The Keeper app is a feature-rich environment designed to help you manage your business expenses and file your taxes! Below is a roadmap to help you navigate every tab and feature available in the app.
You'll see the "Deductions" tab once you log in to the app. Much of your experience with Keeper will be focused on this page.
Year
With the touch of a button, you can jump back and forth between your deductions for this year and from the previous year.
Keep in mind that we only support tracking deductions for the current year and the previous year at this time.
Navigation: Deductions tab
Manually adding an expense
The "+" icon in the top right corner is where you can manually add a business expense.
All you need is:
- The name of the purchase
- Amount spent
- Category
- Date
You can also attach a photo of your receipt if you prefer.
Don't forget to hit 'Save' so the expense gets added to your deduction spreadsheet!
Navigation: Deductions -> Plus sign
Deleting a manually-added expense
If you need to remove a manually added expense, navigate to the Deductions tab, locate the expense you want to delete, and then tap on 'Delete' at the bottom of the page.
Navigation: Deductions -> select manually added expense -> Delete
Three-dot Menu
The three-dot menu next to the "+" sign in the app offers four handy tools:
- Rules
- Financial accounts
- Tax estimate
- Export deductions
Let’s explore these features in more detail.
Navigation: Deductions -> three-dot menu
Creating rules for recurring expenses
The "Rules" feature helps you automatically categorize recurring expenses so you won’t need to update them manually. Whether it’s a monthly utility bill or a personal subscription like Netflix, creating a rule means these expenses will be consistently marked according to your preferences.
To manage your rules, open the three-dot menu in the Deductions tab and select "Rules." This brings up a window where you can create new rules or review and update any existing ones.
When creating a rule, all you need to enter are:
- Merchant name
- Deduction status
- Category
Here are some types of rules you can create for managing your expenses:
- Deduction: Set up rules for recurring deductions such as utilities, subscription services, and insurance. This way, you won't need to manually add them each month.
- Not Deductible: Create rules for personal transactions to ensure they aren't mistakenly categorized as deductions. This is ideal for expenses like grocery store purchases or non-work-related streaming services.
- Ask Me: For expenses that might qualify as deductions only in specific situations, create a rule and select 'Ask Me' for the status. This means these expenses won’t be automatically categorized. Instead, you can review them in the app and decide if they qualify as deductions. If you prefer to manually categorize certain expenses, you can set up rules for those and choose 'Ask Me' as well.
You can also choose to apply the rule to past purchases. By selecting this option, all expenses with the exact merchant name will be automatically updated according to the rule you’ve set.
Navigation: Deductions -> three-dot menu -> Rules
Linking your accounts
By selecting the "Financial accounts" option from the three-dot menu, you'll be directed to the "Connected financial accounts" section in the Settings tab. Here, you can link your bank accounts or cards, allowing us to scan and track your expenses while identifying potential deductions.
Navigation: Deductions -> three-dot menu -> Financial accounts
Estimating your tax bill or refund
Curious about how much you might owe in taxes or whether you’ll get a refund? The "Tax Estimate" feature in the app provides a quick calculation, giving you a rough idea of your potential tax bill or refund.
Keep in mind that while the estimate provides a helpful ballpark figure, it doesn’t take into account other sources of income, credits, or deductions that will be factored in during the actual filing process. Think of it as a useful guide, but not a final calculation. Your actual tax bill or refund may vary once you complete your filing with us and submit your return for review.
Navigation: Deductions -> three-dot menu -> Tax estimate
Understanding your tax profile
Your tax profile includes important details about your income, work, and some of the credits or deductions that can affect your taxes. This helps the app give you a better estimate of your potential tax bill or refund. It also uses this information to calculate your tax rate, which plays a role in figuring out your Estimated Tax Savings.
Additionally, you can update the percentage of your vehicle, home, and phone expenses that are used for business. You can also let us know if you travel for business or have meals with clients.
To access your Tax Profile, just select "Improve this estimate" under the Tax Estimate feature. Below, we’ll explain each section of your tax profile in more detail.
Navigation: Deductions -> three-dot menu -> Tax estimate -> Improve this estimate
Household Details and Income
In this section, you can update your:
- State of residence
- Tax filing status
- Dependents (if any)
- Expected annual W-2 employee income
- Expected annual freelancing/business income
Keep in mind that updating your household details and income information will also adjust your tax rate in the app, which can affect your Estimated Tax Savings. If you notice a change in your Estimated Tax Savings amount, it's likely due to the updates you've made in your tax profile. You can always check your current tax rate by selecting your Estimated Tax Savings amount in the Deductions tab.
Freelancing Details
Here, you can update the type of 1099 work or business you do. If you can’t find an exact match, just choose the option that best fits your situation.
As you continue to use the app, it will learn from your spending habits, helping to categorize your expenses and suggest possible deductions based on your work.
💡Tip: If your occupation or industry isn’t listed in the dropdown menu, you can select “Other.”
Next, you’ll see toggle switches and sliders for common deductions like business meals, travel expenses, home office, vehicle use, phone-related expenses, and public transportation costs. The information you provide here helps Keeper calculate your potential savings and determine which expenses you can deduct.
You can easily use the toggle switch to indicate if you have business meals with clients or colleagues, or if you travel for work.
Below, you can adjust the sliders to reflect the percentage of time you use your vehicle, phone, home, or public transportation for 1099 work or business purposes. For example, if you drive six hours per week and spend three of those hours on work-related tasks, set the slider to 50%. You can update these percentages at any time.
