This week, Google launched the Chrome Web Store, an online marketplace, where users can search, browse and use web-based applications and extensions.
You can now install Harvest and Co-op (our team communication app which we live by everyday) for your Google Chrome browser via the new Web Store — it’s available at no additional charge for existing Harvesters. Once installed, the apps will appear when you load Chrome. This makes accessing our apps from Chrome on any machine even easier.
Additionally, we’ve started to add some HTML5 goodness starting with @reply notifications in Co-op, so you can take advantage of great desktop-like features right from your web browser.
Head over to the Chrome Web Store via your Chrome browser to install them today!
A smattering of developers (who are also Harvest customers!) have released some cool integrations in the past few months, and we thought we’d share the highlights with you.
Post GitHub Commits to Co-op
Robert May of Core Web Design has put together an integration between GitHub and Co-op, Harvest’s team communication application. This GitHub service posts GitHub commits from any project of your choosing directly to Co-op. It’s a fantastic way to keep your team up-to-date on the latest development activity.
To set up the integration, visit the source GitHub repository and go to Admin > Service Hooks. Choose Co-op and fill in the necessary information.
We’d like to share some excerpts from Jeffrey Perkel’s article about his time-gap discovery, when he first started using Harvest for tracking his time. Thanks Jeffrey, we hope this will help other freelancers and small business leaders, and we’re glad to help you along the path of productivity!
I have a confession to make: I’m not as productive as I’d like to be. For me, the realization that I was less productive than I thought came via Harvest, a web-based app for time-tracking and invoicing. At the suggestion of productivity wonk John Pavlus, I gave Harvest a whirl.
Harvest is a productivity dream. There’s a web interface to track your projects, tasks, invoices, and expenses. There’s a dedicated MacOS dashboard widget, even an iPhone interface. I set up my tasks and projects, and then diligently set to work trying to track my day: 44 minutes to interview so-and-so; 36 minutes to read this paper; a bit more than 3 hours to write that article, and so on.
I felt very accomplished… until I added everything up and found that, despite all my careful tracking, I had gaping holes in my day. Partly, that’s because I didn’t add things like lunch, picking up the kids after school, and the occasional break to check Twitter, email, and the news. And partly it’s because I’d start reading something and then realize, oops! I forgot to turn on the timer. Still, it’s clear I can do better. It’s not that I thought I was some productivity machine, working 25 hours a day, 8 days a week. But I didn’t realize how much time I was frittering away, either.
By casting my daily activities in such sharp relief, Harvest helped me identify the problem. It’s up to me to set things right.
Confessions of a productivity hack(er) was originally posted on Freelancer Hacks
Over the last 3 weeks we’ve been engaging the Harvest Twitter community with a weekly question related to how they work. We thought it could be interesting to not only understand how others work, but also to reflect on each other’s work habits. Looking forward, we may even be able to learn a thing or two from each other, to adopt better practices for our workflow. Continue Reading …
One of our next big projects is to improve the Harvest Help & Support section. The current FAQ format has served us well, but the section became unruly as Harvest expanded and help content accumulated. My next project is to take the additional information we’ve gained and redesign “Harvest Help.” To prepare, I’ve been researching other websites’ help sections. Regardless of website scope, there were some notable similarities in what was effective. A good help section should follow these rules:
1. Be easy to scan- Easy-to-scan information encourages people to read instead of immediately contacting customer service or leaving the site altogether. Some things that increase scannability include:
As tax season swings into full effect here in the U.S., we have a timely Harvest add-on to share with you. Teaspiller is a new service which helps you get your taxes done quickly and easily by a certified tax expert.
With your invoices and business expenses already tracked in Harvest, it’s easy to export your numbers and get things rolling with a a tax expert. Here’s a brief video demonstrating the seamless integration with Harvest:
Teaspiller allows you to choose your own price for a tax expert (based on your specific needs: user reviews, experience, industry specialties), enter you basic tax information online, and then get unlimited support from a certified tax expert to make sure you’re maximizing all those Harvest expenses. Visit teaspiller.com for more information.
Though Harvest Headquarters are located in New York City, a few members of the team are located in different parts of the world, across the U.S. and Europe. Over the years, we have learned a thing or two about communicating efficiently over time and space. These tips are likely to be appropriate for all teams using electronic communication, but their value is magnified when drop-ins and phone calls are not an option. Continue Reading …
As a follow-up to our article in June by Harvest user Jennifer about Simplifying Your Estimated Tax Process with Harvest, we’ve got another fine customer who wrote us about a parallel, but different issue: tracking IRS business expenses.
Kevin McGee, a freelance Technology Writer and Content Developer in the Bay Area, was kind enough to share with us his step by step system of using Harvest to record and report his IRS business expenses.
A huge thanks to Kevin for sharing this detailed 3-page rundown with the rest of the Harvest community – it’s available by PDF download, with screenshots and easy-to-follow descriptions.
We love hearing about the innovative ways people are using Harvest to meet their needs, so if you’d like to share a tip from your small business, let us know!
