Final modified on November eleventh, 2022
By Brittany Benz
The top of the yr is approaching, which suggests now could be the time to start checking off your whole year-end reporting duties and getting your 1099s in line. Nevertheless, in the event you’re counting on paper information or utilizing accounting software program that’s separate out of your property administration answer, this course of will be extremely time-consuming, cumbersome, and even error-prone in your property administration enterprise. Learn on to seek out out 5 methods you’ll be able to streamline your end-of-year duties so you’ll be able to create house for what issues — big-picture considering for the yr forward.
Whereas this text incorporates useful info, we aren’t offering authorized recommendation. It is best to seek the advice of a certified tax legal professional for any particular questions on submitting 1099s or year-end stories for your online business.
1.) Transfer to a paperless accounting system
Paper-based accounting processes take up extra time and might result in errors as a consequence of double knowledge entry. In the meantime, generic accounting options like QuickBooks usually are not built-in into your online business, so it takes longer to assemble info and it’s more durable to have an entire monetary image. Slightly than counting on a separate system to deal with your accounting wants, search for a property administration answer with built-in accounting to avoid wasting your crew time on re-entering knowledge and enhance accuracy. Since all the pieces is in a single place, a absolutely built-in system like AppFolio can get rid of the ache of accessing and understanding the important knowledge that drives your online business.
2.) Atone for lease funds and reduce delinquencies
Manually accumulating and depositing paper checks for lease funds every month eats up quite a lot of your crew’s time and might result in human error. Plus, it’s inconvenient in your residents to have to come back into the workplace or mail of their lease funds. Make life simpler in your crew and renters by providing on-line funds. This manner, your residents can rapidly and simply pay their lease proper from their telephones and your crew can get time again to deal with different high-value duties. Many on-line fee techniques like AppFolio additionally ship out computerized reminders and have the choice to arrange recurring funds, which can assist lower down on delinquencies and guarantee lease is paid on time and in full.
3.) Audit your reporting processes
Manually compiling stories by hand is time-consuming and requires quite a lot of experience relating to analyzing knowledge. Take a deep dive into your reporting duties to ensure high-value stories are carried out and despatched recurrently. As well as, take away any pointless reporting duties to liberate inside bandwidth. Reporting instruments can analyze the info in your behalf, saving time and enabling you to get a clearer image of your funds in minutes. Contemplate switching to a platform that has these instruments, together with built-in analytics that may spot errors or inconsistencies in your knowledge, which can assist you keep away from penalty charges or an sudden audit in 2023.
With a system like AppFolio Property Supervisor, you’ll be able to flexibly construct stories that ship real-time perception into enterprise efficiency utilizing the Report Builder functionality. Customers can mix and customise stories to satisfy particular necessities, save new stories for future reference, and simply share stories with house owners, all whereas sustaining drill-down capabilities. Moreover, there are quite a few stories you’ll be able to select from, together with proprietor statements, earnings statements, money circulation statements, steadiness sheets, and extra.
4.) Simplify accounts payable
Accounts payable is a tedious course of your accounting crew should deal with all yr, and manually coming into vendor invoices for every month can take weeks of your crew’s time. You may automate the method with modern options like Sensible Invoice Entry in AppFolio, which reads PDF invoices from distributors, identifies key info, and assists with processing so you’ll be able to pay payments extra effectively year-round. With AppFolio, it’s also possible to pay distributors — one other good thing about protecting all the pieces digital and in a single place.
5.) Pace up 1099 filings
In case you neglect or skip submitting your 1099s, you will get into large bother with the IRS and put your online business at stake. Most property managers should situation and file 1099s by January 31 and file proprietor 1099s by February 28 (March 31 if submitting electronically). As an alternative of sending 1099s to house owners by mail, ship them electronically with a sophisticated system like AppFolio. The system already has all of their info, so 1099s are simpler and quicker to course of. AppFolio additionally offers assist for the 1099-NEC type, which is required for reporting on vendor earnings.
Finishing your whole end-of-year duties is a time-consuming but mandatory course of. Nevertheless, when you’ve gotten a totally digital system with built-in accounting and reporting capabilities, the method is an entire lot quicker and you may breathe simple realizing your monetary knowledge is correct and safe. By benefiting from the information shared above, you’ll additionally put your self in an amazing place for subsequent yr’s tax season. To be taught extra about how one can streamline your accounting processes, check out this text.