For Sole Proprietor Businesses, you’ll need to bring all of your personal documents(find that list here), as well as documentation for your business income and expenses. We do not require receipts, but you will want to keep those on file. You will need to provide a list of income and expenses for the year broken down into categories. We’ve included a general category list from the IRS below. Some may not apply, and you may find that you have some things that do not fit these categories.
A hand written list, spreadsheet, or profit and loss from a program like Quickbooks all work just fine.
- Income/Sales
- Cost of Goods Sold
- Advertising
- Contract Labor
- Insurance
- Loan Interest
- Legal/Professional Fees
- Office expenses
- Property/Building Rent
- Equipment Rent
- Repairs and Maintenance
- Supplies
- Taxes & Licenses
- Travel
- Meals(there are special rules surrounding meals, so these may need to be broken down further)
- Utilities
In addition to these expense categories, you’ll also want to include:
- Major Equipment/Asset Information- For each item: date placed in service, cost, description
- Mileage
- Home Office(exclusive use)- sq. ft. of Office; Total sq. ft. of Home
Any expenses that fall outside of these, just categorize yourself and include with the others. Common categories that are not included are:
- postage
- shipping
- disposal
- education
- safety gear
There are other forms and documents that we may require, but this should cover what most small businesses will need. If you have any questions, please feel free to call us at 217-774-4913, email us at info@gaddisagency.com, or send us a message on facebook.