help you make decisions that can help lower your taxes. What expenses qualifies as a business deduction?
Some common deductions may include:
- Etsy Sellers fees (i.e.: listing fees, sales tax, listing fees, ad fees)
- Monthly or yearly software such as Canva or QuickBooks
- Business Internet
- Car usage
- Shipping and postage supplies
- Office supplies
- travel expenses for business needs
- Insurance
- Education including all online classes
There are several more deductions to consider and far too many to list. When filing your taxes you want the full benefit of these deductions. If you choose not to use your business deductions ultimately you may be paying more in taxes which means more cost to you.
Support Our Fellow Sellers!
We have some creative sellers in our community!
If you are serious about tracking your expenses you will love these carefully crafted Expense Printables and Forms. Simply print out your bank statement and fill in your transactions, it’s that simple. We love to see our budget month- by-month . Some say that putting pen to paper makes the number more real. We have a few budget printables and even a sweet Excel-based program to show you so feel free to find one that fit’s your style.
Helpful Printables and Tools
CLICK HERE to view this item in Etsy : PrintablProductivity
Track your expenses with this printable Spending Tracker! Break up expenses by category and track whether you have achieved your goals to improve your finances and increase savings!
CLICK HERE to view this item in Etsy : The Digital Booktique
This printable bookkeeping form bundle is perfect for your small business planner to track your finances. Organize your home business with the accounting ledger journal inserts, ideal for Etsy businesses!
CLICK HERE to view this item in Etsy : Franky Template Design
All-in-one Income and Expense bookkeeping tool in Excel. It is an easy-to-use tool with all the functionality you need, from inserting expense and income items, to having all the financial overviews you need. So, you will have an expense tracker, income tracker and P&L dashboards combined! Save now! Franky Template Design has extended a special coupon to our readers! Click here for a discount on this product.
CLICK HERE to view this item in Etsy : Natalie Rebecca Prints
Now you can use it to help you meet your financial goals, too. Designed especially for your favorite planner, these inserts are printed on premium paper ensuring that they will hold up to daily use. These pages are perfectly sized for your planner and come already punched.
Tracking your Etsy Expenses Online
We could not complete this article without talking about tracking your budget with a little online help. While these wonderful budget apps help you balance your books they can also connect to your bank account and help you rapidly sort out each expense by category.
QuickBooks Self-Employed
CLICK HERE to view Using QuickBooks Self-Employed
Etsy tells us that Sellers in the United States and United Kingdom can integrate all of their shop’s financials directly into QuickBooks Self-Employed. Sellers in the United States also have access to TurboTax.
“At the time of this post I have used Quickbooks Self-Employed for one month. I am paying my Etsy taxes quarterly. I do love how this program tells me exactly how much is due in taxes each quarter based on my tracked expenses. I also like that this program tracks my car mileage for potential deductions.” Etsy Seller Lisa Home By Liv
EveryDollar by Dave Ramsey
EveryDollar
Everydollar tells us budgeting should be easy and—dare we say it—FUN! Focus your money on what matters: day-to-day spending, knocking out those pesky debts, and building wealth.
Create a Monthly Expense Report Within Etsy
Not many sellers utilize the income reports offered up on Etsy. Any seller on Etsy can generate reports showing all income of their shop sales. These downloadable CSV files are so very helpful to determine your profit and loss each month. Below you will find how to create these reports for your shop in just a few clicks.
How To Download a Spreadsheet Of Your Etsy Transactions
- Click on Shop Manager and choose Finance
- Go to Payment account and scroll to the bottom
- Click See all monthly statements
- Click on the month you wish to run the report on
- Click on Download CSV
Meredith of Etsy shop Personalized Today utilizes Etsy’s own CSV reports. She reminds us that downloading monthly CSV is available in your finance section of Etsy.
” I use the payment account option to look at my monthly statements and see a breakdown of the fees that ETSY is currently charging for my items. It also has a recent activities section which lets me see income and expenses for my ETSY account on a transactional basis.”
In Conclusion
Tracking your expenses is not as complicated as you many think. Tax time does not need to be stressful. Assess which expenses need to be tracked, and then find a method that works best for you. Before you know it you will be on your way to financial happiness. When your tax consultant asks for your records you can say to yourself ” I GOT THIS!”