Freshbooks Accountant Center – Overview for the Accountant / A single place to view your clients' FreshBooks accounting reports and Journal Entries.

Freshbooks writes: Accountant Center provides a smarter way to work with your small business clients by giving you, the Accountant, access to all of your clients’ Reports and Journal Entries from your own portal in FreshBooks.  The service was created based on feedback and requests from our customers and their Accountants looking for an easier way to share their business information, communicate more effectively throughout the year and reduce the stress of tax time.

With Accountant Center, you get on-demand access to cleaner data from your clients, helping them run a more effective business, and freeing up your time to provide more high-value services.  You can sign up for your own Accountant Center here to start connecting with all of your clients’ FreshBooks accounts. You will also be able to find common questions at the bottom of this FAQ.

Setting up your account

Setting up your Accountant Center account is done in two ways, (a) signing up without an invitation from a client and (b) signing up through a client invite. Let’s walk through both processes below.

(a) Signing up without an invitation

1. Head over to https://my.freshbooks.com/service/auth/sign_up

2. Enter your email address and a password, then click “Create My Account”.

3. On the following page, enter in your contact information (this will be visible to the client, and you can always change it later) and click “Get Started”.

4. You can now start inviting and accepting invitations from clients to connect!

(b) Signing up through a client invite

1. You will have received an invitation via email from your client to connect.

2. From this email, click on the green “Accept Invitation” button.

3. You will then come to a signup page where you can enter your email address and password, then click “Create My Account”. *

4. On the following page, enter your contact information (this will be visible to the client, and you can change it later) and click “Get Started”.

5. After connecting, you will be automatically connected to your client and can now access their Reports and Journal Entries.

* If we detect you have signed up for an account in the past on the same computer we will notify you of this on the signup page.

Sending and accepting invitations from your account

From within your account you can easily send out invitations to connect with your clients. You can also easily accept invitations from clients who use FreshBooks.

Sending invitations

1. In your account click on the green “Invite Client” button.
2. Simply enter in the client’s email address and send off the invitation.
3. Your client will then receive the invite via email asking them to accept your invitation.
4. You will be notified via email as soon as your client accepts the invitation.

Accepting invitations

Your clients can send you invitations to connect from their own FreshBooks account via email. Once submitted you will receive an email to connect

1. In the email your client sent you, click on the green “Accept Invitation” button.
2. If you are already logged in to your account, we will immediately connect you after accepting.
3. If you are not logged in, choose the option to “Log In” next to the green “Create My Account” button.
4. When you log in, you will then be automatically connected to your client and can start viewing their Reports and Journal Entries!

How It Works

Reports

This is the part that Accountant Center is all about! After you are set up and have a client connected to your account, you can start viewing their Reports and download copies for your records. Reports in FreshBooks can be filtered in various ways so you can get the easily data you are looking for.

Accessing Reports

1. In your Accountant Center dashboard, click on the grey “Access Account” button for the client in question.
2. In the drop down menu choose the “View Reports” option.
3. You will now be taken into the client’s reports.

Viewing Reports

1. On the left, you can access specific report categories, and on the right you will see the list of all relevant reports for the selected category.
2. Click on any report to view the account information.  Within each individual report you can also click the “Export” button to download the report to Excel, or as a CSV.
3. When finished accessing their reports, you can click on the “Accountant Center” tab at the top left of the screen to get back to your Accountant Center dashboard.

Journal Entries

The Journal Entries feature will allow you to see every financial action your client makes in their FreshBooks account for a selected date range. This includes actions like creating an invoice, adding a payment or deleting an expense.

Exporting a client’s Journal Entries

1. In your Accountant Center dashboard, click on the grey “Access Account” button for the client in question.
2. In the drop down menu, choose the “Export Journal Entries” option.
3. Select the date range you would like to export, and click on “Export Journal Entries”.
4. Choose the .IFF file if you will be importing to QuickBooks, or .CSV if you will be opening in Excel or another program.

Check out our useful journal entry guide designed for the accountant here: Journal Entries – An Overview for the Accountant

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I log in if I already have an Accountant Center account?

1. Head over to https://my.freshbooks.com/service/auth/login
2. Enter your email address and password to log in (to quickly log in again later, you can also bookmark the link above).

I forgot my password for my account, help!

1. Head over to https://my.freshbooks.com/service/auth/login (this is seprate from your clients’ FreshBooks login page).
2. Enter the email address and password tied to your Accountant Center account.*
3. Your login credentials will be emailed to you. Click on “Reset Password” in this email and retry logging in.

* If you are having trouble click on “Forgot your password?” and enter the email address you created the account with or give a Support Rockstar a call at 1-866-303-6061.

I sent an invitation to the wrong email address, how do I cancel?

1. In your Accountant Center dashboard, you should see all pending invites with the message “Your client hasn’t accepted your invitation yet”.
2. Click on the blue “Cancel Invitation” link for the client in question.

I sent an invitation to my client but it hasn’t been accepted, how do I resend?

1. In your Accountant Center dashboard, you should see all pending invites with the message “Your client hasn’t accepted your invitation yet”.
2. Click on the blue “Cancel Invitation” link for the client in question.
3. Now resend your invitation again by clicking on the green “Invite Client” button and entering their email address.

