Business savy??? Question

[LaRue Medlin]

This may be stupid but,,,, I have to order new invoices for my company... ok,,,, I have used 2 part invoices before, but then ordered 3 part (now using) .... Here is my question,,, using the 3 part invoice gives me the convienence of an extra dupicate copy if needed.... I have only needed that 3rd copy 3-4 times in the past couple of years. Using 2 part invoices will save me about 20$ on the new order. "Common sense" would tell me just get 2 part.... What are your thoughts???:smack:



Here is a LINK for my invoice. How can I convert this to excel or a database? I have MS office 03. All the templates I find are for ms 07 and above.

 

[Jacob Dryer]

Did those 3-4 times save you more than $20? or more than $20 worth of time?

 

[Kevin Palmer]

I agree, for 20 bucks, I would rather not deal with losing an hour of my time...

 

[Bill V]

LaRue, what are the two copies used for? One for the customer, one for you? And the third one is then your "in case I lose my first copy" copy?



If so--any chance of simply automating the system, storing your records electronically, and going to a single copy invoice for the customer? Or even going paperless for most customers, having paper only for the rapidly-diminishing group of technophobes who are unable to handle e-invoicing?



Granted, this is far more than the $20 two-vs-three question you originally asked--but it would seem worth considering...

 

[LaRue Medlin]

LaRue, what are the two copies used for? One for the customer, one for you? And the third one is then your "in case I lose my first copy" copy?

yep, that's basicly it....

chance of simply automating the system, storing your records electronically, and going to a single copy invoice for the customer

Bill,, I tried pc generated invoices 6 years back. But it's pain to carry a printer/paper and power supply in the truck and then having to boot my laptop and type in a bunch of stuff fo each invoice. It was nice, but more than just a pain...





I know 20$ isn't much,, but right now it is....

 

[Bob McDonald]

You might also consider getting a scanner and just using 2copy invoices. Then, in the evening, scan you copy of the invoices you used that day. This way, you would have an image copy of all your invoices in case you happen to lose one of your copies.

 

[Todd Z]

I was gonna suggest what bob said.......



A scanner is dirt cheep and can scan to PDF.......



Todd Z

 

[Wes Davis]

I have one piece of advice. Do not get the duplicates that are off colored. You know, the ones that are usually white original then a blue and then a yellow or maybe even a pink. Only use all whites. The reason is those stupid colored copies can not be faxed or photo copied if the need arises. As an insurance adjuster I collect receipts for repairs from every homeowner and those stupid colored duplicates cause me hours of aggravation.

 

[Bill Barber]

last locksmith I used generated very few invoices.

deal was, I will open your wifes car so you can get the keys she locked in said car for $40.00 cash or $65.00 if you require an invoice.

40 bux worked for me

 

[Richard L]

Bill Barber,

The IRS frowns upon doing business that way, and will want to scrutinize your records more closely if they find you have been doing undocumented work.



LaRue,

I would go with the 2 copies and scan all my invoice copies into a computer and be sure it's backed up. There is some really good Document Management Software out there that makes it really easy to scan and file documents, as well as locate specific documents. If you set up your document system properly, you can find any document within seconds. Once you get the electronic copies, you can trash the hard copies. Not taking up space storing that paper alone is a money saver.



I ran my LeverLift company using "PaperPort" software. That allowed me to transfer orders from emails, PayPal, and orders mailed to me into the document system. PaperPort also has an electronic sticky-note feature that allows you to attach a note to the order/invoice. I used it to put the Shipment tracking numbers, ship date, etc. You can print the documents with or without the sticky-notes. They can store documents as PDF's, or various image files.



...Rich

 

[Bill Barber]

Richard L

Thats the American way these days,especially by the crooks that run this country.

cash has no paper trail and no records.

Am certain you would have paid the 65 bux for an invoice just to keep things sqweeky clean.

 

[Bob McDonald]

The IRS frowns upon doing business that way, and will want to scrutinize your records more closely if they find you have been doing undocumented work.

Bill didn't say anything about not reporting the income. He just suggested giving a 'cash only' discount.

And that's all I have to say about that. lol :grin:

 

[Bill Barber]

Of course any income has to be reported,If we as IRS fearing true blue americans did not report all taxeble transactions how would this country survive?

I know in my heart that not one MYST member would ever not report a cash transaction.

As Richard eludes to, this borders on being unamerican, is an unpardonable sin to not report cash tranactions of any kind, be it moneys collected from your garage sale to the 5 bux I pay my grandson to wash the trac (I always demand he generate an invoice when paid):grin:

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Uncle Bob said:

Bill didn't say anything about not reporting the income. He just suggested giving a 'cash only' discount.

And that's all I have to say about that. lol

And RichardL didn't warn against not reporting income. He warned against not properly documenting work and thus the revenue received from such work services.



A business can chose not to document the work that it performs, and can fail to keep accurate invoices and still report all income...though I and probably the IRS would be skeptical of their ability to do the latter, if not properly doing the former.



Unfortunately, when it comes to the IRS, they typically will look at the small business owner's personal spending vs reported income (and reported sales), and where they can show a huge discrepency, they will make the case for unreported income.



Of course, Richard didn't say any of that. He just warned against doing "business off of the books."



Back to LaRue's question: I use home-grown invoicing software to run my side-business, and I simply print an invoice for my customer; one for me, and store the rest electronically. If I were working in the field, I would probably want a triplicate. That way I can file one back at the home office, keep one in my "invoice book" in the truck, and give one to the customer. Seems worth $20 to me.



TJR

 

[Richard L]

Bill Barber, and Uncle_Bob,

TJR said exactly what I was implying by not keeping accurate business records. If you do not have accurate records the IRS is impowered to apply the the heaviest tax they can in a worst-case scenario. I don't think anyone wants to go through that kind of audit without an attorney, and in the end you will spend a lot more for the attorney than you will spend for keeping accurate records.



Also remember that you can be audited by the IRS on tax returns for the past 7 years. That implies that you have to keep all your tax records for at least 7 years and for even a small business, that constitutes storing a lot of paper. That involves a lot of work and a lot of space. That is why I recommend using computerized document management software that allows you scan or copy paper documents as an exact image and save them in electronic form. Of course you must insure you have backups of these document files, but that is not a big issue. There are many inexpensive external hard drives and memory cards for short term backup storage, and data can easily be copied to CD's for much more reliable long-term storage. You can probably hold an entire years worth of records on a single CD.



...Rich