Thank goodness... the relief when the tax return is completed and lodged! It was (again...) right down to the wire, with a day left before the submission deadline.... well, not quite a hard deadline, but the one where you had to submit before starting receive late penalties!

Now, doing taxes as a freelancer is always going to be a pain in the arse... multiple employers and invoices, and lots and deductions from all over the bloody place! Now... add in two freelance musicians under the same roof also doing the same thing... and then add in a splash of crypto-reporting as well! Eeeep.... it is quite a lot to do, and although people use accountants for this sort of thing, we really can't justify spending so much on an accountant when most of the work is done in the collection of the data, invoices, and receipts anyway!

Thankfully, things could have been a lot more difficult... a lot of the salaried income and taxes, share dividends and taxes, and bits and pieces are all now auto-reported by the employers and share registries... I know that some people might not like that, but honestly... as a freelancer with multiple employers and with a very loose approach to collecting all the bits of paper that come in with stock shares... well, I'm pretty happy that it is all done like that. It really is always going to be pain in the arse hunting around for that letter that you received a few months ago... and then collating everything into a single number for a line in the reporting!

And then with Cointracking, it is a pretty easy exercise to submit the numbers for capital gains assessments and income as the software does calculate it for you according to whatever accounting method you choose... some of the ecosystem still needs quite a bit of cleaning up of imports, but if you have time to do it and do it with a close eye on any potential glitches (use multiple import accounts to cleanse imports before merging into your main tracking account!).

I only wish that there was a cheap and easy way to do a similar calculation with shares... we don't have enough to spend lots of money on it... and we don't trade often, it is more banking away for our kids. So, I still use an excel sheet to track it all... but it is a pain in the arse! I did try out Sharesight, but that ended up being more annoying than useful.

And the deductions we use Expensify to log and total up all the miscellaneous work expenses that add up during the year. Both my wife and I are pretty much on top of this these days.... and it has been a godsend to have an online tracking and recording tool for that!

So... all done, a sigh of relief... and I can get back to focussing on doing my music stuff again! I hate all the tax stuff... but (again), a resolution to stay on top of everything so that it is much simpler and quicker next time!

Handy Crypto Tools

Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Coinbase Wallet: Multi chain wallet with lots of opportunities to Learn and Earn!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
WooX: The centralised version of WooFi. Stake WOO for fee-free trades and free withdrawals! This link also gives you back 25% of the commission.
GMX.io: Decentralised perpetual futures trading on Arbitrum!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
KuCoin: I still use this exchange to take part in the Spotlight and Burning Drop launches.
MEXC: Accepts HIVE, and trades in most poopcoins! Join the casino!
ByBit: Leverage and spot trading, next Binance?
OkX: Again, another Binance contender?