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Quarterly Tax Estimator
Your penalty-safe quarterly number, on its own — safe-harbor math built in.
Bookkeeping Tracker guide
Your Bookkeeping Tracker, tab by tab.
What each tab is for, when to use each menu item, and how to keep the file current. Everything here is also in the workbook's own Instructions tab — this is the fuller version.
Before you begin
First, make it yours.
Your purchase link opens a view-only original. To get your own editable version, open it in Google Sheets and click File → Make a copy — Google saves an editable copy to your Google Drive, yours forever. Work in that copy, not the original.
Quick start
Six steps to your first numbers.
The same six steps are on the Instructions tab in your copy, where each step links to the tab it names.
- 1Open the Income tab. For each invoice, type the Date Sent, the client and the Amount Billed, and set Status to Unpaid. When the money lands, fill Date Received and Amount Received and set Status to Paid (or Partial if some is still owed). This tracker counts income by Date Received.
- 2Open the Expenses tab — your first row is 17; the twelve green rows above it are mileage and fill themselves. Type the date, vendor, amount and Business Purpose, then pick a Category and a Deductibility from the dropdowns. Tick Receipt? once you have one. Rows in another tool? Paste them on the Paste Zone tab first.
- 3Drive for work? Open the Mileage Log tab and enter the trip date, where you went and why, and round-trip miles. The deduction works itself out and shows in that month’s green row on Expenses — never type mileage on Expenses.
- 4Open the Dashboard. Pick This Month, Last Month or This Year (YTD) in the Period cell (row 3) to change the tiles. If the chip at the top right says something needs fixing, click it: the Error Check tab lists each item with a Fix link. If the tab does not open, hover the chip — its note says what to do.
- 5Open Tax Set-Aside and work down its three numbered steps. Once: look up your state’s rate (link in row 11) and type your State Reserve % in row 14. Each time you pay: enter the estimated payment in rows 21–24 (federal in C, state in D). Once a month: row 30 shows whether you are ahead of or short of your reserve target — an estimate, not your tax bill.
- 6In the last days of each month, open Monthly Review. The numbers fill themselves; you answer the five questions in the blue cells. A short check-in each month keeps the file tidy for tax time.
The tabs
Eleven tabs. Here is each one.
Three more stay hidden. Two you may meet: Error Check, which lists anything the Dashboard chip flags, and Config, which holds the tax year and IRS rates (FinnStatement ▸ Show / Hide Config Sheet). The third, Calc, does the arithmetic.
Instructions
The manual inside your copy. It explains how to make your copy, what the cell and tab colors mean, the six steps for your first month (each step links to the tab it names), what each tab is for, and every menu item.
Dashboard
Your financial snapshot — revenue, profit, cash owed to you, your tax set-aside and what needs attention. A new copy shows a “Start here” panel with three linked steps (Quick Start steps 1, 2 and 5); it goes away by itself once you enter your first invoice or expense. The Tax set-aside tile reads Ahead $…, Short $… or On target for federal, with your state on the line beneath — or a reminder to add your state rate. Under Profit and Revenue, a line such as “▲ 12% vs last month” compares with the period before; it stays blank on This Year (YTD), where this copy has no earlier year to compare. Read-only; it updates itself.
Trends
See your money by month. Charts compare revenue vs expenses, show where the money goes by category, and track tax-reserve progress after you log income and expenses.
Income
Enter Date Sent when you invoice, then leave Date Received blank until payment lands. Aging, cash owed, and Avg Days to Payment use Date Sent; cash-basis revenue and tax-year totals use Date Received.
Expenses
Log every business expense — date, vendor, amount, and an IRS category from the dropdown — then pick its Deductibility (full, 50% for meals, or partly business). Tick Receipt? once you have one: the Dashboard and Monthly Review count any expense of $75 or more that is still missing its receipt. The IRS requires one at that level for travel, meals, gifts and car costs, and for all lodging. The twelve green rows at the top are mileage — leave them alone.
Paste Zone
Have expenses in a bank export, card statement, or another spreadsheet? Paste the rows here, then click FinnStatement ▸ Move Pasted Rows to Expenses. It maps common category names onto ours and moves each row to Expenses. Anything it can't place stays on the tab with the reason beside it — nothing you've already entered is changed.
Mileage Log
Log business trips — date, purpose, miles. The deduction calculates itself at the IRS standard mileage rate for each trip's date, and each month's total flows to Expenses on its own — twelve green rows, nothing to copy over. Every trip needs a date. The log is your record for the standard-rate method; it isn't for a vehicle you deduct by actual costs. Rate and Amount stay blank and plain until you type the miles. When the IRS changes the rate during the year, both rates and the day the new one starts are on the Config tab (FinnStatement ▸ Update IRS Values); trips before that day keep the earlier rate.
