I’m just getting started, and yes, I do need to watch/read some training. Any suggestions appreciated. But I’m doing some initial setup, and would like to set up a structure that I won’t have to re-work down the line.
I’ve got multiple businesses listed on my tax return via schedule C:
music teacher/performer
operate a couple of rental properties
a small printing business
It’s unclear if I should to bring all the related bank accounts for these businesses into my main spreadsheet. Should I?
As it stands, I’m only using a single credit card for business and personal. If I use multiple spreadsheets, wouldn’t I need to import that same credit card to each?
If I opt for a single spreadsheet; would it be simple enough to use tags for my transactions, to group them into my various business activities?
If I use the “tagging” approach, would I be able to print income/expense reports sorted that isolate each business, so that I have reports to hand to my accountant at year end?
Is what I’m wanting to do, too complicated to manage in Tiller and/or would I be better off in another accounting solution? Any assistance appreciated!
Tagging could work for this. I personally make different businesses different groups so I can divide them further by category within the group. Both approaches allow you to sort for that specific business but I find pulling reports is easier when grouped then categorized to label costs. (Either approach can produce the report you want for your accountant)
With multiple spreadsheets, you would need to import the same credit card to each one and then clean up the data that is not relevant to the individual spreadsheets. Depending on the number of credit card transactions, this could turn into a lot of extra work.
Tagging is very powerful within Tiller. There are Transaction Tags and Category Tags. If you assign a Category Tag of “Tax” (on the Categories sheet), there is a Category Rollup Report in Tiller Community Solutions that will use that information. With Transaction Tags, you can also assign multiple tags separated by commas (no spaces after the comma).
I would suggest starting with one spreadsheet and create Categories for each business and tagging those Categories with “Tax” and see if the Rollup Report would work for your accountant.
If you search for Categories and Sub-Categories in this community, you will find more help and ideas of how other people have tackled this challenge.
Hi, thanks for this reply!
I’m not sure what you mean by category tags; how are they different than transaction tags?
My first effort is to begin appending categories to the standard list, using a feature to add a tags column to the transaction sheet and then adding tags to the AutoCat sheet so that they will be automatically added to the relevant transactions.
The tags rollup report seems to be working, I’m category tag totals as well as category details for two different businesses.
In summary I’ve got a “music” tag and a “real estate” tag so far. Is this different than the category tag “tax” you are suggesting?
If you go to the Categories Sheet, you will see columns for Category, Group, Type, Tags, Hide From Reports, and then many Budget Months/Years.
If you don’t see Tags here, it may be a hidden column. This is where you would put Tax and then use it with the Category Rollup Report. It is Column D on my Categories sheet.
Why this works, I don’t know - this was a Tiller “feature” I stumbled upon when trying to do some tax related reports. Maybe someone like @heather might want to try to explain the difference between a Transaction Tag and a Category Tag.
For instance, I have a Category called Medical that has a Tax Tag on the categories sheet. Then I have transactions that use the Medical category and I use a Transactions tag called HSA Eligible if it qualifies for that.
Glad you have found some of this helpful (and just a little confusing).