📝 If a deduction doesn’t apply to you, simply set the percentage to zero. For example, if you don’t have a dedicated home office for your business, set the home office slider to zero.
💡Tip: For a better understanding of which expenses qualify for these deductions, we recommend checking out our helpful articles on our website at https://www.keepertax.com/free-resources. You can also find these articles in the Tax University section under the Settings tab.
Taxes Paid, Credits, and Deductions
In the final section of your Tax Profile, you can enter details about the federal and state income taxes withheld from your W-2, or any quarterly tax payments you’ve made. You’ll also have the option to indicate if you qualify for any of the following credits or deductions: student tuition payments, mortgage interest, or traditional IRA contributions.
Exporting your deductions
One of the helpful features we offer is the ability to export your deductions. If you're on an active subscription plan (at least the monthly plan), you can easily download a copy of your deductions whenever you need it.
If you'd like a copy of your deductions to print or use elsewhere, simply export them as a spreadsheet. To do this, tap the three-dot menu and select "Export deductions." Just make sure to choose the correct year in the top-left corner of the Deductions tab before exporting.
Navigation: Deductions -> three-dot menu -> Export deductions
Estimated tax savings
The amount you see is an estimate of the money you'll get back from the government at tax time, either as a tax refund or a bill reduction.
Keeper does the math so you don't have to. For those who want to know, the value is determined by multiplying your tax rate by the dollar value of your total tax deductions.
📝 The Estimated Tax Savings amount doesn’t reflect your total deductions. To see your total deduction amount, tap on the Estimated Tax Savings in the app. This will bring up a page displaying both your total deductions and your current tax rate.
Also, keep in mind that the tax rate used to calculate your estimated tax savings is based on the income and personal details in your tax profile. You can update your tax profile anytime under "Tax Estimate."
Navigation: Deductions -> Estimated Tax savings
View business expenses by category
When you tap on your estimated tax savings amount, a pop-up window will appear with a breakdown of your total deductions X your tax rate and your total estimated tax savings.
This is where you'll also see a list of all your business expenses per category. And where you can view, manage, and edit them.
By tapping on the chevron symbol in a specific category, you’ll see all the added deductions.
Reviewing these sections is a great way to stay organized and ensure all your deductions are tracked.
Navigation: Deductions -> Estimated tax savings
Search expenses by name
The magnifying glass icon 🔍 will let you search your transactions by name. (e.g. Amazon)
Navigation: Deductions -> Magnifying glass
Sorting Expenses
Below estimated tax savings, you can see a list of all your expenses that you can filter by:
- Status
- Category
- Account
- Amount
- Most recent or highest amount
Navigation: Deductions
Filtering expenses by transaction status
If you tap on Status, you’ll be able to filter your transactions by:
- Deductions
- Not deductible
- Ask Me
Navigation: Deductions -> Status
Ask Me expense category
Under Ask Me, you'll see a list of business expenses for you to go through if there are expenses that haven't been categorized. With a tap of a button, you can mark each expense as either a deduction or not.
Checking this area of the app frequently to correctly mark each expense is a great habit to develop.
More deductions equal more tax savings!
Navigation: Deductions -> Status -> Ask Me
"Ask" Feature
Not sure whether an expense can be deducted? Don't worry; we got you covered!
You'll notice that your uncategorized or unreviewed expenses (transactions with a 💡 icon) have an "Ask" option under them. This feature allows you to instantly ask if that specific expense can be deducted. Simply tap on that button and it will take you to the "Ask" tab where our AI Assistant answers your question in seconds! Moreover, if the AI assistant determines that a human response is needed, it will alert one of our staff members to provide an answer instead.
Navigation: Deductions -> Select the uncategorized expense -> Ask
Editing an expense
Tapping on any expense in the "Deductions" tab opens up a list of tools to help you micro-manage the transactions that are added to your list of deductions.
You can tap on a specific purchase to:
- Create/View rule
- Add receipt photo
- Add a note
- Edit the amount spent
- Edit the category
- Mark the purchase as a deduction
- Remove it from your deductions
You'll also see other details such as the amount spent, your current tax rate, your tax savings for that specific expense, and the account it's coming from.
Navigation: Deductions -> Select an expense
Add a receipt photo
In the Deductions tab, you can easily attach a photo of your receipt by tapping on an expense and selecting "Add receipt photo."
Navigation: Deduction -> Select expense > Add receipt photo (optional)
Add a note
You can also add a note to your expenses. This is helpful if you'd like to add extra documentation for your transactions, especially business meals, such as who you're with or what the meeting was about.
Navigation: Deductions -> Select an expense > Note (optional)
Bulk edit
The bulk edit feature allows you to make changes for multiple transactions at once. Simply press an expense and hold it for a few seconds until you see the multi-edit mode. You can then select the expenses you'd like to edit.
Navigation: Deductions tab -> Press and hold an expense
After selecting the expenses, tap on 'Edit.' This will pull up a screen where you can bulk change the expenses by the following:
- Split amounts
- Add a note
- Change expense categories
- Mark as tax deductions
- Mark as personal
Split amounts allows you to change the business-use percentage of the transactions you have selected.
Add a note lets you add the same note for all expenses selected.
Mark as tax deductions will add the expenses to your deductions, and
Mark as personal lets you mark the expenses as personal.
Navigation: Deductions -> Press and hold an expense -> Edit
By selecting change expense categories, you can edit the category of the expenses with just one tap. Here, you can see all the categories you can choose from. Kindly note that you can only select one category for all the expenses you have selected.
Navigation: Deductions tab -> Press and hold an expense -> Edit -> Change expense categories