How do I remove a client from my Accountant Center?

1. In your Accountant Center dashboard, find the client in question.
2. At the bottom of their card, simply click on the blue “Remove Client” link.
3. After confirming you want to delete the client, they will be removed from your account.

The Purpose Of The IRS W-4 Form

Amy Fontinelle for Investopedia writes: When you get a new job, one of the many pieces of paper your employer will ask you to complete is IRS form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate. The way you fill out this form determines how much tax your employer will withhold from your paycheck. Your employer sends the money it withholds from your paycheck to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), along with your name and Social Security number. Your withholding counts toward paying the annual income tax bill  you calculate when you file your tax return in April. That’s why form W-4 asks for identifying information, such as your name, address and Social Security number.

Why the W-4 Is Important

It’s important to complete this form correctly because the IRS requires people to pay taxes on their income gradually throughout the year. If you have too little tax withheld, you could owe a surprisingly large sum to the IRS in April, plus interest and penalties for underpaying your taxes during the year. At the same time, if you have too much tax withheld, your monthly budget will be tighter than it needs to be. In addition, you’ll be giving the government an interest-free loan when you could be saving or investing that extra money and earning a return – and you won’t get your overpaid taxes back until the following April when you file your tax return and get a refund. At that point, the money may feel like a windfall and you might use it less wisely than you would have if it had come in gradually with each paycheck. If you don’t submit form W-4 at all, the IRS requires your employer to withhold at the highest rate, as if you were single and claiming no allowances.

Figuring Your Allowances

IRS form W-4 comes with a Personal Allowances Worksheet to help you figure out how many allowances to claim. Answering the worksheet’s questions creates a broad picture of your tax situation that will allow your employer to withhold the correct amount of money from your paycheck. You can claim one allowance if no one else claims you as a dependent (which is the case for most adults). You can claim another allowance if you are single and have only one job, if you are married but your spouse doesn’t work or if your wages from a second job or a spouse’s job are $1,500 or less. In other words, you’re claiming a second allowance if your household only has one major income source. You can also claim one allowance if you have a spouse, one allowance for each dependent you will claim on your tax return and one allowance if your tax-filing status is head of household. Finally, you can claim allowances for child and dependent care.

The worksheet has additional pages if your tax situation is more complicated because you have more than one job, your spouse works or youitemize deductions on your tax return instead of taking the standard deduction. IRS publication 505, "Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax," provides additional information on how to complete form W-4 if you’re having trouble. Keep the worksheets for your records; your employer does not need them.

The more allowances you claim on form W-4, the less your employer will withhold from your paycheck. The fewer you claim, the more your employer will withhold. You can also use form W-4 to request that additional money be withheld from each paycheck, which you should do if you expect to owe more in taxes than your employer would normally withhold based on the number of allowances you are claiming. One situation where you might ask your employer to withhold an additional sum is if you earn self-employment income on the side and want to avoid making separate estimated tax payments for that income. You can also use form W-4 to prevent your employer from withholding any money at all from your paycheck, but only if you are legally exempt from withholding because you had no tax liability for the previous year and you also expect to have no tax liability for the current year.

When You Need to File a New Form

In general, your employer will not send form W-4 to the IRS; after using it to determine your withholding, the company will file it. You can change your withholding at any time by submitting a new W-4 to your employer. Situations when you might need to change your W-4 include getting married or divorced, having a child or picking up a second job. You might also want to submit a new W-4 if you discover that you withheld too much or too little the previous year when you're preparing your annual tax return – and you expect your circumstances to be similar for the current tax year. Your W-4 changes will take effect within the next one to three pay periods.

Money-Saving Tip

If you start a job in the middle of the year and were not employed earlier that year, here's a tax wrinkle that can save you money. If you will be employed no more than 245 days for the year, request in writing that your employer use the part-year method to compute your withholding. The basic withholding formula assumes full-year employment, so without using the part-year method, you’ll have too much withheld and you’ll have to wait until tax time to get the money back.

The Bottom Line

Take the time to calculate your withholding properly. You'll avoid having to play penalties at tax time and will keep as much of your earnings as legally possible.

For more information, see Filling Out Your W-4 Form. 

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6 Midyear Tax Moves for Small Business Owners

Larry Alton for Agbeat.com writes: During the mid to late summer months, many businesses experience their mid-year “slump,” a time to take the opportunity to reflect on the past few months and plan for remainder of the year. One big consideration at this point is the company’s anticipated tax liability.

When tax filing season hits, the time has already passed for your company to make substantial adjustments to avoid unpleasant surprises. The additional time that summer provides in an entrepreneur’s busy schedule allows for examination of various aspects of company finances before business picks up again.

How mid-year tax planning helps you stay ahead of the game

Tax filing season may seem far away, but consider how quickly the past six months have gone! Rather than waiting until January to gain a firm understanding of where your firm’s tax liability stands, making a more proactive effort means you’ll probably enjoy fewer complications and reduce surprises when the time comes to file.

