How do you manage and organize all your receipts

[toni8284]

Hi,

 

I have a stupid question. 

 

How do you manage and organize your receipts?

 

 

Stores from Target, TRU, LEGO Shop at Home, Walmart, Kmart.

 

Store receipt and online receipt are different size.

 

Do you organize by date, by store?

 

and where do you store them at?

 

What I am doing is use the minifig box (60 count box) for store TRU, LEGO store receipt.

 

online receipt in some blinder.

 

 

[justafrog]

By date, and monthly they get filed in a large envelope (or two or three...) after transferring the information on them to my main income/expense spreadsheet.

[Doofy McGee]

I more or less fashioned a "filing cabinet" out of a thick cardboard box that is just the right width to support hanging file folders.  I just alphabetize the folders by store name.  I do this instead of an actual filing cabinet because they are large and take up space unnecessarily.  The smallish box I am using (20" x 12") is more than enough room to keep everything organized for a whole year or beyond.

 

The key is to do your best to always enter everything into your spreadsheet (or whatever you use) as soon and as often as possible.  That way you are not always going back and trying to play catchup.  Every time you enter a new piece of paperwork into a folder, always put the newest ones in the front or back or whatever you prefer.  As long as you always put them on the same end, they are staying in order chronologically.

 

Hopefully this is helpful. 

[Guest TabbyBoy]

I scan mine into a PDF file and store on iCloud (in case of fire which HMRC don't accept as an excuse!), store the originals in envelopes in date order and place in a locked cabinet.  Just keep records before the tax authorities tear you apart and relieve you of all that hard earned income in fines, etc.

 

The vast majority of receipts by a long way are those from the post office which also need to be kept safe as actual postage often differs from what eBay displays.

 

I fill a shoebox every 3 months!

[Guest betsy805]

I use an expandable folder.  One pocket holds LEGO receipts, one holds shipping label receipts, another holds 'other' receipts like bubble wrap and ink cartridges.  Empty it at the end of the month, staple, and put in a large envelope.  

[toni8284]

i want to scan the receipt, but how to scan the long TRU receipt for like 60 minifigs?

[jeff_14]

I use the circular file.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

I use the circular file.

 

I'd love to and will in 6yrs time as we have to keep records that long.

[markjennifer08]

I basically use a expense reporting tool that manage the recipts scanning, expense tracking, billing, invoicing and reporting as well. Its a product from Replicon. For more details check here - http://www.replicon.com/olp/expense-reports.aspx

[Spartikis]

small enough it all fits in a shoe box

[theegypt]

I have an excell spreadsheet that mirrors my brickfolio.  Then I also have two folders, inventory, and sets sold.  The inventory folder has folders within that are organized by theme, and then set number and name.  ex. folder for haunted house 1, haunted house 2, etc.  within each set folder, I have a digital copy of the receipt, either a picture of the actual receipt, or the onlne receipt from amazon, etc., or both.  Then I just keep all my physical receipts unorganized in a big folder.  So pretty much I am all digital.  Then I transfer the folders from inventory to sold as the sell (and include a copy of the payment from paypal in pdf format).  I also have a main excel spreadsheet that calculates net profit from everything I sell, which I then transfer to my lego spreadsheet.  Simple!!

[exciter1]

small enough it all fits in a shoe box

 

I'm bad and just throw all the receipts in a box.  I keep multiple copies of my Brickfolio, which track the date purchased and where I purchased them from, if I ever have to look them up.  I do keep a spreadsheet with the costs of everything, date of sale, shipping, PayPal, EBay, profit, percentage of profit per transaction, total profit, etc.  I just use the spreadsheet as the main source for taxes.  I hope I never have to go digging through the box of receipts.  I don't have physical receipts for everything, since many items are purchased online.

 

Someday, when the Brickfolio has the feature to put sales information in there, I won't have to worry about deleting items out of the Brickfolio after a sale and keeping a separate spreadsheet, unless I still need to for shipping, Ebay, PayPal, etc.

[Spartikis]

I'm bad and just throw all the receipts in a box.  I keep multiple copies of my Brickfolio, which track the date purchased and where I purchased them from, if I ever have to look them up.  I do keep a spreadsheet with the costs of everything, date of sale, shipping, PayPal, EBay, profit, percentage of profit per transaction, total profit, etc.  I just use the spreadsheet as the main source for taxes.  I hope I never have to go digging through the box of receipts.  I don't have physical receipts for everything, since many items are purchased online.

 

Someday, when the Brickfolio has the feature to put sales information in there, I won't have to worry about deleting items out of the Brickfolio after a sale and keeping a separate spreadsheet, unless I still need to for shipping, Ebay, PayPal, etc.

