In this section, you will learn more about the Deductions tab, where you can add, view, and manage your expenses in one place.
Year
When you click on the year, you can switch between your deductions for the current year and prior years going back to 2022. If you have been tracking expenses with Keeper in previous years, those expenses will remain available in the Deductions tab and can be viewed or edited at any time.
If you recently signed up and connected your bank accounts for expense tracking, keep in mind that Keeper can typically access up to 18 months of transaction history, although this depends on your bank’s policy. Some banks may only provide a few months of data.
In these cases, you may not see expenses from prior years scanned automatically, but no worries. You can still manually add expenses or upload bank statements for those years. We will cover those options in more detail later.
Navigation: Web Dashboard -> Year
Search expenses by name
The search feature lets you quickly find your transactions by entering the merchant’s name (for example, Amazon). If you’re unsure of the exact name, clicking on the search bar will also display a list of your expenses, making it easy to locate what you need.
Navigation: Deductions -> Magnifying glass icon
Manually adding an expense
To manually add a business expense, click the + Add Expense button in the top-right corner.
What you’ll need:
- Name of the purchase
- Date of the expense
- Amount spent
- Category
You can also include a note if needed. Don’t forget to hit Save to add the expense to your deductions.
Navigation: Deductions -> Add expense
Manually adding expenses in bulk
If you have a large number of expenses to add, you can upload them using a PDF, XLSX, or CSV file. To do this, go to the Deductions tab on your web dashboard, click Add Expense, and then select Upload Expenses.
This is especially helpful if you have a bank account or card that isn’t currently supported by the app. Simply upload a spreadsheet or bank statement from that account, and Keeper will automatically add the expenses to your Deductions tab once the upload is complete.
💡Tip: If your expenses didn’t upload successfully, try saving your file in CSV format with only these three columns: Date, Expense Name, and Amount. Avoid including any other information so the app can correctly process your expenses. If you’re still having trouble, don’t worry—reach out to us, and we’ll be happy to help!
Navigation: Deductions -> Add expense -> Upload expenses
After uploading your expenses, we recommend reviewing them to make sure everything is correctly marked and categorized. To quickly find expenses you added manually, use the Account filter and select Manually Added. For uploaded expenses, choose the Expense Upload filter.
Deleting a manually-added expense
If you need to remove a manually added expense, go to the Deductions tab, find the expense you want to delete, and select Delete at the bottom of the page.
📝 Please note that only manually added expenses can be deleted. Expenses tracked from a linked bank account or added through an upload cannot be deleted. If you need to exclude those expenses from your deductions, you can mark them as Personal instead.
Navigation: Deductions -> Select manually added expense -> Delete
Creating a rule
The Rules button in the top-right corner of the Deductions page lets you create custom rules for recurring expenses.
Selecting this will bring a pop-up window where you can set up new rules. Any rules you’ve already created will also appear on this page, making it easy to edit or reference them.
To create a rule, you only need to enter:
- Merchant name
- Expense status
- Category
Types of rules you can create:
Deduction: Automatically categorize recurring deductible expenses such as utilities, subscription services, or insurance, so you don’t have to add them manually each month.
Personal: Ensure personal transactions aren’t accidentally marked as deductions. This is useful for expenses like grocery purchases or non-work-related streaming services.
Ask Me: For expenses that may only qualify as deductions in certain situations, select Ask Me as the status. These expenses won’t be automatically categorized, giving you the chance to review them in the app and decide if they qualify. This option also works if you prefer to manually categorize certain expenses.
Navigation: Deductions -> Rules
Exporting your deductions
In the Deductions tab, you can export a spreadsheet of your deductions by clicking the three-dot menu (...) or the More button in the top-right corner. Make sure to select the correct tax year before exporting to ensure you download the right data.
Navigation: Deductions -> Three-dot menu -> Click 'Export'
Linking another account
You can also link an additional bank account or card using the three-dot menu. Simply click Link Another Account, and you’ll be directed to the Settings tab on your dashboard to complete the process.
Navigation: Deductions -> Three-dot -> Click 'Link another account'
Estimating your tax bill or refund
Curious about how much you might owe in taxes or whether you’ll get a refund for the current year? The Tax Estimate feature provides a quick calculation, giving you a rough idea of your potential tax bill or refund. You can access this by selecting the three-dot menu in the top-right corner of the Deductions page.
