Bench keeps your books in order with less effort
Bench offers you the benefits of tax software and your own personal bookkeeper so you can work together to effectively manage your finances. Once you are ready to begin, you will need to collect all of your financial data: bank and credit card information, as well as, invoicing applications, PayPal, point of sale, and existing sales, which will then be centralized to Bench’s system.
Once you connect your accounts, they will receive your bank statements automatically and will make all the updates for you. This allows you to remove stack of paperwork, full file cabinets, and stressful days of trying to manage your receipts and payment documents.
Making business life easier
Keeping track of your receipts has never been easier with Bench. You no longer need to file them away, only to search for them for a week when you need them again. Simply take a picture of your receipt, and send it in to Bench. Your bookkeeper will then categorize each transaction and match them up with any other relevant transactions. But, if you like to keep a paper copy on file, Bench gives you the option to mail your receipts to them via a pre-paid envelope. However, you should be aware; there is a $30/envelope fee for this service.
Once you have your information loaded to Bench, your bookkeeper will generate a clear, monthly financial statement, which is stored securely online. This gives you access to your important information when you need it most. And when it is time to file your taxes, you can download and export all of your financial reports, making it easy to give to your tax preparer.
You will want to take a look at the privacy policy, however, primarily because it lists some of their source providers, but also because you will want to know what they are doing with your most personal information.
Costs associated with Bench
Bench offers three pricing levels: freelancer, team, and business. The freelancer package is $100/month and up to $15,000 in monthly expenses (with unlimited revenue). You also receive a dedicated accountant, monthly tax-ready financial statements, and unlimited bank and credit card transactions.
At the team level, you pay $150/month and are allowed up to $30,000 in monthly expenses. All other amenities are the same as the previous level.
The business level is $250/month and allows up to $150,000 in monthly revenue with all other amenities the same as previous levels. Also, if you are in Canada, you can choose to have your tax calculations done quarterly for $50/month.
Jennifer Walpole is a Senior Staff Writer at The American Genius and holds a Master's degree in English from the University of Oklahoma. She is a science fiction fanatic and enjoys writing way more than she should. She dreams of being a screenwriter and seeing her work on the big screen in Hollywood one day.