Planning for tax season well ahead of time helps a business adjust its strategies (if necessary) to ensure a relatively painless filing process. According to Natalie Cooper, editor of BankingSense.com, “For small businesses, the mid-year ‘off season’ is the perfect opportunity to take stock of how the year has gone and decide on a game plan for the second half.”

Considerations for the mid-year tax review

While conducting their mid-year tax reviews, small business owners should engage in one or more savvy tax-planning activities, for example:

• Consult with a tax professional. Navigating the complex process of tax planning is often time-consuming and confusing.Talking with an accountant during the “off-season” ensures ready access to his or her time and can help you gain valuable insight into the current state of your company finances. Tax professionals also provide an outside perspective, and can identify areas where their client can improve a process or take advantage of a new tax break.
• Examine the company’s entity structure. Expanding companies may not realize they have outgrown their legal structure until long after they could have enjoyed the new protections and tax benefits. An accountant and attorney can help a business owner decide whether the time has come to convert from a sole proprietorship to a corporation or some other, more suitable, entity.
• Project profit and loss. Compare the company’s current financial statements against those from the same period last year. Measurable changes – for better or worse – may indicate the need for adjustments. 
  Taking into account expected decreases or increases in sales for the rest of the year, use data from the first two quarters to determine whether estimated tax payments should change accordingly. The result will be fewer surprises at tax time.
• Set up a retirement account. During busier times, the thought of retirement may rarely pass through an entrepreneur’s mind. However, if you’re generating regular and significant profits, you should begin setting money aside for this milestone as early as possible in your career.
  Banking and financial professionals help customers choose between retirement accounts such as SIMPLE, SEP IRAs, and 401(k)s to ensure they and their employees receive the optimal savings and tax benefits.
• Invest in new equipment and furniture. Under the Section 179 Deduction, small businesses receive tax benefits for purchase of “capital assets” such as desks, computers, POS terminals, and other tangible resources. Take advantage of summer downtime to seek out the best vendors and prices for such items. Don’t forget to maintain documentation of these purchases for tax time.
• Set up benefits for employees. If you are considering offering health, dental, vision, disability, life, or other types of benefits to employees, you might take the opportunity to study the issues in depth over the summer. Not only does the extra time allow companies to choose the best and most cost-effective plans; it also gives them time to benefit from the resulting reductions in payroll taxes.

These represent only a few of the many ways business owners can prepare for tax season over the summer. But they are some of the most effective and compelling ways to remain competitive and decrease your tax liability.

Entrepreneurs who take these and other tax-conscious steps remain free to commit their full attention to running their businesses effectively for the remainder of the year. When tax season hits, it certainly will not catch such savvy business owners off guard!

You can follow the author Larry Alton on Twitter by clicking here.

Six Tips for People Who Owe Taxes

While most people get a refund from the IRS when they file their taxes, some do not. If you owe federal taxes, the IRS has several ways for you to pay. Here are six tips for people who owe taxes:

1. Pay your tax bill.  If you get a bill from the IRS, you’ll save money by paying it as soon as you can. If you can’t pay it in full, you should pay as much as you can. That will reduce the interest and penalties charged for late payment. You should think about using a credit card or getting a loan to pay the amount you owe. 

2. Use IRS Direct Pay.  The best way to pay your taxes is with the IRS Direct Pay tool. It’s the safe, easy and free way to pay from your checking or savings account. The tool walks you through five simple steps to pay your tax in one online session. Just click on the ‘Pay Your Tax Bill’ icon on the IRS home page.

3. Get a short-term extension to pay.  You may qualify for extra time to pay your taxes if you can pay in full in 120 days or less. You can apply online at IRS.gov. If you received a bill from the IRS you can also call the phone number listed on it. If you don’t have a bill, call 800-829-1040 for help. There is usually no set-up fee for a short-term extension.

4. Apply for a monthly payment plan.  If you owe $50,000 or less and need more time to pay, you can apply for an Online Payment Agreementon IRS.gov. A direct debit payment plan is your best option. This plan is the lower-cost, hassle-free way to pay. The set-up fee is less than other plans. There are no reminders, no missed payments and no checks to write and mail. You can also use Form 9465, Installment Agreement Request, to apply. For more about payment plan options visit IRS.gov.

5. Consider an Offer in Compromise.  An Offer in Compromise lets you settle your tax debt for less than the full amount that you owe. An OIC may be an option if you can’t pay your tax in full. It may also apply if full payment will cause a financial hardship. You can use the OIC Pre-Qualifier tool to see if you qualify. It will also tell you what a reasonable offer might be.

6. Change your withholding or estimated tax.  You may be able to avoid owing the IRS in the future by having more taxes withheld from your pay. Do this by filing a new Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate, with your employer. The IRS Withholding Calculator on IRS.gov can help you fill out a new W-4. If you have income that’s not subject to withholding you may need to make estimated tax payments. See Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals for more on this topic.

To find out more see Publication 594, The IRS Collection Process. You can get this booklet on IRS.gov. You may also call 800-TAX-FORM to get it by mail.

Additional IRS Resources:

• Tax Topic 202 – Tax Payment Options
• Payment Plans, Installment Agreements