Accounting for Sole Proprietors: Tax & Bookkeeping Tips
in Business, Accounting & Taxes ·
Hi there.
I’m looking for some bookkeeping advice. I run a small service-based business here in the States, and it’s just me running the show as a sole proprietor. I keep my books pretty simple—just tracking income and expenses since I don't deal with sales tax. I’m thinking about expanding my shop to sell prints of my artwork online (shipped via USPS) or even through local direct sales for cash. However, I’ve hit a bit of a roadblock regarding the rules for returns and exchanges on mass-produced items. Since these would be serialized products, I'm a little lost on how to handle things legally when a customer wants their money back...
So, I have a couple of questions:
1.- What is the standard legal timeframe for processing a return, exchange, or refund?
2.- How should I record a return in my ledger (specifically under the expense column)? I'm mainly wondering how to handle this if the return happens after the 48-hour window for voiding a transaction in the POS system has already passed.
Thanks for any help.
I’m looking for some bookkeeping advice. I run a small service-based business here in the States, and it’s just me running the show as a sole proprietor. I keep my books pretty simple—just tracking income and expenses since I don't deal with sales tax. I’m thinking about expanding my shop to sell prints of my artwork online (shipped via USPS) or even through local direct sales for cash. However, I’ve hit a bit of a roadblock regarding the rules for returns and exchanges on mass-produced items. Since these would be serialized products, I'm a little lost on how to handle things legally when a customer wants their money back...
So, I have a couple of questions:
1.- What is the standard legal timeframe for processing a return, exchange, or refund?
2.- How should I record a return in my ledger (specifically under the expense column)? I'm mainly wondering how to handle this if the return happens after the 48-hour window for voiding a transaction in the POS system has already passed.
Thanks for any help.