Your complete operations guide for TillJotter, from daily transactions through year-end tax compliance.
TillJotter is double-entry bookkeeping for businesses of every size — small businesses, freelancers, and LLCs — whether you sell products, offer services, run a trade, or do a bit of everything. It keeps your books balanced automatically (with integer-cents precision and built-in checks), so you get accurate, tax-ready numbers without needing an accounting background.
During setup you pick your business type, and TillJotter tailors your chart of accounts to fit — General, Service / Consulting, Retail, or Grocery & Catering. So the account names you see are matched to how your business actually works.
Sign up with your email and a password. We'll send a verification link to your inbox — click it to confirm your address, and you'll be taken into the app (and, if you picked a paid plan, on to checkout). After that, you sign in with the same email and password. Forgot it? Use "Forgot password" on the sign-in screen to get a secure reset link by email.
For your security, the app signs you out automatically after 15 minutes of inactivity on desktop.
Everything you enter is stored securely in the cloud and scoped to your account — only you (and anyone you explicitly invite, such as your accountant) can see it. Your books sync across every device you sign in on.
Before recording transactions, open Settings (gear icon) and confirm:
The dashboard provides a real-time health indicator of your business ledger.
Calculated from statement/import coverage, uncategorized queues, receipts for transactions over $75, period lock history, unposted mileage, and open customer deposits. Click the score ring to view breakdown.
Lists immediate action items: unreviewed transactions, flagged anomalies (negative bank accounts, unusual purchases), sales tax dates, and pending tax voucher due dates.
Controlled in settings. Displays plain business terms ("Money in business checking") or standard numbers and account names ("1010 - Checking Account - Operating").
TillJotter enforces GAAP-compliant double-entry accounting at the database engine level.
"The Balancing Rule: Every transaction consists of debits and credits. The total sum of splits must balance to exactly zero."
TillJotter stores debits (increases in assets and expenses) as positive integers, and credits (increases in liabilities, equity, and revenue) as negative integers in integer cents, avoiding float rounding drifts.
Go to Operations → Cash Sales. Enter the gross sales amount. The system structures the splits automatically: it debits your cash/checking account, credits your sales income account (4010), and, where sales tax applies, credits Sales Tax Payable (2110).
Go to Capture on mobile or desktop. Snap or upload a receipt image. The image is sent to our AI provider, which reads the vendor name, total, date and sales tax from it. Review the values it returns — always check the amount — then adjust the category and save. You can also skip the scan and type the details in yourself.
On Ledger & Transactions, click Connect a bank to securely link your bank or credit card. New transactions then flow in automatically, so you don't have to upload anything by hand. You can connect more than one account, and disconnect any of them at any time.
Prefer to work from statements? Go to Ledger & Transactions → Import Statement and upload a PDF. Transactions are read straight from the file.
However transactions arrive, TillJotter suggests a category for each one — first from your saved rules, and then, for anything unfamiliar, with AI. You stay in control: review each suggestion, correct anything that's off, and check "Remember this vendor" to turn a good categorization into a rule for next time. Anything low-confidence lands in the "Needs Review" queue so nothing is silently miscategorized.
Some events need more than one line — a payment-processor payout (which nets out fees), an owner putting personal money into the business, an owner draw, taking a customer deposit, or remitting the sales tax you collected. Templates handle these for you: fill in a couple of amounts and the template builds the correct, balanced multi-line entry automatically — no debits-and-credits knowledge required.
Open the Templates page to see the ones available for your business and run any of them.
These features track money that hasn't moved yet — what customers owe you, and what you owe vendors — so a sale or an expense counts in your books when it happens, not only when the cash lands.
Go to Documents → Invoices (or Accounts Receivable in the menu).
Go to Accounts Payable in the menu.
The A/R & A/P Aging page groups everything unpaid by how overdue it is (current, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90, and 90+ days) as of a date you choose. Toggle between Receivables (who owes you — chase the oldest first) and Payables (what you owe, and what's due soon) so nothing slips.
To secure period closing and protect transactions, open the Close Wizard under Taxes & Settings or in the dashboard action queue.
Confirm statements are uploaded for the period.
Resolve all uncategorized items for the month.
Verify difference is $0.00 on checking and savings.
If you hold inventory, enter a physical count to calculate COGS. Skip if you don't.
