I would love to hear how people organise their investment documentation. there is so much of it! do u file by property, or by date order or by financial year or by type of document ie all rates statements together, all rental statments together, all tax claimable documents together. Its an absolute nightmare and we are struggling to find a method that works for our three current properties and several currently undergoing assessment.
Also we have looked at POSH, PIAF, INvestment Detetctive and several other software applications, and none seem to have all the features we need and in plain English. can anyone tell me what they use and why? one thing we do want is the ability to calculate rents when tenants sometimes pay a few dollars extra. amongst other things..Ive read that some investors use MYOB.. how can that be applied?Personally, I have one permanent file for a property with purchase info, depreciation reports, contracts, etc
Then I put the ongoing tax stuff (agents statements, council rates, body corp) in each year’s tax file.
Then just put together a little spreadsheet for the tax year.
Anything that’s not directly related to tax (agents ads, etc) goes to the back of the tax file.
Also have a checklist with all the documents you SHOULD have in your tax file to tick off at the end of the tax year.
We’ve used EXCEL in the past to keep track of things..
and this year we’re using a program designed by an accountant at http://www.excelaustralia.com.au
i also like the REVIQ Software for projections etc.. at the end of the day, the cheapest way is to make up your own excel file in a format user friendly to you..
REDWING
“Money is a currency, like electricity and it requires momentum to make it Effective”
Count The Currency With This Online Positive Cashflow CalculatorI use Quickbooks – Property Management ed.
It is pretty good as it will prompt you when rents or bills or bank payments are due. And can regenerate past entries to popup every month/week/fortnight. This saves you retyping things.
It can also print out in an instant profit and loss/balance sheet statements or any other info you could possibly want.
Very handy and professional.Once a week I just cross reference with online banking and get all the paperwork out of the way.
I also keep a file for each statement as it comes in after reconciling with Quickbooks.
I put all petty expenses (repair items, etc) in a folder and enter them in every quarter.
I keep a file for each property and put all info in there that won’t be needed for tax.
Get a filing cabinet if the files start getting big.
Find out what your accountant uses, if they prefer quickbooks or MYOB or whatever, and use that program would be my advice :0).
Live, Learn and GrowLifexperience
I use EXEL. How’s that new program working for you, Redwing, is it better than EXEL?
I have a binder with dividers for each category, e.g. tenants, inspection reports, insurance policy.
All this info for each property could be kept in their own binder.For tax purposes I have manilla folders, in where I store (after entering the details into EXEL) e.g. one for each loan, one for petty cash receipts (usually I staple these together), tax invoices from Property manager, rates, depreciation schedule, etc. Manilla folders are going into a filing cabinet.
Celivia
I keep hard copy of everything.
Maintain a separate file for each property.I use MYOB for all property transactions, this is what our accountant uses, and reconcile transactions each month.
Hard copy and disk goes to accountant at end of each financial year.
Officeworks sells this neat little plastic binder with a heap of divided sections and two elastic bands holding it closed. Hard to explain but I am sure you will see what I mean next time you are in there.
One book per property per year. A seperate section for each type of document – statements, reciepts, bills etc
Is a very easy way to do it and I was shown by a lady who organises folks as a hobby!
File after entering it all in your software or for those less organised – just hand it to your tax agent and get a new one for the next year!
Cheers,
Simon Macks
Residential and Commercial Finance Broker
***NODOC @ 7.15% to 70% LVR***
[email protected]
0425 228 985Comments may not be relevant to individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should consult a professional adviser.
thanks heaps to all those of you who responded. some really good tips there. will certainly spend some time analysing all the different ideas. once again thanks heaps!
judesterrHi Celivia..
It’s not a bad program IMHO..
I also had a trial version of REVIQ which was great for playing around when looking at potential investments..worth a look.
In our homeoffice, we have seperate files for each IP, with dividers for different sections.
We also have a personal file each for payslips, super, bank statements etc etc..
Then we have a reciept box (Appropriately it’s a “Australian Society of CPA’s†box I was given by a friend)we put our Daily reciepts in here and reconcile the visa and bank statements with these when they come in. From there they get put in the appropriate area for tax purposes -we also put notes and initial the reciepts when we recieve them i.e RW (REDWING)*** to review current rents in an area etc etc..
We are Housesitting ATM so things are a bit harder than usual.
REDWING
“Money is a currency, like electricity and it requires momentum to make it Effective”
Count The Currency With This Online Positive Cashflow CalculatorThanks, Redwing.
You seem to be very organised![buz2]
Paperwork is not my favourite passtime, hehe.But…sometimes the trouble is worth it- our accountant told us last week how much our return will be, and I look forward to receiving the cheques! [biggrin][party]
Celivia
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