16 Best Accounting Software for Artists and Musicians in 2022

To see our product designed specifically for your country, please visit the United States site. I love seeing each of you have the courage to embrace your creativity and choose to create art. In my tutorials and classes, I will take you step-by-step through the learning process and cheer you on in this beautiful journey of creativity and color. It’s that some people love numbers and plugging things in. But it also takes the stress off because we don’t enjoy this stuff.

But for those transitioning a hobby into a business, it’s essential. The IRS requires entrepreneurs to maintain “complete and accurate books and records” and put “time and effort” into making their activity profitable. Fortunately, the best accounting software for artists helps organize your finances and present yourself as a professional.

Accounting and Bookkeeping Services for Artists & Creatives

Artists often engage on many projects at once, each of which has a separate deadline. They are able to maintain tabs on their revenue and expenses, too. Therefore, this software for an artist is meant to make the tedious work involved in the back end more manageable. Wave is an easy-to-use cloud-based software for managing your finances. Artists and musicians might find it hard to keep track of their money and assume the amount they can expect to reach from their work. This software has many functions to help you stay on top of your money, including integration for online banking and convenient invoice reminders.

I just want to encourage you today, if you’re not making a profit, you can change that. Once the sales come in, $3000 is received for the original track and $1000 is received for the Monolythe remix. For the original mix, 50% is allocated to Lazy Rich’s account CSH123, and 50% is allocated to Cash Records. For the remix, again 50% is allocated to Lazy Rich’s account CSH123 and 50% is allocated to Cash Records (remember Monolythe were paid a remix fee upfront).

Tools for Record Keeping

As a final note, if the IRS ever audits you, your proof for business deductions, including your proof that you are conducting a business and not a hobby, will be in your record keeping. They can also take advantage of these features to pull some data into their accounting software for artists and make better-informed decisions about what they need from you to do their job properly. If you’re looking for easy to use accounting software for your art business, Billy has you in mind.

• If you need to backpedal a bit, shift your directions, remove a product from Etsy, maybe add something specific, pour more energy into something that is obviously profitable, do it.
• Take a picture of a receipt and upload it to record your banking activities.
• Luckily, Casey Moss Tax can be your one-stop-shop for bookkeeping and tax preparation.
• And I know that when you get to a place where you have peaceful, calm waters, regarding your finances, it’s going to take so much stress off.

Some of this is the cost of food and drinks at gallery events, but in addition, the gallery may pay for the shipping costs when artists are shipping new works to them. Accounts Junction has in-depth knowledge and experience in dealing with the unique tax situations faced by artists. We understand the specific deductions and credits available to artists and can help identify and maximize these tax benefits.

Income Taxes for Freelance Workers: Benefits of Hiring a CPA

Send invoices on the road, take photos and upload receipts in seconds, and respond to your clients’ questions right from the app. FreshBooks accounting software stays in sync across the desktop and mobile apps so you can work on whatever device you prefer without missing any important information. With best in class accounting software like FreshBooks, you can easily add tracked time and expenses to your invoices so you’ll never leave money on the table again. The Freelancers Union is concentrated on building worker power and solidarity among freelancers broadly, but they also offer some tools to help artists manage money. They provide ways for freelancers to handle student loan payments, retirement savings, and even bank accounts. One of the biggest challenges that artists and freelancers face is that you have to figure out your personal finances in ways that are streamlines for full-time employees, like saving for retirement with a 401(k).

You must manage your budget, create and sign contracts with studio spaces or freelancers, save money, then make it all legible to the IRS come tax season. Nobody becomes an artist because they secretly want to be their own accountant. However, if you begin your creative profession, you will undoubtedly have to deal with your own finances. To ensure a healthy cash flow, weekly accounting chores include quickly maintaining required materials and labor and invoicing for completed jobs. Adding payment tools to QuickBooks Online allows you to become more organized, save time, and even receive payments more quickly. And you can run your small business from anywhere using QuickBooks Online.

