Required information to file returns

As a small business your time is at a premium so the last thing you need is to scramble around at tax time trying to find the numbers you need to file your returns. If you’re using inFlow to track your sales and purchases it can make it easier to get a good portion of your business numbers for that return.¹

It is important to note that the key to this reporting is ensuring that you’re entering your orders in real time (i.e. on the date of sale).

Total Sales & Taxes Charged for your filing year can be pulled via the Sales Tax Summary report. Simply change the Order Date filter to “Last Year” and write down the total Sales Amount (as noted on the last line of the last page of your report). inFlow can also break these amounts down by state by state if necessary.

Opening & Closing Value of Inventory that was in stock on a certain date can be pulled using the Historical Inventory Report. You will have to pull this report twice: once by setting the Target Date for the first of the year (Jan 1) and once by setting it for the last day of the year (Dec 31).

Please note: orders that are partially completed will not be counted as moved so if you had a partially completed purchase order, that stock will not be counted towards your current inventory on the target date. The same is true of partially completed sales orders as that stock will not be considered to have been shipped out if it’s partially shipped as of the target date.

Purchases during the year (not expenses) should be the total paid for goods you’ve re-distributed or used to manufacture something you distributed. The Product Cost Report should provide the necessary information if you change the PO Date to filter for Last Year.

Other Costs would be any costs that would be associated with your inventory but haven’t been covered by the item above such as non-vendor costs. You can pull the non-vendor costs using the Product Cost Report as well but ensure that you’ve included “Partial Non-Vendor Costs” (not pictured) so that it will total the amount on the report.

Doubtful Accounts

Total payable for all customers to whom you’ve ade a sale but don’t anticipate being able to recoup their payment should be included here. The Customer Payment Details report should allow you to identify this by pulling for all orders for which the date is Last Year but which are currently “fully shipped” or “invoiced.”

Please note: If the item has been shipped out but not paid and you’re considering it a part of your doubtful accounts, you will want to apply a 100% discount on the invoice tab and complete the order. You may with to otherwise identify it in a custom field as well so that you can pull a report detailing which orders are included in this list.