As a personal chef, tracking and categorizing your food and supply expenses effectively can be a bit daunting, but necessary for proper taxation. To streamline this process, consider the following steps:

1. Keep All Receipts: Be diligent about keeping records of all your purchases. Receipts for every ingredient bought and any supplies used should be well-organized and stored.
2. Use a Business Credit Card: A dedicated business credit card for your personal chef business greatly simplifies expense tracking. All transactions are recorded in one place, and it is easy to download and analyze spending.
3. Utilize Accounting Software: Use software like Bench Accounting. This will automatically categorize expenses and provide monthly financial statements. Our team of accounting professionals can also work directly with you to customize expense categories to your needs.
4. Consider a Bookkeeper: A professional bookkeeper specialized in your industry can provide personalized help. They can expertly manage and categorize your expenses and ensure you’re maximizing your tax deductions.

Keep in mind that the goal is to make your tax preparation as easy and accurate as possible. By correctly tracking and categorizing your food and supply expenses, your profit picture will become clearer and you can run your business more effectively.

Bench Accounting can significantly aid you in managing your financial transactions with multiple clients all across the city. Our team of professional bookkeepers leverages our proprietary software to accurately categorize and reconcile your business transactions. This simplifies the process of tracking income and expenses from clients in various locations.

We also provide monthly financial statements and expense reports, giving you a clear overview of your financial performance. This can be particularly helpful in managing transactions with multiple clients, as it allows you to quickly identify trends, risks, and opportunities.

Moreover, you will get a dedicated bookkeeping team which you can reach out to at any time if you have any queries or need any assistance. Our service can save you valuable time, allowing you to focus more on serving your clients.

Specific tax deductions available to personal chefs can include ingredients and supplies, travel, entertainment and meals, cooking equipment, education expenses, and more. It's essential to keep a record of such expenses as they significantly reduce your taxable income.

At Bench Accounting, we strive to make your accounting stress free. Our team of proficient bookkeepers can not only handle your bookkeeping needs professionally, but they also assist you in tracking, managing and maximizing your tax deductions. Our comprehensive packages cover financial statement preparation, annual financial packages, filing support, tax season support, and much more. We help you stay organized and tax-ready all year round so you can focus more on cooking and less on accounting.

Nope! All bookkeeping is completed in-house.

Your bookkeeper will be your main point of contact, but at times you might hear from another member of your team. This is usually when your bookkeeper goes on vacation, is sick, or otherwise unavailable.

We handle the bookkeeping for you but sometimes we’ll need your input, especially at year-end. On average, expect to spend 15 minutes each month answering questions for your bookkeeper, or uploading supporting docs.