Taxes,due dates in view.

Tax payment tracker

How to plan tax payments through the year

Most tax payments are known months in advance. They still catch people out, because they come a few times a year and rarely at a convenient moment.

Which taxes come as separate payments

If you are employed, most of your income tax leaves through payroll and you never see it as a bill. The taxes worth planning are the ones you pay yourself:

• Income tax prepayments: self-employed people and freelancers prepay during the year in many countries: quarterly in Germany, four times a year in the US, twice a year in the UK, monthly or quarterly in Poland.
• Property tax: set by the municipality and paid once a year or in a few instalments.
• Vehicle tax: paid once a year in many countries.
• The year-end balance: the difference between what you prepaid and what you owe, known only after you file.

Rules and dates differ by country and change over time. Take the dates and amounts from your tax notices or your accountant, not from a guide.

Put every payment on its due date

A tax payment you know about is not a problem. One you forgot until the week before is. Every known payment should sit in the month it is due, next to the other bills of that month.

In Figa, add a quarterly prepayment as a recurring bill: choose Quarterly, Every 1 quarter, and set the Series start to the first due date. Add a yearly tax with Yearly. If a tax is split into instalments on irregular dates, add each one as a one-time expense on its date.

Set money aside as you earn

With irregular income, the quarter month is hard because the money was spent in the months before it. A common habit is to move a share of every payment you receive into a separate account, so the quarter is paid from there. Your accountant or last year’s return tells you roughly how large that share should be.

Figa does not hold money or calculate tax. It shows when each payment is due and what the months ahead need, so you know how much has to be set aside, and by when.

When the tax office changes the amount

A new tax notice often changes the prepayments for the rest of the year. Edit the first payment with the new amount and choose This and future occurrences: earlier payments keep what you paid. For a one-off difference in a single quarter, choose This occurrence only.

When the year-end balance is known, add it as a one-time expense on its due date. Attach the tax notice to the payment it belongs to, so it is there when you need it.

Keep business and private apart

Business taxes mixed into the home budget make both harder to read. A separate workspace keeps the business with its own bills, totals and currency. Free includes one workspace; Pro allows unlimited workspaces.

On one workspace, a category does the job: a main category Taxes with subcategories such as Income tax and Property tax. Open it to see what each cost over the last 12 months.

Hand it over to your accountant

At the end of the year, your accountant needs a list of what you paid and when. In Figa, filter the expense list by the Taxes category and the period you need, then choose Export CSV. Export works on Free and Pro.

On Pro, you can also invite your accountant to the workspace as a Viewer, with read-only access to the bills and their attachments. Figa is a planner, not tax software: it does not calculate what you owe or file anything for you.