 

In the 5 years ive been selling legos ive only had to dig through the box one time, it was for a shipping reciept for a tracking number. not worth the hassle of keeping it organized for the rare chance you actually need the info, plus usually when you need to look something up it was more recent so its on the top of the stack anyways.

[matrosov]

I scan them and throw them away next day.  HD gets backed up twice a day to offsite storage and once a week to another HD.  I can't stand digging thru paper copies. All online purchases I just convert to PDF and store it in the same folder. Files get named with store name date and item purchased.

[Guest TabbyBoy]

I scan them and throw them away next day.  HD gets backed up twice a day to offsite storage and once a week to another HD.  I can't stand digging thru paper copies. All online purchases I just convert to PDF and store it in the same folder. Files get named with store name date and item purchased.

 

If you are audited by the UK tax authorities (HMRC) they don't always accept scans only originals.  Since most original shop receipts are printed on thermal paper these days, they do fade in time if not kept in a dark place and it's a good habit to scan as a backup.

[seapotato]

i just put everything into an envelope. but i do keep track of what i spend/sell in excel.

[justgod]

i want to scan the receipt, but how to scan the long TRU receipt for like 60 minifigs?

TRU is one of the easier ones. I just save the e-mails they send me every time I make a purchase using my R card. Makes it so easy.

[graffiti600rr]

We bought our accountant the Neat scanner (big one) and it scans anything. IT then stores the receipts in the folders that you preset. You may want to try one of those. I take a pic with my phone and push them to Dropbox.

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

We bought our accountant the Neat scanner (big one) and it scans anything. IT then stores the receipts in the folders that you preset. You may want to try one of those. I take a pic with my phone and push them to Dropbox.

 

I am considering getting one of those. I noticed a bunch of my receipts from places like food places and malls where I bought supplies are cheap and they just completely faded away.

 

I have been told by a couple of people that tax people wont care about the originals in the US if you have it in your records somewhere - spreadsheet or whatever else. But I still feel weird not having them.

 

Of course, on Craigslist you don't have receipts and a decent amount of stuff has come from there as well.

[matrosov]

I don't know about "records somewhere" but e-receipts and scanned receipts are perfectly legit. Revenue proclamation 97-22.  That means basically that copy of your Lego S&**** order amazon order scanned pdf of TRU, Target receipt must accompany your spreadsheet that is if you get audited of course.  Your accountant can't care less if you give him copies or not he is under assumption that you're acting in good faith and give him substantially all records that he is asking for.  He is not a cop  and doesn't enforce the law, he is getting paid to minimize your tax liability .

 

But in short electronic form of receipt is perfectly legit as long as it substantially resembles the original. 

[@rtisan]

I`ll admit, I haven`t done nearly as well in this respect as I`d have liked. When I started buying things over a year ago now, most of my physical receipts went out the window. Didn`t think to hang onto them. Well, that continued up until Aug/Sept last year when it clued in that those should probably be hung onto as well. Doh! Main thing is that most of what has been ordered/purchased is in my excel sheet, but having the physical paper would have been a good idea. Lesson learned, and I`ll be hanging onto them in the future. 

[matrosov]

Never admit any wrong doing on the public internet forum. Big brother is watching even though he might not care this particular moment he might care day after tomorrow.  Getting my tinfoil hat now.  

[imirish11]

We only needed to provide cc and bank statement to the IRS when being audited. They did not ask for receipts, and I did not volunteer them, nor let them know I had physical receipts. It was advised only provide what they asked for, and never volunteer more info than is requested by the agent. I had them ready if requested, but it turned out statements were suffice.

[jaisonline]

It is nice buying online and all stores have order histories. Same for selling if using PayPal,

As already stated by many, I save the in-person purchased receipts in a heavy duty folder and also keep track using my spreadsheet, it's a pain in the arse but I'm covered. Do the same for expenses if you're able to write-off items.

[@rtisan]

It is nice buying online and all stores have order histories. Same for selling if using PayPal,

That`s true. I`d say I have about 95% of my investments are properly stored on excel, with a few missing, and I`ve taken each online order and saved copies of the invoices. I haven`t sold anything Lego online in over a couple of years, just locally since, and don`t plan to do so until my records, investment market values, actually money invested, taxes, etc. are properly accounted for. Everyone take note, you don`t want to get caught trying to skip out on taxes. The right thing to do is pay them, just like (most) everyone else, and certainly like everyone who is legit and honest. If you buy mostly for yourself, and really don`t plan on selling, not as big a deal, but if you are in this to make money, pay extra attention to the details. 

 

Never admit any wrong doing on the public internet forum. Big brother is watching even though he might not care this particular moment he might care day after tomorrow.  Getting my tinfoil hat now.  

 

That`s true. If you haven`t sold anything though, you have nothing to worry about.