Taxbot Getting Started Guide Congratulations on your purchase of Taxbot! This guide will help you set up your account and show you how to use the program to maximize your tax deductible expenses! Setting Up Your Account On your computer, go to www.taxbot.com and click Login in the upper right corner. You can confirm your email and password in the “Welcome to Taxbot” email you should have received when you signed up.

If you see Dashboard instead of Login, you are already logged into your account.

Enter your email and password to log into your online account. You can also change your password from the Login page; simply click Forgot Password and enter your email. The system will send you a secure email to update your password.

For optimum performance, use either

Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox as your internet browser.

Once logged into your online account, click on Settings at the top of the page. Currency & Distance First, set the currency and distance units for your country and save.

Businesses Next, set up your business name(s). You can track multiple businesses with one Taxbot account. Either click the pencil to edit “My Business” and enter your company name; or click Add Business to add additional businesses to track and save.

Set the business you track the most as the Default Business. This is the entity that will automatically appear on your phone. You will be able to select other businesses when necessary. HINT: Add a company name to track out of pocket Medical expenses/miles or to track Charitable donations/miles. These are not business deductions, but you can still track these expenses for your personal return. You can delete a business or vehicle by clicking the trash can next to the entry as long as you don’t have any trips or expenses attached to them.

Vehicles Now perform a similar process to add your vehicles by clicking on View and Edit Vehicles from the Settings page. You can also track multiple vehicles with one Taxbot account. Either click the pencil to edit “My Vehicle” and enter your vehicle name, or click Add Vehicle to add additional vehicle to track and save.

You will also need to set the beginning of the year Odometer reading for each vehicle. You need to enter the beginning of the tax year, not when you started using Taxbot. The best way to locate this is on auto repair receipts. All auto shops will record the odometer reading when the perform maintenance on your vehicle. Simply click on Add/Edit Odometers to view already entered odometers and click on Add Odometer to enter a new odometer reading.

On January 1st of each year, Taxbot will prompt you to enter your beginning of the year odometer reading for each vehicle. This is required by the IRS.

Select the tax year, vehicle name, and enter beginning of the year odometer reading. Save.

Categories When you enter an expense into Taxbot, you will assign it to a Category. Taxbot already has a list of expense Categories for you from which to choose. You can also create any new categories in your online account or from the phone app. From the Settings page click on View and Edit Categories. If the desired category isn’t there, you can create a new category by clicking on Add Category.

Enter the name of the category you want to create. Next you can set a budget for the category, but it isn’t necessary.

The deductible percentage will auto fill depending on the type. There are three types of categories in Taxbot;

1. General – normally 100% deductible expense (office supplies, printing or marketing materials)

2. Automotive – set as 0% deductible in Taxbot. In the USA, there are two ways to deduct your auto expenses; the first is the IRS method which is approximately $.50 per mile (adjusted yearly) to accommodate auto repairs, fuel, insurance, and depreciation. The second is the actual method where you track all your automobile expenses and at the end of the year you calculate the percentage you used the vehicle for business and deduct that percentage of the auto expenses. Taxbot is defaulted to add the cents per business mile/kilometer to your average deduction amount to give you a better average since actual expenses vary greatly depending on if you use your car 10% for business or 90%. You can still track your auto expenses, but it will not add those amounts to the Average Deduction amount. In Canada, you deduct the business portion of your actual auto expenses; please review CRA IT-521. In the USA, please review IRS Pub 463.

3. Meals/Appointment – business meals booked in advance with an appointment are 50% deductible.

You can also manually enter the deductible amount by selecting the type as General and then entering the percentage rate. You would use this function to make categories for the Home Office deduction where the deductible amount is based on the square footage of your home office. Please review the Home Office topic of the Education Library. Save your new category.

Entering Trips Manually Online You can enter your business trips directly into your online account. Click on Trips at the top of the page to view a list of all entered trips. You can click on the pencil to the right of any trip to edit or, you can click the trash can next to any trip to delete it.

Click Add Trip to enter a new trip. A new Trip window will open. Enter the description for the trip and the date

Enter beginning and ending address and then click Compute Route for Taxbot to calculate the distance. You can also enter the distance manually. Select the business and vehicle. If you returned to your beginning business address, mark the trip Round Trip to double the distance. If tracking non-business miles (personal, medical, charitable) mark as Personal.

