Here Is Why You Should Avoid Mixing Business and Personal Purchases on One Receipt In Your Business
Running a business means keeping your financial records clean, organized, and audit-ready. I understand that sometimes we forget or we think its too much extra work to split transactions. After all, is it really a big deal? Let’s see.
One of the simplest ways to help your bookkeeper (and yourself) is to avoid combining personal and business items in a single transaction — especially at places like Walmart, Amazon, or Costco.
What’s the Problem with Mixing Purchases?
Example: Say that you buy a business printer, a few snacks (because who doesn’t grab something at a checkout line? I know I do) for the office, and personal groceries all in one transaction, it creates complications. Especially if you have multiple transactions like this.
As bookkeepers, we have to:
- Manually split the expense (the computer isn’t doing this one for us)
- Categorize each item correctly into multiple different categories
- Verify with you what’s business vs. personal expenses
- Sometimes reach out to you for clarification (which takes up your precious time & adds to our time)
This adds time, cost, and opens the door to errors — especially if receipts aren’t saved or labeled clearly.
The Better Way
Here’s what I recommend:
- Use separate transactions: Pay for business and personal items separately at checkout. To make it really simple, pay with separate transactions and do not do a split payment on one transactions. (I know it is tempting)
- Use a business card only for business: This makes it easy to track and categorize expenses.
- Save your receipts: Especially for purchases with mixed or unclear items. This will give you or your bookkeeper a clear view of what happened.
Why It Matters
- Clean books = Better business decisions & Accurate recordkeeping
- Audit protection: Clear records keep you safe if the IRS ever comes calling (let’s hope they do not)
- Lower bookkeeping costs: Less manual cleanup means less time billed to you from your accounting professional
Final Takeaway
Small habit changes can make a big impact. Keeping business and personal purchases separate is one of the easiest ways to keep your financials accurate, save on bookkeeping time, and stay organized all year long. You can run a business, so I know you can split transactions. You got this!
Bookkeeping Handmaid 