Hi,
So I’ve just set up QuickFile. I’ve started by uploading my back statement for the last month and need to tag the transactions.
Am I right in thinking that every expense needs to have a supplier set up?
I’m a sole-trader, I just need a quick way to record my expenses, what’s the best way to go about this?
There are quick ways, and correct ways, its always best to follow the way in which its easier for HMRC to understand what your purchases are. for example, if i recorded every materials purchase as just materials, then it will take forever for an HMRC enquiry to match up each record with a supplier. But if i create suppliers they can see, that Homebase was for that record, Tradepoint was for another, and it would be a quicker enquiry to match up receipts with transactions.
The quickest and easist way, would be to use the purchase import tool, that way you can list, the date, supplier name, description, and total cost on each line, and quickfile will create the supplier for you if one doesnt already exist.
Then you just need to tag each transaction to the matching purchase from the import.
Thanks for the response.
I’m coming from Wave accounting, and I’m trying out Bokio at the same time, and in these systems it’s quite quick to record transactions.
To be honest, I see no reason why I should spend ages doing HMRC’s job for them. I just want to be able to say “computer software”, “office equipment”, “hosting expense” etc quickly for each transaction then done. It would take me a long time to compile a list of all the expenses with supplier names dates etc… All work that could be avoided in my book.
So is there a way to accomplish this from my bank statement without having to do any additional data entry?
Another thing is I have a lot of one-off purchases from Ebay and the like, I’d end up having to enter hundreds of suppliers.
With regards to ebay, i don’t really list separate suppliers, i just have one and call it ebay, the expense description in this case for me is enough.
But you could apply the same principle to everything else, just create suppliers called Computer software, office equipment etc.
then when you click tag me on the transaction, select payment to supplier, and create invoice. At that point you can select the supplier you created and match it with the expense category you want it to be placed in.
A couple of points to note with regarding the above though.
If you do it this way, invoices will be dated the same day as the bank transaction, which in reality is usually a day or two different. If you operate under the cash basis for when completing your self assessment this method is fine, however if you use the accrual method, then it will be slightly wrong as those invoices closest to your year end, will likely be missed out, because the payment may have been made a day or two after the actual invoice was received.
You could theoretically just lump every purchase under a single generic supplier, no different to MTD bridging module method in a way. Doing this does mean you have to keep a record somewhere else though. If you use Quickfile properly then you would upload receipts and invoices to the receipt hub and tag all purchases to the relevant suppliers and this would be your record. The paper copies can just be chucked in a box for archive purposes.
I use a combination of both, most suppliers have their own supplier account (trivial job of just creating them on the fly). The only exception are random suppliers I will probably use only once, like ebay merchants or random online purchases. For these I have specific miscellaneous accounts for materials, stationery, vehicle etc. This also means you can set the relevant default categories for these rather than having to set every single purchase manually.
Thank you both, that is very helpful!
I’ll probably do as Paul suggests, I do my self assessment on cash basis so can’t see any problem doing it that way. As you say Paul, the expense description is enough for me as well.
I suppose I don’t really have any “suppliers”, at least not regular ones because I’m not selling physical products (audio engineering services is what I do, and the occasional bit of wordpress design/development, as a sole trader) so the whole idea of this didn’t really make sense to me at first. but using multiple or a single generic “supplier” does!
Thanks very much for helping me get my head around this. Clearly the word “supplier” was causing me to have mental blockages. It’s always the nomenclature that I find the most confusing thing about accounting…
That gets a few people that, and “invoices”. Whether you issue them or not doesn’t matter, you still need them to track things behind the scenes.
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