Many experience the headaches and stress equated with tax time. Some go paperless, some use a box of receipts and others spend countless hours locating and organizing receipts and other bits of data required to authenticate expenses. All of these groups may want to consider using some free small business software that can make your taxes run more smoothly. The online software service, cleverly entitled “Shoeboxed,” saves the time consuming, tedious task of locating, organizing and categorizing all of that information by doing it for you.
Who Might Like Shoeboxed?
Individuals, small business owners or busy executives can benefit from the features the service offers. Upon opening an account, you can send business cards, receipts and other documentation to Shoeboxed in one of several ways.
• Use Shoeboxed postage paid envelopes
• Scan and upload
• Take pictures of documentation using a mobile phone or iPhone app and upload
• Email receipts and other data directly to your account
After receiving all the information, Shoeboxed goes to work categorizing, organizing and entering all of the data into the account. Shoeboxed uses optical character recognition and human verifiers, who accurately record every piece of data, including receipt notations. They will also verify business or vendor names and payment types.
Within 24 hours, users have the option of downloading, emailing, printing or viewing all of the files. Choose from 15 different categories in which to organize data including meals/entertainment, office supplies, and computer/internet expenses.
Integration with Other Accounting Software
The software also conveniently integrates with other services for exporting data. These include BatchBook, CSV, Excel, PDF, Quicken and many others. Certified by TRUSTe, the information remains secure, providing private access to all of the necessary business financial figures. In addition, the company supplies clients with a quarterly back-up CD.
Shoeboxed is similar to having a virtual secretary. Once an account becomes established, automatically upload information as it comes along and the software handles the rest. Alternatively, save materials in an account envelope and mail to Shoeboxed at intervals for a fee.
Manage Contacts
The software can also help to save the laborious task of entering and organizing contacts. Instead, send the contact information to Shoeboxed and let the program handle the rest.
The features and services vary depending on the needs of individual clients and account services chosen. Shoeboxed is free to use if you plan on scanning documents yourself. If you want to mail in your documents or take an iPhone image and upload it, fees start at just under $10. Larger businesses with vast amounts of documentation require larger, more extensive file systems, but services do not exceed $49.95 per month.
Too Much Fun for Tax Time
No matter how you look at it, Shoeboxed is a good way to get organized, keeping your information secure and organized for very little cost. Like many other Google products, Shoeboxed is simple to use, effective and, admittedly, a little too much fun for something as boring as accounting!