The tax deadline is quickly approaching.
How can you make next year’s tax time less stressful?
Create two files in your filing cabinet called “Current Year’s Taxes” and “Last Year’s Taxes”.
Current year’s tax file
This is your catch-all file for anything you will need for filing taxes such as:
- Donation receipts – place copies of your checks, donation thank you letters, or even hand scribbled notes as reminders of the donations you made. Include the receipt if you donated items you purchased.
- End-of the-year forms such as W2s, mortgage interest statements, etc. File them immediately when you receive them so they don’t get lost in a pile of paper.
- Any other information you will need for filing your taxes.
When it comes time to file your taxes, everything you need can be found in this file. No more hunting around for receipts or trying to remember what donations you made throughout the year.
Last Year’s Tax File
Keep the past year’s tax folder for easy reference when filing your taxes.
Good post on preparing to file your taxes. Another tip for the items you donate is to take a photo of the bigger ticket items you are donating, especially if you do not have the original receipt. I use itsdeductible.com to determine the value of my donated items (I donate LOTS all year long) and it keeps a record of each years’ donations online!
That is a great idea! I think donations are the hardest thing to keep up with because you won’t remember the little things 6 months later unless you have a place to store the receipts together.
Brilliant post and let me add something to that- You can even input small details in an excel sheet, takes only few minutes 😉
Good stuff. After going into business for myself and doing my taxes that first time back in 07 I found out the need to be organized.
If a person follows the points you’ve outlined they will be OK and avoid the madness known as Tax Time Treasure Hunt, when you try and find all your needed paperwork.
On Stumbleupon – hope it helps a bit with traffic.
You’ve been reading my stuff long enough to know that I’m not particularly radical politically. But there might be one area where I am: tax simplification is a must, especially when the IRS’ own “National Taxpayer Advocate” says so.
Still, these are great tips. I just can’t wait until the code itself is a lot simpler.
Easy and simple but good points to consider while filing your tax information that saves time, effort, money and property.
i desperately need to create a tax type folder. sure i could put other finance related stuff in their, but the point is it is all in one place. this year i had to track down auto receipts from my glove box and all kinds of stuff. really a pain in the rear. this is essential.
I have that little receipt scanner to keep all my papers in one place, works great and I never have to worry about loosing anything.
I HAD to come up with a method for organizing my taxes as a self-employed person. I use some spreadsheets and stay up-to-date throughout the year with expenses. This way come tax time it’s relatively painless. The first year i was self-employed it took me 3 days to get all my info together. Any tips for staying organized for taxes should be embraced big time.
After doing my Taxes last year, I realized that I have it all in only three places, my PayPal, Bank Account and receipts!
P.S. Paypal provide a great report that is very helpful for Taxes, they’ve started this since last year, it made my life easier!
I love that they do that. It makes getting my business tax information together so much easier.
Another useful tool for organizing your information is the software Evernote. It will store almost anything you have on your computer, and let you organize it in various ways. It has a great search function as well, which makes it easy to find specific things you need months or even years later.
I use it for storing all the receipts I get through email as well as any forms I download that I need at tax time. It saves me a huge amount of time both filing and searching through my physical files, not to mention all the paper that I save by not printing everything.
Hello..this post is great.. I have so much to learn from it. Thanks for posting it.
Now I just have to get over procrastinating and remember to get them done early.
Good tips. It worked for me just fine.