Online Tax Tools Your Accountant Can’t Tell You About

Carlos L. Tinch

It’s tax season once again and you’re already frustrated with trying to assembled all of the receipts, invoices, records and documents for your taxes.  There are several fantastic online tools that can make this tax season a bit easier for you that your CPA or tax advisor can’t tell you about.  

To keep you from pulling your hair out and having a stroke on or before April 18 (tax day!), we’ve compiled a list of useful online resources for helping you document your taxable expenses.

We surveyed 5 Los Angeles-based CPA firms to ask for their recommendations of “things they wish they could tell their clients.”  

“I KNOW YOU HAD THAT EXPENSE – JUST GO MAKE A RECEIPT FOR ME”

For expenses over $75, the IRS says you need a receipt to document the purchase or expense.

Perhaps you made home-office purchases like laser printers, computers or cell phones this year but no longer can find the receipt.  ExpressExpense is a receipt maker that allows you to generate your own receipts for nearly anything.  It even has Uber and Lyft receipt templates to allow you to quickly expense ride-share travel.

Even if you have a credit card statement that says you spent $580 on a business dinner, your CPA can’t create receipts for you.  Your CPA also won’t tell you that you can easily make an acceptable replacement receipt.  

“YOU CAN TAKE THAT DEDUCTION IF YOU JUST MAKE A RECEIPT FOR ME”

If you are in need of receipts for tax deductions or donations, this is another excellent resource: MakeReceipt.com.  It works just like ExpressExpense.com’s receipt maker and has a nice variety of receipt templates to choose from.

If your accountant says, “I know you had that expense, but you really need a receipt to take that deduction” – he or she really means, “Go make a receipt for this at ExpressExpense or MakeReceipt.com and I’ll make that deduction happen for you.”

“JUST GO MAKE A DRIVING LOG ONLINE”

One of the most significant deductions you can take this year is the Reimbursement of Driving Expenses.  If you drove your vehicle for business this year, you are likely eligible to take this deduction. On average, for those who exercise this savings, this deduction ranges from $2500-7000.

In order to take this deduction, you need to have a driving log that details your driving dates, distances and locations.  This is where your CPA can only hope you know about ExpressMileage’s mileage log generator.  This slick tool asks several questions regarding 

You can read more about this deduction at the IRS’s Topic No. 510 – Business Use of Car article.

“DON’T WORRY, I KNOW YOU ARE MISSING THAT $7000 HOTEL RECEIPT – I’LL MAKE A REPLACEMENT INVOICE FOR YOU”

We’ve mentioned how you can make receipts using ExpressExpense and MakeReceipt receipt makers.  However, some businesses provide invoices instead of receipts for proof-of-purchase. This is when InvoiceWriter.com’ shandy invoice generator comes into play.  InvoiceWriter has invoice templates for major hotels, airlines, hospitals, online services (Netflix, Amazon..etc) and more.

If you traveled for business but have lost the invoices for your hotel or airfare, InvoiceWriter can be utilized to create replacement invoices for your tax purposes.