Tax Set-Aside
The “how much should I set aside” tab, in three numbered steps. Step 1 — your state reserve %: look up your state's rate and type the percentage you want to reserve. Step 2 — payments you've sent: each quarter's estimated payments, federal and state. Step 3 — where you stand: ahead of or short of your reserve target, federal and state reported separately and never netted. It works from your profit so far. Enter last year's total tax and it shows the 100%-of-prior-year figure the federal safe harbor starts from; the note under that figure explains the 110% threshold and the other conditions. The longer explanations sit in a “How this works” section at the bottom of the tab. An estimate, not your tax bill — confirm your actual tax with your CPA.
Monthly Review
A short, once-a-month check-in. The totals fill themselves; you answer five short questions to close out the month. This is what keeps the file tidy for your CPA all year.
Ask Gemini
Optional. Twelve copy-ready AI prompts for tax questions, cash flow, checking your books before you file, invoice follow-up, and CPA prep — paste them into your own free ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. The assist, not the authority: it never files anything for you.
Category Reference
Read-only. Every Expenses category shows its Schedule C line, a link to the always-current rule on the website, and a "Current as of Tax Year 2026" stamp.
Colors
What the colors mean.
Blue cell — You type here.
Green cell — Filled in from another tab. Do not edit.
Red cell — Something to fix before you file, or a range not to edit.
Charcoal cell — A formula result. Updates itself; do not edit.
Amber tab — You type here: Income, Expenses, Mileage Log, Paste Zone.
Teal tab — Results: Dashboard, Trends, Tax Set-Aside, Monthly Review.
Gray tab — Help: Instructions, Category Reference, Ask Gemini.
The FinnStatement menu
Six tools, and when to reach for each.
At the top of the sheet, next to Help, you will find a FinnStatement menu.
Add 30 More Rows
Filled up the Income, Expenses, or Mileage Log tab? This adds 30 blank rows to whichever tab you are on. Use it the moment you run out of empty rows — your totals and formulas stay intact.
Move Pasted Rows to Expenses
Pasted rows on the Paste Zone tab? This maps them onto our category names and adds them to Expenses. Rows it can't place stay on Paste Zone with a reason — fix them and click again.
Repair Formulas
A summary number looks wrong, or you see an error after an edit? This restores the calculated cells on the Dashboard (the top-right chip included), Tax Set-Aside, Monthly Review and the Mileage Log, and the twelve green mileage rows on Expenses — where they stand. It never adds, deletes or edits a row of your own. Use it if you overwrote a formula cell by accident.
Update IRS Values
Once a year, each January, when the IRS publishes new figures — and again if the IRS changes the mileage rate during the year. It takes you to the six IRS values in the Config tab — the mileage rate, the rate after a mid-year change and the day it starts, home office, SEP IRA, Solo 401k — and the note beside each says where to look it up or what to type. Quarterly due dates are already built in through 2030.
Show / Hide Config Sheet
Shows or hides the Config tab — the tax year, IRS rates and dropdown lists. Use it to change the Active Tax Year, then hide it again.
Workbook Version
Shows your copy’s version and tax year. Compare it against the version shown at the bottom of this page to confirm you are on the latest.
Paste Zone
How the Paste Zone works.
Use it for a batch of expenses you already have somewhere else — another spreadsheet or app, or a card or bank export. For a few expenses, type them straight onto Expenses.
1. Put the columns in this order
Date · Vendor · Amount · Category · Payment Method · Deductibility · Notes — one expense per row, starting at row 5. Up to 100 rows go in one move (rows 5–104); paste more than that in one go and the workbook tells you to move in batches of 100. Dates can be a date cell, 2026-03-15 or 3/15/2026. Amounts can carry a $ and commas. Give each row a category word — that is the one thing you type.
2. How categories are matched
First the exact name from the Category Reference tab, ignoring capitals, spacing and dash style ("home office - simplified method" is Home Office — Simplified Method). Then a short list of common words: "airfare", "flight", "hotel" and "lodging" become Business Travel; "meals" and "restaurant" become Business Meals (50% deductible); "software" and "saas" become Software and Subscriptions; "office supplies" becomes Office Supplies. Payment Method works the same way ("visa", "amex" and "card" are Business Credit Card; "ach" and "debit" are Business Bank Account), and so does Deductibility ("full" or "yes" is Full — likely deductible; "50%" is Partial — 50% (meals)).
3. Why some words are flagged
A word that could mean two categories is never guessed. "supplies" could be Office Supplies or Supplies and Materials; "insurance" could be Business Insurance or Health Insurance Premiums; the same goes for "vehicle", "car", "home office", "interest", "fees" and "taxes". Those rows stay on the Paste Zone with a reason. The fix is a more specific label: type "office supplies", "health insurance", "home office simplified" — or the exact name from Category Reference — and click again.