If you collect sales tax, verify the amount and mark it remitted to your state.
Compare current P&L against last month to identify anomalies.
Step 7: Lock Books: Sets `lock_books_date` to the closed month's end. Reopening requires a formal reason logged to the audit trail.
Navigate to the Taxes page for the Quarterly Estimated Tax Tracker.
When payments are made (April 15, June 15, Sept 15, Jan 15), click Pay Voucher, input the payment confirmation number, date, and actual amount. The status turns to green "Paid".
When tax season arrives, open Tax Readiness (the year-end review, reached from the Taxes page).
Every page carries a "? How this works" link that opens a quick explainer without leaving the page.
Click a row to copy its account code to the clipboard for manual entries.
These are the core accounts. Exact names are tailored to the business type you chose at setup — for example, account 4010 may read "Service Revenue," "Product Sales," or "Gross Sales / Revenue." Some profiles (like Grocery & Catering) also add a few extra accounts, such as customer deposits and separate sales categories.
| Code | GAAP Name | Plain Alias | Use For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1010 | Checking Account - Operating | Money in business checking | Operating cash, deposits, paying bills, card payouts. |
| 1020 | Savings Account - Reserve | Business savings | Reserves set aside for quarterly taxes, emergency funds. |
| 1030 | Cash on Hand | Cash in the register or on hand | Cash drawer, petty cash, change float. |
| 1200 | Accounts Receivable | Money customers owe you | Unpaid customer invoices. |
| 1300 | Inventory | Products or materials held for resale | Stock you buy to resell to customers. |
| 1500 | Equipment (Capitalized) | Equipment you own (over $2,500) | Machinery, computers, furniture, vehicles. |
| 1510 | Accumulated Depreciation | Value used up | Contra-asset adjusting equipment value (CPA-managed). |
| Code | GAAP Name | Plain Alias | Use For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Credit Card - Business | Business credit card you owe | Credit card balances (increases on charge, decreases on paydown). |
| 2020 | Accounts Payable | Vendor bills you owe | Supplier invoices on terms (e.g. net-30). |
| 2110 | Sales Tax Payable | Sales tax collected (owe the state) | Sales tax collected from customers, owed to your state. |
| Code | GAAP Name | Plain Alias | Use For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3010 | Member Contributions | Money you put into the business | Capital injections from personal accounts, personal card covering expenses. |
| 3020 | Member Draws / Distributions | Money you took out for yourself | Cash withdrawals, transfers to personal, personal swipes. |
| 3100 | Retained Earnings | Prior years undistributed profits | Year-end automatic income rolling. |
| Code | GAAP Name | Plain Alias | Use For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4010 | Gross Sales / Revenue | Your business sales | Income from the products or services you sell. |
| 4090 | Other Income | Other income (interest, rebates) | Bank interest, rebates, other non-sales income. |
| 5010 | Cost of Goods Sold | Cost of items sold | Cost of inventory sold during the period. |
| 5030 | Freight In / Inbound Shipping | Shipping costs for inventory | Freight charges to bring in inventory. |
| Code | GAAP Name | Plain Alias | Schedule C Line | Use For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6010 | Advertising & Marketing | Ads and marketing | Line 8 | Social media ads, flyers, business cards, website. |
| 6020 | Car & Truck - Mileage Method | Business mileage deduction | Line 9 | Posting mileage allowance (standard rate × business miles). |
| 6030 | Contract Labor | 1099 contractors and helpers | Line 11 | 1099 contractors, freelancers, one-off helpers. |
| 6040 | Business Insurance | Business insurance | Line 15 | General liability, property, and professional insurance. |
| 6050 | Legal & Professional Services | Lawyers and accountants | Line 17 | CPAs, bookkeepers, attorneys, permit filings. |
| 6060 | Office Expenses | Office supplies, postage, printing | Line 18 | Printer paper, postage, small office supplies. |
| 6070 | Rent - Real Property | Rent for your space | Line 20b | Office, storefront, studio, warehouse, or storage lease. |
| 6080 | Repairs & Maintenance | Repairs and maintenance | Line 21 | Equipment and facility repairs and upkeep. |
| 6090 | Bank & Merchant Fees | Bank and card fees | Line 27a (Other) | Payment-processor fees, bank charges. Includes cashback credits. |
| 6100 | Taxes & Licenses | Business licenses and permit fees | Line 23 | Business license renewals, local permits, certifications. |
| 6110 | Travel Expenses | Business travel | Line 24a | Flights, hotels, out-of-town business travel. |
| 6120 | Meals (50% deductible) | Business meals (50% deductible) | Line 24b | Meals with clients or while traveling for work. |
| 6130 | Utilities | Utilities | Line 25 | Electricity, water, gas, business internet and phone. |
| 6140 | Wages & Salaries | Employee wages (W-2) | Line 26 | Staff salaries, payroll employer taxes. |
| 6150 | Supplies & Materials | Supplies and packaging | Line 22 | Packaging, consumables, small tools under $2,500. |
| 6200 | Software & Subscriptions | Software and online tools | Line 27a (Other) | Accounting, POS, cloud tools, online subscriptions. |
| 6210 | Vehicle - Actual Expenses | Vehicle expenses (actual method) | Line 9 | Actual gas, repairs, and vehicle insurance. |
Go to Rules & Engine. If the table is empty, click "Reset default rules" at the bottom of the page to re-seed the system. Also check if the bank statement formatting has custom layouts.