Earlier today, one of our fine customers tweeted at @harvest to say that Harvest’s printer-friendly reports have helped to make the process of calculating estimated taxes a breeze. Since making quarterly estimated payments to the state and federal governments are a requirement for all freelancers and businesses based in the U.S., we followed up with her to get more information. Jennifer, a freelance front-end web developer based in Illinois, was kind enough to follow up and share a detailed explanation of how Harvest simplifies her process for making estimated tax payments on a quarterly basis.
Taxes can’t be described as fun, but I actually don’t mind the process of doing my estimated taxes each quarter. I made it as easy as possible on myself by doing a few things at the start of the year. First, I grabbed the 2009 1040-ES form for the IRS. Before I printed it out, I filled in the information that wouldn’t change- my name, social security number, and address- on each of the four forms. I printed that sucker as well as four envelopes with the IRS address (The address for your region is on page 6 of the 1040-ES PDF) and my return address. I’m based in Illinois, so I did the same thing for the IL-1040-ES state form (use google to find your state’s 1040-ES form). I also marked the four estimated tax due dates in my calendar to remind myself a week before-hand that they were fast approaching!
The due dates for estimated taxes as well as the timeframe for each are as follows:
April 15, 2009 (payments received from January 1 – March 31, 2009)
June 15, 2009 (payments received from April 1 – May 31, 2009)
September 15, 2009 (payments received from June 1 – August 31, 2009)
January 15, 2010 (payments received from September 1 – December 31, 2009)
Putting in this extra effort at the beginning made me feel super organized about the whole process. It allows me to grab two forms and two envelopes and start crunching some numbers. That’s where Harvest comes in!
I do my estimated taxes by payments received (instead of hours invoiced, which is another option), so each quarter I create a Payment Report by navigating to Invoices > Report > Create New Report. I check off Payments Received Report, change the timeframe to custom so that I can select the appropriate quarter dates, and leave Clients set to All.
The first time I printed a Payment Report, I was pleasantly surprised at how clean and simple it looked. It’s perfect to file for my records. I do the math right on that print out so that everything is together. I multiply the total payment by my state tax percentage (3%) and cut a check to the Illinois Department of Revenue. On the check, I make sure to note the form name (IL-1040-ES) and my social security number. I do the same thing for the IRS. The percentage for federal tax is a little bit trickier to figure out. It’s based on your income as well as if you’re filing as a single, head of household, or jointly with your spouse. There’s a handy worksheet on page 5 of the 1040-ES form to help figure out the correct percentage. I’m lucky enough to have an accountant in the family, so I also asked his advice on the right percentage for me. I err on the side of caution by overpaying now and possibly getting a tax return later rather than underpaying now and having to pay extra later.
Finally, I slap a stamp on those pre-printed envelopes and make a photocopy of the envelope, the estimated tax payment voucher form, and my personal check for both the state and federal taxes. I keep those on file with my Harvest Payment Report. And Bam! I’m ready to get back to making money!
A big thanks to Jennifer for taking the time to share her tip with the rest of the Harvest community. We love hearing stories like this, so if you’d like to share a small business tip involving your use of Harvest, let us know!
If you are doing business in Canada and the EU, you may be required to collect two sets of taxes on many of your invoices. While this may seem like a complicated procedure, Harvest invoices make these calculations very simple. Harvest is able to calculate both simple and compound taxes in dual tax fields.
Invoicing with Simple Tax Calculation
In a Simple Tax situation, both federal and provincial taxes are applied equally to the principal invoice total. For example, on the invoice below, the pre-tax total is $750, and the 5% GST and 3% PST are applied equally to the subtotal, for a total amount of $810.00. This type of dual taxation is supported in Harvest invoices by going to Invoices > Configure and selecting ‘Simple Tax’. If you are doing business in Canada outside of Quebec and PEI, you should use this setting.
Simple Tax: Tax 2 is calculated as a percentage of the subtotal.
Invoicing with Compound Tax Calculation
In a Compound Tax situation, the total cost of a product or service is taxed federally, then the total of that amount, including the federal tax, is taxed provincially a second time. For example, in the case below the invoice $750 is taxed at 5% GST, for a subtotal of $787.50. Then, a second compound tax of 3% PST on the subtotal, in the amount of $23.63, is added to the total bill, for a final amount due of $811.13. This type of dual taxation is supported in Harvest invoices by going to Invoices > Configure and selecting ‘Compound Tax’. If you are doing business in Canada, in Quebec or PEI, you should select this tax setting.
Compound Tax: Tax 2 is calculated as a percentage of the subtotal + tax 1.
Important Definitions
Compound Tax – Also known as a stacked tax. Applying a second, provincial tax, on the total of the invoice including the Federal tax. In Canada, both Quebec and Prince Edward Island require a second, compound tax to be charged on goods and services.
GST – Goods and Services Tax, charged Federally on good and services in Canada and the EU.
PST – Provincial Sales Tax, charged locally on goods and services and can be applied as either a Simple or Compound tax depending on the geographic location.
Published December 10th, 2010 by Danny Wen 
