5 End-of-Year To-Dos Will Save Money and Grief Next Year

It’s December!  On the heals of “How did that happen? Isn’t it still July?” we realize that it might be wise to do some clean up for this year and planning for next. 

To outline this post for you, I went back to a post I wrote six years ago when I was still writing the APHA Blog, called:  Save Money and Time with These End of the Year Tasks  It’s a long list of “must-dos” – a solid, comprehensive list. I invite you to go read that post to get more information about the tasks I’ve suggested in this much briefer, updated 2023-24 list. 

The original list was categorized into four topics:

• Records and Data (3 tasks)
• Money (5 tasks)
• Prepare for Next Year (5 tasks)
• Miscellaneous (3 tasks)

This update focuses on just 5 of them.

The biggest changes due to the passage of time are in the money section where it mentioned big income tax changes coming in 2018. Those changes did happen. Regardless, if you itemize your business deductions, you’ll still find a reduction in your taxes because your business income will be reduced by that total. (See #2 and #3 below.).

Here are the tasks that rise to the top of my list when it comes to wrapping up this year’s records and preparing for next year’s:

1.  Back up everything you have that’s electronic – offline. If all your records are kept on your computer or laptop or device, and either you lose that device, or it dies, or it even runs out of storage space – you’re toast. Keep OFFLINE backups on an external hard drive that you keep in a desk drawer. Do not use an online backup resource since it likely doesn’t meet HIPAA requirements.

2.  Organize your receipts for this year to make doing your income tax filing much easier. You might even add up the expenses from same-category receipts to really save yourself time during tax season next year.

3.  If you had a profitable year, and you know you’ll have a major expense next year, then make that purchase or commitment now, before December 31, so you can use it as a tax deduction on this year’s taxes. We never know from year to year what changes the government might make. The bird in the deduction hand is worth two in the government bush.

4. Raise your prices!  Yes! Do it! It’s time!  Read this for more rationale. Read The Start and Grow Your Own Practice Handbook for more advice on how to do it. With such high inflation over the past couple of years, your charges need to keep up. No one will be surprised if your prices push a little higher, too.