So, if you have an Etsy shop, it is all of the money that’s coming in, whether it’s the sale that you made, the shipping that they paid, all of that would be considered revenue. When you’re more organized when you are really paying attention to the numbers and the accounting. It actually brings a lot more peace that allows you to sleep better. In the process, we realized we needed to hire someone to help us. It wasn’t as expensive as I thought to hire an accountant. A good tax accountant is going to help you find things that maybe you didn’t see in terms of a deduction, the tax breaks.

Firstly, upon signing the contract, Cash Records agrees to pay Lazy Rich an advance of $500. Next, they commission a remix and agree Accounting for artists to pay Monolythe $800. They enter an expense, selecting Monolythe as the client, and enter an item for $800 for the remix.

Embracing bookkeeping and accounting basics empowers you to confidently take control of your finances, freeing up more time for your true passion – creating beautiful art. Familiarize yourself with important bookkeeping terms such as revenue (income), expenses (costs), assets (owned items), and liabilities (debts or obligations) to understand financial discussions. Now, if you think turning your passion into a profession is as easy as pie, then you are incorrect.

It provides financial reports, online invoices, and expense-tracking tools. The mobile apps put your accounting software at your fingertips. Hiveage’s free plan lets you store data for five clients, whereas paid versions start at $19 monthly and support 50 to 1,000 customers. Xero is a cloud-based accounting software for small business owners that allows you to collaborate with your accountant or bookkeeper from anywhere. It offers over 1,000 available apps in the Xero App Marketplace and over 300 connections to banks and financial service providers. Xero is a well-developed software with extensive capabilities, and would make a good option for you if you are an artist with an established, mid-to-large-sized business.

Inciter Art

I was like, Oh, yeah, there’s more money going into this product than I was really thinking about. So you really need to think about all of your expenses. It’s not helpful to stress over things we can’t control. And the more you have a grasp on your numbers and you put people around you, surround yourself with some professionals that can really be of help, you’re going to eliminate so much unneeded heartache. I want to be very honest, that we’ve had some ups and downs for sure, related to money. And I think part of that caused even more of that dread is I used to hate the numbers and the accounting.

Freelance artists are self-employed, and they are hired by multiple clients to create art or creative projects on a per-project basis. As a self-employed artist, you are are responsible for creating project estimates, invoicing clients, and keeping a close eye on both your income and expenses. Wave is a free, cloud-based accounting software solution for artists who are in the beginning stages of their journey as creative professionals and business owners. Additional features such as payroll, payment processing, and professional bookkeeping services are available to be added to your account for additional fees. Few artists want to spend their downtime tracking unpaid client invoices or entering art supply expenses.

We get asked if we can help with payroll, budgeting, bookkeeping, and overall accounting support. Unfortunately we can’t help you out directly here, but we can point you in the direction of some folks who can. I know record keeping and taxes can be a bit overwhelming and not the rewarding part of our passion. Hopefully with this knowledge you are not as “overwhelmed”. If you decide to shop for a tax preparer make sure that the person has experience in the taxation of artists. You will also want to ask questions concerning other tax strategies that are available to you as well as state requirements for filing sales tax, due dates and other compliance issues.

Sole proprietorship tax preparation

The Freelancers Union works to solve some of these problems with collective power. Nobody becomes an artist because they secretly want to become their own accountant. However, once you’re in your creative practice it’s inevitable that you’ll have to deal with your own finances. As a creative, you need to manage your budget, create and sign contracts with studio spaces or freelancers, sock away funds into your savings, and then make it all legible to the IRS come tax season. In our bookkeeping software, Xero, our accountants have set it up so that we see the income first.

Monitoring Tax Law Changes:

Today, it offers many free business tools, including Zoho Books, its online accounting software. Zoho Books is free for one user and one accountant for businesses with less than $50,000 in annual revenue. You can manage projects, payments, and inventory from your dashboard. Keeping accurate books and records allows freelancers and artists to be prepared for tax time. Luckily, Casey Moss Tax can be your one-stop-shop for bookkeeping and tax preparation. Let us guide you through today’s complex tax laws and ensure you are paying the least amount of tax possible.