Tax Time: 5 Books and Apps for Small Business Owners

Accounting and tax operations are an integral part of any business. No business can work without managing invoices, bookkeeping, and filing taxes. Especially as the tax season is upon us, the small business owners need to be updated with the tax and accounting notions.

For this, books are a valuable resource to attain knowledge on the current changes in the accounting industry as well as best practices. Moreover, in this digital world, applications help small business owners in organizing their accounting and tax process.

Let us see some popular books and apps that can prove beneficial for small business owners in this tax season.

Books

Books are always a great help when it comes to learning new things on your own. But with so many accounting books in the market, it becomes difficult to choose one. Thus, here is a list of 5 books that can help you in understanding the basic accounting and tax terms, improving the process for your small business.

1. Accounting Made Simple- Accounting Explained in 100 Pages or Less

Author- Mike Piper

For someone just starting a business, this book explains all the basic concepts of accounting, such as three types of financial statements, accounting equation and its significance, interpretation of financial ratios, and accounting principles followed by all public companies (also called GAAP). This book has easy to understand language for non-accountants and doesn’t contain accounting jargons that can be hard to understand for a novice.

Goodreads Rating- 3.9/5

2. 475 Tax Deductions for Businesses and Self-Employed Individuals: An A-to-Z Guide to Hundreds of Tax Write-offs

Author- Bernard Kamoroff

For small business owners, it generally becomes confusing to identify the areas where tax deductions would be applicable. And, if you miss a deduction, IRS will not tell you about it. This book provides many useful tips and explains various tax deductions that will help you save a lot of money.

Goodreads Rating- 4.2/5

3. The Tax and Legal Playbook: Game-Changing Solutions to Your Small-Business Questions

Author- Mark J. Kohler

In this book, Mark J. Kohler (CPA and attorney) addresses the most asked questions by small businesses related to legal and tax, in an interactive and easy-to-read language. The reader can get precise and specific solutions to their business problems. The book covers the nitty-gritty of business-related decision making, common legal scams to avoid, methods to pick the right legal representation for your business, and underutilized tax strategies that can save thousands.

Goodreads rating- 4.16/5

4. Small Time Operator: How to Start Your Own Business, Keep Your Books, Pay Your Taxes, And Stay Out of Trouble

Author- Bernard B. Kamoroff

This book is written in a conversational style to help you understand the basics of accounting in an entertaining way. The book assists you in managing the accounting processes when you start a business. It covers topics such as how to get financing for your business, creating and using a business plan, federal and state taxes, and dealing with IRS.

Goodreads Rating- 3.95/5

5. Accounting for Small Business Owners

Author- Tycho Press

This book explains all the necessary accounting terms along with sample accounting statements to help you set up a strong accounting for your small business. The book provides a plethora of handy tips to assist you in managing accounting processes smoothly. It also gives information on how you can manage inventory and sell your product or services.

Goodreads rating- 3.77/5

Apps

Smartphones have become a necessity of our lives, and we are majorly dependent on apps for our daily tasks. So, why not ease out managing a small business with some of the apps. Let’s talk about apps that can be used even on your smartphones to file your tax returns, organize accounting data, or track expenses.

1. QuickBooks Self-Employed

QuickBooks Self-Employed app helps small business owners to keep track of business income and expenditures all year long. You can categorize and organize your accounting data and files to avoid chaos during tax filing.

With QB Self-Employed app, individuals can automatically track mileage with GPS, create and send invoices on the go, import business expenses directly from the bank account, and much more. It also helps in finding tax deductions for your business during the tax season.

This app is available for free for both iPhone and Android users.

2. Bill.com

Bill.com is a business payments app useful for companies of all sizes. Small business owners can easily track and manage accounting processes. It allows business owners to receive and make payments, send invoices, approve bills on the go without handwritten signatures when away from the office. Users can also automate their accounts payable and accounts receivable to optimize time with 2x faster processes.

This app is available for both iPhone and Android users.

3. IRS2Go

IRS2Go is the official mobile app of the IRS for small business owners and entrepreneurs to get verified and expert tax advice from an authorized source. Individuals can make the payment of any taxes, track of federal income tax refund status, and get free in-person tax preparation assistance from a local IRS volunteer. Moreover, you can request for your tax return information and account transcripts directly through the app.

This app is available for free for both iPhone and Android users.

4. Expensify

Expensify automatically transcribes the details from all the receipts you upload on the app for the seamless management of expenses. It categorizes and codes each receipt that makes tracking easier. Expensify allows automatic submission of your and employees’ business expenses for approval and reimbursement directly from the app. It can also track employee mileage through GPS tracking.

This app is available for free for both iPhone and Android users.

5. inDinero

inDinero app helps small businesses to manage a variety of accounting tasks such as viewing, tracking, updating, and commenting on the up-to-date to-do list of requested items, reviewing flagged transactions, and creating new bills.

You can use the app on both smartphones and desktops. With this app, users can view their financial information in the form of graphs and charts.

This app is available for free for both iPhone and Android users, but you need to get an invite first to access the app.

Wrapping Up

These were some of the best books and apps to help you optimize time in managing accounting processes, and make the most of the tax deductions when you file your taxes. However, there are many other books and apps in the market you can go for.

Know of any such book or app? Give us your suggestions in the comment section below.