The Books ledger and the tax pack

Where: sidebar, Books (under Quotes & Invoices).

Books is a simple ledger built for a service business, not a full accounting system. It exists so tax season is a download instead of a scramble.

• Expenses. Add an expense, snap a photo of the receipt, and pick a category. Categories map to the lines your accountant expects (Schedule C in the US, T2125 in Canada).
• Mileage. Log trips, or accept the ones HoundBell proposes from that day’s jobs.
• Contractors. Track anyone you pay who is not on payroll. Each person’s row shows what their clocked hours come to at their rate (earned), what you have paid them this year (logged under Contract labor), and what you still owe. The big number is paid year-to-date, which is the figure for the tax slip; 1099-NEC and T4A alerts appear when it crosses the reporting threshold. When something is owed the button reads “Pay $X“ and opens the payment form with that amount filled in. Salaried people show salary earned so far this year instead of hours.
• Cash profit and loss. A running view of what came in and went out, with a quarterly set-aside estimate so a tax bill is never a surprise.

When it is time to file or to hand things to your accountant, click Download tax pack for a single zip with everything organized and labeled. If you also connect QuickBooks Online, your invoices, payments, and (if you choose) these expenses sync over automatically, so Books and QuickBooks stay in step without double entry.

Contractors is now People. Employees sit in one column and contractors in the other, side by side on a laptop and stacked on a phone, each person labeled. Everyone starts as an employee; Make contractor and Make employee switch them. Payments file under Wages (employees) or Contract labor (contractors), each mapped to the right tax line (Schedule C line 26 and T2125 line 9060 for wages) and linked to the person, so year-to-date is right for both kinds. The 1099 slip warning and the tax pack’s contractors.csv stay contractor-only.