Tax-time website prep (1099s, financial archives, receipts)
How to gather website-related financial records, payment reports, and receipts before tax season.
Tax season arrives every year, and if your website is part of how you do business — selling products, booking services, collecting payments — it generates financial records your accountant will need. This guide helps you find, gather, and organize those records before you sit down with your bookkeeper or tax preparer.
Quick summary
Before tax season, download your annual transaction reports from Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce, or whichever payment tools your site uses. Collect invoices for hosting, plugins, and any web services you paid for. Archive old financial pages or promotional content that no longer applies. Hand everything to your accountant in a clean folder. This is not tax advice — always consult a qualified tax professional.
Not tax advice
This guide covers how to find and gather records from your website and payment tools. It is not tax advice. Every business situation is different. Always work with a qualified accountant or tax professional for the actual filing.
What "tax-time website prep" means
Your website may touch your finances in two main ways.
You collect money through your site — from an online store, a booking system, a payment link, or a service inquiry that results in an invoice. Payment processors like Stripe and PayPal generate transaction records you will need.
You spend money to run your site — hosting fees, plugin subscriptions, domain renewals, design and development invoices from Chykalophia. These are often deductible business expenses, and you need the receipts.
4–6 weeks before your filing deadline
Locate your payment processor accounts
Start here because generating reports can take a few days to process, and you want to give yourself time.
- Log in to Stripe at stripe.com and note that reports are under the Reports section in the left menu
- Log in to PayPal at paypal.com and locate the Reports section (sometimes called Activity or Statements)
- If you use another payment processor (Square, Braintree, Shopify Payments, etc.), locate the equivalent reporting section
- Confirm you can access accounts for the full tax year — if you changed accounts or processors mid-year, find both
Collect hosting and service invoices
- Log in to your hosting account (Flywheel, WP Engine, Kinsta, or another provider) and download all invoices for the tax year
- If you pay for a domain, find those invoices from your registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.)
- Find invoices for any premium plugins or themes you pay for annually (WooCommerce extensions, Elementor Pro, Gravity Forms, etc.)
- Locate Chykalophia invoices for the tax year — these should be in your email or in ClickUp
- Check for any other web-related subscriptions: email marketing tools (Mailchimp, Klaviyo), analytics tools, booking systems, stock photo subscriptions
2–3 weeks before your filing deadline
Download your payment reports
Log in to Stripe. Go to Reports, then Balance or Payouts. Select the date range for the full tax year. Download as CSV or PDF — your accountant will tell you which format they prefer.
Download your 1099 form from Stripe (U.S. businesses). If Stripe processed more than the IRS threshold in payments for your account in the calendar year, they issue a 1099-K. Find it under Tax forms in your Stripe dashboard. This number must match what you report.
Log in to PayPal. Go to Reports then Statements or Activity Download. Select the full tax year and download the transaction history.
If you use WooCommerce, Shopify, or another store platform, export your orders for the tax year from the store's built-in reports section. This is separate from the payment processor report — it shows order details and any refunds processed through the platform.
What is a 1099-K?
A 1099-K is a tax form issued by payment processors in the United States. It reports the total dollar value of payments processed through the platform in a calendar year. Stripe, PayPal, and Square all issue them when certain thresholds are met. Your accountant needs this form.
Reconcile refunds and chargebacks
- Download any refund reports separately, or confirm that refunds are included in your main transaction export
- Note any chargebacks (disputed transactions) that were resolved during the year — your processor will have a report for these
- If you have outstanding disputes from the tax year that were not resolved, flag these separately for your accountant
1 week before your meeting with your accountant
Build your "tax folder"
Organize everything into a simple folder — on your computer, in Google Drive, or on paper. Your accountant will thank you.
| What to include | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Stripe annual report or 1099-K | Stripe dashboard → Reports or Tax forms |
| PayPal annual statement | PayPal dashboard → Reports |
| WooCommerce / Shopify order export | Store admin → Reports → Orders |
| Hosting invoices (all months) | Hosting account → Billing |
| Domain renewal receipts | Domain registrar → Billing |
| Plugin & theme subscription receipts | Each vendor's billing portal or email inbox |
| Chykalophia invoices | Email or ClickUp |
| Other web service receipts | Email inbox (search for receipts from each tool) |
Archive or update financial content on your website
- If you display prices on your website, confirm they are current and correct
- Remove or archive any promotional pages from the prior tax year that are no longer relevant (e.g. an old sales page with prices from two years ago)
- If you had a limited-time discount or offer running during the tax year, note the dates — your accountant may ask about revenue fluctuations
Common questions
Related guides
- How online payments work
- Stripe basics for business owners
- PayPal basics for business owners
- Seasonal website checks
- Your year-end website checklist
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