4. What each Status reason means
Rows the workbook can't place stay at the top of the Paste Zone, and the Status cell turns red with one of these:
Vendor is blank
Type a vendor. Every expense needs one.
Date not recognized — use 2026-03-15 or 3/15/2026
Retype the date in one of those two forms, or paste a real date cell.
Amount must be a positive number (enter refunds on Expenses by hand)
Blank, text, zero or negative. Type a positive number; refunds are entered on Expenses directly.
Category is blank
Type a category word.
Category not recognized: 'supplies' — use one of the 27 names on Category Reference
The word matched nothing, or could mean more than one category (see 3). Use a more specific word or the exact name.
Mileage isn't pasted — log the trips on the Mileage Log tab; the Expenses mileage rows fill themselves
Rows with "mileage", "miles" or the Vehicle / Mileage — Standard Rate category land here. Log the trip on the Mileage Log tab, then clear this row — the twelve green mileage rows on Expenses carry it from there.
Payment method not recognized: 'venmo card'
Use bank, card, visa, amex, paypal, stripe, cash or check — or the exact name — or leave it blank and pick it on Expenses.
Deductibility not recognized: 'maybe'
Use full, 50%, partial, review or no — or the exact name — or leave it blank and pick it on Expenses.
Notes exceed 500 characters — shorten them and click again
Trim the note.
Formulas are not allowed in the Paste Zone — paste values only
Paste as values (Edit ▸ Paste special ▸ Values only) and click again.
The quoted words after the colon ('supplies', 'venmo card', 'maybe') are examples — the workbook shows whatever you typed.
5. Fix it and click again
Fix the cell the reason points at, then click FinnStatement ▸ Move Pasted Rows to Expenses again. Only the fixed rows move; the rest stay put with their reasons. Each click ends with a short message: how many rows moved and to which Expenses rows, and how many still need attention.
6. What arrives on Expenses
Each moved row lands after your last used Expenses row with the exact dropdown values: the category, payment method and deductibility it matched. Receipt? arrives unchecked. Business Purpose is left blank for you to fill in. A blank Deductibility stays blank — set it on Expenses; the Category Reference tab and your CPA are where to check. If Expenses is full, the workbook adds rows for you (it stops at row 500 and tells you to move fewer). Nothing already on Expenses is ever changed or deleted — the move only adds.
When something needs fixing
The Dashboard chip and the Error Check tab.
The Dashboard's top-right chip reads “All checks pass” until one of the workbook's health checks trips. Then it reads “1 thing to fix →” (or the number of things). Click it: the Error Check tab lists each item with a Fix link. The tab stays hidden until a check trips; if a click does not open it, hover the chip — its note says how to show the tab.
Each line on the Error Check tab is one check: a dash means fine, a number means attention. Read the description, click its Fix link, and start at check #1 — fixing one thing often clears several.
If a summary number still looks wrong, or the chip itself was deleted, use FinnStatement ▸ Repair Formulas — it restores calculated cells in place, the chip included, and never adds, deletes or edits a row of your own. If it persists, email hello@finnstatement.com with a screenshot of the Error Check tab.
If the chip reads “Check the Error Check tab →”, one of the tab's own check formulas was changed or deleted: restore an earlier version from File ▸ Version history.
Active tax year
The workbook covers tax years 2026–2030. The Active Tax Year controls which year the Dashboard and Tax Set-Aside totals show. To change it, open the Config tab (hidden by default — choose FinnStatement ▸ Show / Hide Config Sheet) and update the year cell. It starts on 2026. Use one copy per tax year — start a later year in a copy that is still empty.
Keeping it current
Quarterly tax due dates through 2030 are already built in — nothing to update there. Each January, when the IRS publishes new figures, FinnStatement → Update IRS Values takes you to the six IRS values in Config; the note beside each says where to look it up or what to type. If the IRS changes the mileage rate during the year, run it again when the change is announced: the rows “Mileage Rate after a Mid-Year Change” and “First Day the New Mileage Rate Applies” hold the new rate and the day it starts — trips before that day keep the January rate. If the rate did not change, keep the second rate equal to the first and leave the day blank. No other annual values need manual updating.
Set up for your trade
One recommended setup per trade.
The same workbook categories, interpreted for how your trade actually works — which ones you'll use, which to ignore, and the two things people in your line of work habitually miss.
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The rest of the toolkit
You own the Bookkeeping Tracker. Here's what's next.
New tools ship to the newsletter first, with an early-bird price.
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Finance Starter Kit
The bundle — track, get paid, and set aside for taxes, in one kit.
This guide and the workbook are for organizing your records. They are not tax, legal, or financial advice — consult your CPA for that. IRS references are current as of each release.
Stuck on something? Email hello@finnstatement.com.
This guide covers workbook v2.3.0 · 2026 tax year