Categories that make tax time easy
Use the categories your accountant uses. Common ones for trades: materials, subcontractors, fuel, vehicle repairs, tools and equipment, equipment rental, insurance, licenses and permits, phone and software, advertising, office, and meals when allowed. Keeping the same names all year saves sorting later.
Put the job on every expense
Materials and subcontractor costs tied to a job tell you whether that job made money. Overhead, such as insurance and software, has no job; leave the job blank for those.
Keep the receipts
A log is not a receipt. Keep the receipt or a photo of it with each expense. The IRS publishes guidance on what records small businesses should keep and for how long. This tracker is a record-keeping aid, not tax advice.
More free templates
- Construction Bid: Package, lines, overhead and profit, inclusions and exclusions.
- Subcontractor Agreement: Scope, price, dates, retainage, insurance and payment.
- Schedule of Values: Percent complete, balance and retainage worked out per line.
- Submittal: Spec section, items, attachments, answer-by date and review action.
- Material Take-off: Measured quantity, waste, order quantity and cost.
- WIP Schedule: Percent complete, earned revenue and over or under billing.
- Timesheet: Hours worked out per day, the week's total and hours over 40.
- Job Sheet: Times, tasks and parts, what was found and signatures.
- Every template, including estimates, invoices and proposals for 35 trades.