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 -> Click 'Tax estimate'
Understanding your tax profile
Your tax profile, accessible through Tax Estimate, includes important details about your income, work, and some of the credits or deductions used to calculate your tax estimate.
You can also update the percentage of your vehicle, public transport, and phone expenses used for business. Additionally, you can enter the size of your home and home office to calculate the business-use percentage applied to the deductible portion of your home expenses. If you travel for work or have meals with clients, you can indicate that information here as well.
Below, we’ll explain each section of your tax profile in more detail.
Navigation: Deductions -> three-dot menu -> Tax 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
Freelancing Details
Here, you can add or edit the type of 1099 work or business you do by selecting Manage Jobs under Freelancing Details.
If you don’t see an exact match, simply type in your job or business name. You can then select it as an option and add it to your freelancing details.
As you continue to use Keeper, it will learn from your spending habits, helping to categorize your expenses and suggest possible deductions based on your work.
Next, you’ll find toggle switches and sliders for common deductions such as business meals, travel expenses, vehicle use, phone-related costs, public transportation, and home office expenses. The information you provide here helps Keeper calculate potential savings and determine which expenses are deductible.
Use the toggle switches to indicate, for example, if you have business meals with clients or colleagues, or if you travel for work.
Below, adjust the sliders to reflect the percentage of time you use your vehicle, phone, or public transportation for 1099 work or business purposes. For instance, if you drive six hours per week and three of those hours are work-related, set the slider to 50%. You can update these percentages anytime. If you have a home office, you can also enter your home and office size to calculate your home business use percentage.
📝 If a deduction doesn’t apply to you, simply set the percentage to zero. For example, if you don’t use your car for business, set the driving 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.
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.
Total deductions
The total deductions shown reflect the full amount of your eligible business expenses. This includes only legitimate business costs and accounts for accurate business use percentages.
This amount reduces your gross self-employment income, which lowers your taxable income and, ultimately, helps reduce the taxes you owe.
Navigation: Deductions
Deductions overview by category
Selecting the total deductions amount opens a pop-up window that breaks down your deductions by category. By clicking on the chevron symbol in a specific category, you’ll see all the added deductions.
Reviewing this breakdown is a great way to stay organized and ensure all your expenses are properly tracked.
From here, you can also select See impact on total tax refund to access the Tax Estimate feature.
Navigation: Deductions -> Total deductions
Sorting expenses
Below the total deductions amount, you can see a list of all your expenses that you can filter by:
- Date
- Merchant
- Account
- Status
- Category
- Amount
Navigation: Deductions
Filtering expenses by transaction status
If you tap on Status, you’ll be able to filter your transactions by:
- Suggested
- Deduction
- Personal
Navigation: Deductions -> Status
Under Suggested, you'll find a list of expenses that need categorizing. You can mark each expense as either a deduction or personal.
Checking this section frequently to correctly mark each expense is a great habit to develop.
More deductions equal more tax savings!
Navigation: Deductions -> Status -> Suggested
Editing an expense
Selecting an 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 click on a specific purchase to:
- Mark the purchase as a deduction or personal
- Edit the expense category
- Adjust the business-use percentage for that particular expense
- Create/View rule
- Overwrite smart-split (if option is available)
Navigation: Deductions -> Select an expense
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)
Split amounts
If a purchase includes both personal and business items (for example, buying business supplies along with personal goods), you can adjust the business-use percentage to accurately claim only the portion related to your business.
Navigation: Deductions -> Select an expense -> Percentage slider
Smart-split
Smart Split is an accounting method that divides your expenses across your freelance or business jobs based on your reported income and industry benchmarks. When you file, Keeper will automatically assign expenses to the correct Schedule C income source using this method.
However, if you'd rather allocate expenses manually by income source, you can do so in the Deductions section. Simply select the expense and click Overwrite smart-split to assign it to specific income sources yourself.
Navigation: Deductions -> Select an expense -> Overwrite smart-split
Bulk edit
The bulk edit feature lets you update multiple transactions at once. First, filter for the specific expenses you want to edit. Then, select the checkbox in the header row to choose all filtered transactions. You can uncheck any individual transactions you don't want to edit.
You can edit the selected expenses by adjusting the following:
- Status: This option lets you mark all selected expenses as either Deductions or Personal.
- Category: This allows you to assign a category to all selected expenses. You can choose from the available categories, but please note that only one category can be applied to all selected transactions.
- Note: Add the same note to all selected expenses.
If you prefer to manage your expenses on the app, feel free to check out this article about the app's Deductions tab!