Guides
Guides for people doing their own books
Plain-English guides to bookkeeping, taxes and paying yourself. No jargon, no 3,000-word preambles.
Getting your books done
Catch-up bookkeeping
Behind on bookkeeping? A practical guide to catching up months or years of books from bank statements, what to gather, what order to work in, and what it costs..
ReadBookkeeping from bank statements
Bank statements are the cleanest source for small business books.
ReadTax-ready books
Tax-ready books are complete, reconciled, categorized and documented.
ReadDIY bookkeeping
A step-by-step monthly routine for doing your own bookkeeping in under an hour, what to gather, what to check, and where software does the work..
ReadYear-end checklist
A year-end bookkeeping checklist: fill coverage gaps, reconcile, review categories, collect W-9s, record mileage and home office, export for your preparer, and the January deadlines..
ReadWhat is AI bookkeeping
AI bookkeeping explained: how document AI reads statements, how categorization models assign categories with confidence, what humans still do, and how it is priced..
ReadChatGPT bookkeeping
What ChatGPT and general AI chatbots can and cannot do for bookkeeping, the risks of pasting statements into a chatbot, and what purpose-built AI bookkeeping does differently..
ReadBest AI bookkeeping software
AI bookkeeping software compared for small business in 2026: ProfitBooks, Kick, Digits, Puzzle, Finta, Jupid, Wave Pro and Xero.
ReadCategories and reports
Schedule C categories
Every expense line on IRS Schedule C (Form 1040) explained in plain English, with examples of what goes where, the lines people get wrong, and how bookkeeping categories map to them..
ReadChart of accounts
A chart of accounts is the list of categories your books use.
ReadCategorizing expenses
A practical guide to categorizing business expenses: the rules, the common gray areas (meals, home office, mixed-use phone, equipment), and how AI categorization with confidence scores works..
ReadBank reconciliation
What bank reconciliation is, why it matters, how to do it by hand, and how statement-based bookkeeping reconciles automatically..
ReadP&L explained
What each section of a profit and loss statement means, how to read gross margin and net profit, and the questions a P&L should answer for a small business owner..
ReadBalance sheet explained
What a balance sheet shows, why it matters even for a Schedule C business, and how to read assets, liabilities and equity in plain English..
ReadCash vs accrual
The difference between cash and accrual accounting, who can use cash basis, why most small businesses should, and how invoices and bills fit into cash-basis books..
ReadStatement to Excel
Three ways to convert a PDF bank statement to Excel or CSV: copy and paste, your bank's export, and AI extraction that also categorizes every line..
ReadTaxes and deductions
Quarterly taxes
Who has to pay quarterly estimated taxes, the 2026 due dates, how to calculate the amount, the safe harbor rule, and how to pay the IRS..
Read1099-NEC
Who gets a 1099-NEC, the $600 threshold, the January 31 deadline, what you need from each contractor, and how to pull vendor totals from your books..
ReadHome office
Who qualifies for the home office deduction, the exclusive-use test, the simplified $5 per square foot method versus actual expenses, and how to record it..
ReadVehicle deduction
How to deduct business use of a vehicle: the 2026 standard mileage rates (72.5 and 76 cents), actual expense method, record-keeping requirements, and which method to choose..
ReadMeals deduction
What business meals are deductible, the 50% limit, the difference between meals and entertainment, travel meals and per diem, and the records you need..
ReadRecord retention
IRS record retention rules for small businesses: three years, six years, seven years and forever, by document type, and how digital copies satisfy the requirement..
ReadSales tax basics
When you have to collect sales tax, nexus and marketplace facilitator rules, how to record sales tax collected, and why it is a liability rather than revenue..
ReadEntities and paying yourself
Bookkeeping for LLCs
How LLC bookkeeping differs by tax treatment: single-member (Schedule C), multi-member (partnership) and S corp election, plus the records every LLC needs to protect liability protection..
ReadS corp bookkeeping
How to keep books for an S corporation: reasonable salary through payroll, distributions, officer health insurance, the accountable plan, and the balance sheet items that matter..
ReadOwner draw vs salary
How owners pay themselves by entity type: draws for sole proprietors and LLCs, salary plus distributions for S corps, and how each is recorded in the books..
ReadSeparate finances
Why mixing business and personal money costs you at tax time, how to separate them in an afternoon, and how to clean up a year of mixed transactions..
ReadBookkeeping vs accounting
The difference between bookkeeping and accounting, what a bookkeeper, an accountant and a CPA each do, and what a small business actually needs to buy..
ReadBookkeeper cost
Bookkeeper costs in 2026: hourly rates, monthly packages, online services like Bench and Pilot, and what AI bookkeeping costs instead..
ReadPlatforms and payouts
Stripe, PayPal, Square
How to record payment processor activity correctly: gross sales, fees, refunds and the net payout, why the bank deposit is not your revenue, and how to import processor exports..
ReadAmazon, Etsy, Shopify payouts
How marketplace settlements work, why gross sales, fees, refunds and advertising must be separated, and how to import Amazon settlement reports, Etsy payment CSVs and Shopify payout exports..
ReadYour books, done tonight.
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