Taxbot will show your trip on the map below. You can zoom in and click and drag the distance line to calculate a different route. Save your new trip. REMEMBER to be detailed in your descriptions. “Business Meeting” is not a sufficient description; include the purpose of the meeting and who you met with (if applicable). Ex. “Met with Joe Black to introduce business opportunity”.

Entering Expenses Manually Online You can enter your business expenses directly into your online account. Click on Expenses at the top of the page to view a list of all entered expenses. You can click on the pencil to the right of any expense to edit or, you can click the trash can next to any expense to delete it.

Click Add Expense to enter a new expense. A new Expense window will open. Select the Category for the expense; enter a description, the amount, and the date (date paid).

Enter where and who you met with (if applicable). Select the business name and mark personal if not a business expense. OPTIONAL: You can attach an already entered trip to this expense. You cannot enter a new trip from here. You can attach a copy of a receipt directly into your online account by either scanning the receipt and saving as a document on your computer, or take a picture with your phone and email to yourself and save the image to your computer. Click on Attach Receipt and a window will open for you to browse your computer and select the image. If scanning, please lower the DPI to 300 or the image will be too large to upload. Image should not exceed 1224x1632 pixels or 660kb file size.

Online Reports Use the Reports section of your online account to view your Expense Totals by Category and Total Miles Driven. Use the Filter to set the date range, select business, and preference. Then click Apply.

In the orange bar, select the Expenses by Category report to view your category totals. You can click on a category to view a list of the expenses in that category that comprise that total. The Distance by Month report will show you the distance you tracked by month for the date range entered. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to view the total distance for the date range entered. You can download your data to your computer at any time by clicking on Tax Report.

Enter the date range, yes/no to include receipt pictures, business, and specific category. Then click Request Report. When your report is ready, a link will appear to download a Zip file to your computer. It could take up to 30 minutes for your report to generate, please be patient.

Click on the link and save the Zip file to your computer. You will need a program to unzip the files. Once unzipped, you should have 3-4 files;

1. Audit Safe Report – includes all information needed to prepare your tax return 2. Expenses.csv – detailed list of all expenses entered in that date range. Open in Excel

or any spreadsheet program. 3. Trips.csv – detailed list of all trips entered in that date range. Open in Excel or any

spreadsheet program. 4. Receipts – folder will include all pictures of receipts for that date range (if

requested). Primarily, you would run the Tax Report when preparing your tax return. We recommend saving the files on a CD or a flash drive and put with your tax returns as backup. All your data will still remain in your online account, as long as the account is active. Education Library Don’t forget to access the Education Library of your online account to learn how to maximize your business tax deductions. Click on Education and then Library.

You can also view our Blog for the latest articles and tax tips from Sandy Botkin, CPA, Esq. In the Library, select your Tax Authority to view topics for your country.

Select a Category from the column on the left; the available media segments will appear in the column on the right. Each segment will open an audio or video clip that will teach you the basic tax regulations and documentation requirements for that subject. Remember; each individual’s tax situation is different. Consult with your tax preparer for specifics on your situation.

Getting to know the App on Your Android or iPhone Now that you have set up the account, let’s install the app onto your phone or device. You can install the app onto as many devices as you like and they will all upload your data to one online account. However, there is only one set of business and vehicle defaults per account. You can not set a default at the device level. For Android phones and tablets, visit the PlayStore on the device and search for Taxbot. Install the free app onto your phone. For iPhone, visit the App Store on the phone and search for Taxbot. Install the free app onto your phone. On iPad, open the App store in the device and search for Taxbot. It will not appear at first; press “iPad” in the upper left of the menu bar and change to iPhone. You are actually installing an iPhone app onto your iPad. Taxbot should appear or you may need to search again. Install the free app onto your iPad. NOTE: iPads without a dedicated GPS and cell service will not be able to track trips. However, you can still enter manual trips into the iPad. When prompted, give Taxbot permission to use all the features of your phone. Restricting access will not allow the app function properly.

When you open the app for the first time, it will ask you for the email and password for your online account. This will link the app toy our online account.

