Bookkeeping 101 for Therapists

We want you to feel informed and empowered in your practice’s financial health. Whether you’re our client or just passing through, we’ve got the educational resources you need. That being said, QBO has a steeper learning curve than other options, costs more, and may come with a load of tools you never use. In that case, it’s worth comparing to Xero and Wave, the other options on our list. Lacking integration, your only other options are to manually enter the transactions in your software and/or to import them from your bank account. Our article on accountants vs. bookkeepers for therapy practices covers their differences in greater depth.

If you’re just getting started doing your own bookkeeping for your therapy practice, you’ll need to create your own chart of accounts so you can categorize all your transactions. This applies whether you’re using accounting software or a simple spreadsheet to handle your bookkeeping. We’re your trusted partner in managing the financial health of therapists’ private practices across the United States. You can think of the “accounts” in your chart of accounts as financial categories. Running a private practice can be very different to running a typical small business. We see a few mistakes made over and over again such as not running as the most profitable business structure, missing estimated taxes, not tracking expenses and so on.

File your taxes

A good tax accountant will also refer you to a tax lawyer if they feel outside of the scope of their practice. Since your chart of accounts is static, you can create as many copies of it as you like. Accounting software will store the chart of accounts for you in its own location. If you use any of this equipment for both personal and professional reasons, a CPA or tax advisor can tell you how much of the value of each you’re able to report for the purpose of tax deductions.

• It’s tax season, which means private practice owners are likely googling how to file their taxes, what counts as a tax write-off, and wondering if they should hire accounting help.
• Your therapy practice’s chart of accounts lists all the different ways your business earns and spends money, and tells you how to categorize each transaction.
• If you’re doing your own bookkeeping, you may want to label each account on your chart of accounts with the type of financial statement it appears on.
• Download your private practice visionworksheet by joining our free Private Practice Library here.
• Our commitment goes beyond numbers; it’s about helping therapists achieve financial peace of mind.
• Streamline your bookkeeping and spend more time with clients.
• This helps us understand your employee reimbursements, benefits, time off, and all the other details.

Certainly this is not all of the information you will need to run your private practice from the accounting side of things. And as has already been mentioned DO SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PROFESSIONAL AS YOU SET THINGS UP. Once you set things up, it becomes easy to manage and understand. So here are some basic tips and things to know when it comes to accounting, taxes and bookkeeping when you are in private practice as a counselor or therapist.

The Ultimate List of Tax Deductions for Therapists 2023

We handle importing and categorizing everything so you don’t have to. Everyone on the team is organized and knowledgeable and we feel like we are in very good hands. Growing is $32 per month, and allows you to send limitless invoices and enter limitless bills.

That means you no longer have to record every transaction in your general ledger by hand. When you create a chart of accounts for your therapy practice, the biggest task you’ll need to tackle is categorizing your expenses. List all of your business bank accounts, both checking and savings. If you’re doing your own bookkeeping, you may want to label each account on your chart of accounts with the type of financial statement it appears on.

Position yourself to grow

Are you still struggling to get your private practice in order? Not sure how to plan for a successful private practice that really makes you happy? Download your private practice visionworksheet by joining our free Private Practice Library here. ‍‍Bryce Warnes is https://www.bookstime.com/articles/bookkeeping-for-massage-therapists a West Coast writer specializing in small business finances. You can adapt this chart to your own needs by adding or removing categories. If you do, we’d love to hear about your experience—your feedback helps us develop even more useful tools for therapists.

• If you use your name as your business name- you might even qualify for a free checking account.
• And tax software can help you with tax preparation and filing.
• The learning curve for accounting software varies according to which particular one you use.
• The last minute scramble to get your ‘things’ together was real, the mess you handed over to your tax preparer resulted in a much larger bill, and you ended up owing way more taxes than expected.
• I just keep a monthly tally of my revenue and expenses in an excel doc and cut myself a paycheck based on the equations he built into it for me.
• Early is $11 per month, and allows you to send 20 invoices and enter 5 bills each month.

It may take some experimentation to determine what kind of workflow works best for you, and your results will vary depending on the accounting software you use. I’ve crossed my fingers and toes for you that you don’t ever get audited by the IRS. But if you ever do, you’ll want to feel rest assured that all your reporting is correct and that they won’t find anything fishy going on with your accounting. The problem with DIYing your accounting is you might not even realize that you’re reporting something incorrectly or missing something important on your taxes. Washington business must file State Business & Occupation Tax regularly.

For bookkeeping and accounting purposes, each of these financial statements is generated on a monthly or quarterly basis. You should also plan to create annual financial statements, after the year ends, which you’ll use to file your taxes. You categorize each item in your general ledger according to whether it is income or an expense, and sort it into an account. This “account” isn’t like a bank account—it’s a category used to manage transactions in your general ledger. Your full list of accounts (or categories) is called your chart of accounts. Plus, they specifically work with private practice owners because they believe in the importance of mental health clinicians having sound businesses.

This is another reason why you will need to use a separate accounting system for your tracking your business income and expenses. At GreenOak Accounting, we’re a team of accountants, tax professionals and bookkeepers that specialize in helping private practice owners. We have worked with hundreds of clients throughout the United States to help them reach their financial goals. Our team can help you gain a better understanding of your business finances, so you can focus on what matters most—your clients. A bookkeeper manages a businesses’ books; they are looking at a businesses’ income and expenses and reconciling expenses.

A huge pro of accounting software is it tends to be far more affordable than some of the other options. A huge con is that you often don’t get much individualized support (if at all), and it’s still pretty easy to make a lot of the same mistakes folks make when DIYing all of their accounting. Thousands of mental health professionals trust Heard’s software and services to manage their bookkeeping, taxes, payroll, and more. One thing that many people going into private practice do not realize is that you do have to pay self-employment taxes.