Never delete reconciled transactions. Instead, click the transaction in Ledger History and click Reverse. Post a new, correct transaction.
Reopen the period from the dashboard action queue (or Settings), providing a reason that's logged to the audit trail. Correct the entries and run the Close Wizard again.
Account: A bucket for transactions, organized across assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, COGS, and expenses.
Accounting Equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity. The application database enforces this for every transaction.
COGS (Cost of Goods Sold): The inventory used to generate sales during a period. Calculated as: `Beginning Inventory + Purchases - Ending Inventory`.
Deferred Revenue: Cash received before the work is delivered (e.g. a customer deposit or retainer).
Reconciliation: Matching your bank statement closing balance with checking transactions on your ledger. Reconciled entries are locked.
Reverse: Post an offsetting ledger transaction prefixed with `REV-` to reverse an error without breaking audit trails.
Schedule C: The IRS Sole Proprietorship form reporting LLC business profits and losses.
Self-Employment Tax: Social Security and Medicare taxes paid by self-employed workers (currently computed as YTD Net Income × 92.35% × 15.3%).
The one rule: the "category" you pick is just the OTHER side of the entry — where the money went, or came from. Checking is handled automatically; the other side can be ANY account, not only income/expense. Ask: real income/cost, my own money moving, a refund, or a rebate?
| If the deposit is… | Categorize to |
|---|---|
| A customer paying you / a sale | 4010 Sales / Revenue |
| Your own money funding the business | 3010 Member Contributions (equity) |
| A refund of something you bought | The same expense account as the original charge |
| Credit-card cashback / rebate | 6090 Bank & Merchant Fees (reduces expense) |
| A transfer in from another of your accounts | That account (e.g. 1020 Savings) |
| Outside income that isn't a sale | 4090 Other Income |
Never put your own money or a refund/cashback in 4010 Sales Income — it inflates revenue and tax.
| If the payment is… | Categorize to |
|---|---|
| A real business cost (bill, supplies, ads) | The matching expense (6130 Utilities, 6150 Supplies, 6010 Ads…) |
| Inventory or materials you buy to resell | 1300 Inventory (moves to 5010 COGS when sold) |
| Operating supplies (packaging, consumables) | 6150 Supplies |
| Paying a credit card | 2010 Credit Card (transfer) |
| Your own draw (money out for yourself) | 3020 Member Distributions (equity) |
| A transfer out to another of your accounts | That account (e.g. 1020 Savings) |
| Sales tax remitted to your state | 2110 Sales Tax Payable (liability) |
Never put a credit-card payment or an owner draw in an expense account.
A transfer (e.g. paying your credit card from checking) is ONE event that shows on TWO statements — checking shows −$X, the card shows +$X.
✅ Record it once: from the checking line (−$X), categorize to the Credit Card account (2010). That single entry lowers checking AND the card balance.
❌ Do NOT also post the card statement's "+$X payment received" line — that double-counts. Skip it. The one entry still reconciles on both statements (it has a split on each account).
Not tax advice — for unusual items (large sign-up bonuses, owner loans vs. contributions, cross-year refunds), confirm with your CPA.