Here it is nearly Christmas and most of us have a hard time believing the end of the year is almost here! And, with the end of the year, tax time is not far behind. Are you one of those who dread this time of year because it means you have to begin digging through the files to find all your information on cattle bought, sold, income, expenses, the number and kind of cattle you had in your herd at the end of the year?
In the past, I always put all that stuff off until the last minute because I just hated trying to dig out the information I had so carefully filed during the year. And, more often than not, the information is not where I was certain I filed it!
Well, there’s an answer for those problems now. My CattleMax software allows me to punch a few buttons and print out all my accountant needs for my end of year tax information.
On December 31, I can print out an inventory of my cattle herd, grouped by bulls, cows and calves. Then I can print another report showing the cattle I’ve purchased during the year, the type of animal, the date(s) purchased, price and any other information the accountant may need.
Next, I go to the Sales report and print out a record of the cattle sold during the year with all the pertinent information, including marketing costs. Then, I can print out a report of the Expenses for the cattle operation, grouped and totaled by category (feed, veterinarian, etc.) and follow that with a report of the cattle Income.
So, to gather the information needed for the accountant or tax man, rather than taking countless late night hours, I can now get the information needed in about 30 minutes or less! And, I can tell my accountant he shouldn’t charge me as much for doing my taxes since I get all the information he needs in a nice, neat few pages rather than throwing boxes of invoices, receipts and other assorted paper work on his desk!
He just laughs, says thanks and charges the same or more! But, I’m certainly relieved I have the work done early and have handed it off to him.
Have you tried a cattle management software program and does it work for you?
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