Receipts for self-employed and 1099 work

Who this is for

This is for a person who works for themselves, a contractor who is paid by the job, and a shop or trade that still gets a paper slip. You might have one client who sends a 1099 and a stack of receipts that never made it into a folder. The ledger is the folder. Each line is one cost, with the image attached. If you have employees who also spend, they can have their own accounts. Their receipts stay on their books.

Keep the slip and the numbers together

A list with no image is hard to explain in April. A camera roll with no dates is hard to add up. Put both on the same line: the photo or PDF, the date printed on the slip, the vendor, the amount you paid, and the tax if the slip shows it. Use the slip's date. Photograph it while the print is dark. Thermal paper goes blank, and a blank slip cannot be reconstructed from memory.

Amount is what you paid. Tax sits beside it so a report can total tax without adding it on top of the expense again. If you are unsure which figure is the total, look at the paper and put the figure you actually paid in amount. Category names start as Travel, Meals, Office, Supplies, Software, Utilities, Fuel, Lodging, Services, and Other. Rename them in Settings if your preparer uses different words. A consistent name all year is more useful than a perfect name you only apply at the end.

Separate the job from personal spending

Personal spending mixed into the same pile is how a year-end folder gets noisy. If a line is not for the work, leave it out, or say so in the notes so you can filter before you export. The software will not know which lunch was personal. Write the client or the project on the line when the cost belongs to one job. Search can find that project later, which matters when one client asks for their costs and the rest of the year is someone else's.

A year you can hand to a preparer

On Reports, set the dates to the year or the quarter they asked about. Group by category when they want totals, or by vendor when they want to see who you paid. The page totals the amount and the tax for that range. Widen the dates if a month looks empty and you suspect you filed the slip under the wrong date. Download Excel, CSV, or an accountant packet. CSV uses the delimiter in Settings: comma, semicolon, tab, or pipe. The packet is the CSV plus the images, named with the date and the vendor.

You send that file. You do not have to give the preparer your password. The rest of the ledger stays in your account unless those dates are in the export. If a number is questioned, open the original from the line. If a rule is questioned, that question is for the preparer. ReceiptGrid does not file a return, calculate what you owe, or tell you that a meal is deductible.

A week that keeps April shorter

• The day you spend: photograph the slip and check vendor, date, amount, and tax.
• Name the client or project when the cost belongs to one job.
• Leave personal costs out, or mark them in the notes.
• Once a month: run the report and see whether a category is empty because you forgot to file.
• When they ask: export that year and send the file.

What a 1099 does not replace

A form that reports income is not a receipt for a cost. Keep the income question with your preparer. Keep the cost records here if you want the slips in one ledger: the image, the date, the vendor, the amount, and the tax. Do not invent a category to make a personal cost look like work. Do not post the same slip twice. When a new line looks like one you already accepted, ReceiptGrid warns you and waits. You can still add it when it really is a second purchase.

Price

The account starts as a trial. After that, monthly and yearly are the same product, billed on different schedules. The amounts are on the pricing page. No card is required to create the account. Both plans include the ledger, the reports, and the exports described on this page.

Day-to-day capture is covered in receipt tracking for a small business. A folder aimed at a preparer is covered in organizing receipts for taxes. A workbook of the rows is covered in receipt to Excel or CSV. Prices are on Pricing.

Questions

Does ReceiptGrid file a 1099 or a tax return?

No. It keeps the receipts you record. Your preparer decides what is deductible. It does not file a return and it does not file a 1099.

What should I save on each slip?

The image, the date printed on the slip, the vendor, the amount you paid, and the tax if the slip shows a tax line. Add the client or project when the cost belongs to one job.

Can I give my preparer a login?

You do not have to. Download the date range and send the file. They see those lines, not the rest of the account, and they do not get your password.