Most month-end checklists online are written for the mainland. They tell you to "track sales tax" and move on. Hawaii doesn't have a sales tax. It has the General Excise Tax, and it runs on its own calendar. This checklist is built around that calendar.

Week 1: Close out last month

• Reconcile every account. That means every bank account, credit card, and loan, matched to its statement. If a balance in QuickBooks doesn't match the statement to the penny, nothing else on this list can be trusted.
• Clear the uncategorized pile. Anything sitting in "Uncategorized Income," "Uncategorized Expense," or "Ask My Accountant" should be gone before the month closes.
• Check that deposits aren't double-counted. If you invoice in QuickBooks and also record deposits from the bank feed, the same sale can land in revenue twice. That inflates your income and your GET.
• Separate transfers and loan proceeds from income. Moving money between your own accounts isn't revenue. Neither is an SBA loan deposit.

By the 20th: GET

• File your G-45 if it's due. Periodic GET returns are due by the 20th of the month after each filing period. You must file monthly if you'll owe more than $4,000 in GET for the year. You can file quarterly at $4,000 or less, or twice a year at $2,000 or less.
• File even if you made nothing. A G-45 is required even when you had no gross income for the period. Missed zero-dollar returns are an easy thing to fall behind on.
• Tie the GET return to your books. The gross income on your G-45 should come straight from your reconciled revenue for the period, not from a separate estimate.

End of month: Review

• Read your Profit & Loss next to last month's. You're looking for anything that moved more than you expected, not checking every line.
• Look at the Balance Sheet. Is your cash balance real? Are payables and receivables current? Is anything old still sitting there?
• Write down one decision. Your books are only useful if they change what you do next month, whether that's raising prices, chasing an invoice, or holding off on a purchase.

Once a year

The G-49 annual GET reconciliation is due by the 20th day of the fourth month after your tax year ends. For a calendar-year business, that's April 20. If your monthly books are clean, the G-49 is mostly adding up what you already filed.

If this list looks like more than you have time for each month, that's what monthly bookkeeping is for. Request a free book review and I'll tell you where your books stand.