Once you are logged in, you will always be brought to the home

screen.

Force Sync – will send any transactions on phone up to

online account.

Settings – to change currency, distance, odometers, and to clear

data and log out of Taxbot.

Average Deduction Amount – shows average business deductions for this year. This amount will change when trips and expenses are successfully sync’d to your online account.

Page Tabs – to view saved trips and expenses.

Tracking Trips in App Select “Add Trip” to start tracking a new trip:

The app should use the GPS on the phone

to find your location on the map.

Taxbot will ask you if you want to use the GPS on the phone to track your trip or if you

want to add a manual trip and enter the distance yourself.

Select “Start Mileage Tracking” to start a

new trip. Android will start tracking immediately. iPhone has a double opt in and

will show a red bar across the top to tap again to start tracking.

Select Add Manual Mileage to enter the

distance and information yourself.

When you get to your destination, stop/end tracking:

Tracking Bar or Icon shows Taxbot is

currently tracking.

When you get to your destination, (iPhone press the box in the upper right corner)

select Stop Mileage Tracking. You will enter the details of your trip on the next screen.

Use Lap/Start New Trip to enter your trip

description and then come back to the trip page to start a new trip.

(iPhone) Use Restart Trip Tracking to restart if you just wanted to pause trip. (iPhone) Use Cancel Trip to cancel entire trip and return to home screen.

Enter the details of your trip: When you stop tracking, Taxbot will ask you for the details of your trip:

1. Taxbot will automatically enter your mileage

2. Enter a description for your trip. Be specific; “Met Joe Black to introduce business opportunity”

3. Taxbot will automatically enter the beginning and ending address. Longitude and Latitude are fine when tracking.

4. If you are going back to your starting business address, select Round Trip to double miles. No need to track return.

5. Confirm date

6. If tracking more than 1 business, select Business Entity

7. If tracking more than 1 vehicle, select Vehicle

8. Mark Personal if you are tracking personal trips

9. OPTIONAL: You can attach an already entered expense to this trip. You cannot enter a new expense from here.

10. Click Save.

Enter Expense on App Select Add Expense:

Select the Category for your new expense. Appointment, Entertainment, and Meals categories are calculated at a 50% deduction. General Categories are calculated at 100% deduction unless set at a different rate when setting up account. Auto Categories will not add any amount to your average deduction amount since Taxbot will add the IRS cents per mile each time you enter a trip. You can add a category with the “+” or

“Add Category” button. Enter Expense Details:

1. Enter all details for expense 2. If tracking more than one

business, choose entity for expense

3. Mark as Personal if you are

tracking personal expenses. 4. OPTIONAL: You can attach

an already entered trip to this expense. You cannot enter a new trip from here.

5. Click Attach Receipt to

attach a picture of your receipt using the camera on the phone or from the Gallery. See Next…

Canadian Expenses: enter the full amount of your expense including HST and GST. Then enter the actual HST or GST in the fields indicated.

Attach Receipt to Expense:

Select Camera to open camera and

take a new picture.

Select Camera Roll or Gallery to select an existing picture.

Use camera to take picture or select picture from Camera Roll or Gallery.

Click Done or Save

Brings you back to Add Expense page; click Save to save expense with receipt.

Tips You can check your account settings and make changes at any time by pressing the Gear in the upper right corner of the Home screen. Entering expenses with a receipt is a large amount of data to transmit. If you are entering multiple expenses with receipts, it is a good idea to Force Sync your data up to your online account after each entry. Too many entries may stop the sync from performing properly. You can Force Sync your app to your online account at any point by pressing the Round Arrow in the upper left corner of the Home screen. On January 1st of each year, the average deduction amount will reset to zero to start tracking the new year. Your deduction amounts for previous year(s) are available in the Reports section of your online account. You can install the app onto as many devices as you like and they will all upload entries to one online account. However, there is only one set of business and vehicle defaults per account. You can not set a default at the device level. If you change any settings in your online account, you will need to log out on device(s) and log back in for the settings to take effect. Changing settings through the App will update your online account automatically. By using Taxbot regularly, you will save your hard earned money by “Paying Less to the IRS”. Again, congratulations on your new purchase. Happy Taxboting!