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Tax Preparation – 10 Ways To Organize for Taxes:
I hate tax season. Doing my taxes is right up there with torture in my opinion. I always end up waiting until the last minute to organize for taxes – which I’m sure makes it significantly worse.
After the last two years of less than stellar organizational and tax follow through which led to some tax penalties, I’m changing my ways.
There are three major aspects to preparing for tax season.
- Review your finances to find extra deductions and write-offs
- Organize your documentation to ensure you have the correct paperwork to substantiate your deductions and write-offs
- Review your personal life for changes that may affect current and future tax periods.
It sounds simple huh.
If you are tracking your life on a monthly basis and keeping track of appropriate tax paperwork, it is pretty simple.
Unfortunately, most of us wait until the last minute.
10 Ways to organize your finances now for tax season:
1. Charitable giving
Charitable giving can be a huge write-off, more importantly, it is the right thing to do. If you have been thinking of contributing to charity, now is the time to do it.
If you are going to contribute to a charity, do your research. Many charities use a large portion of their funds on day to day management and only a small portion of your money goes to the intended recipient.
One of the best tools available is Charitynavigator.org. They use data collected from IRS form 990 to determine how much money is actually being used for its intended purposes. Some tax-exempt churches don’t have to file the 990, so make sure you know and trust your church if you choose to donate to a church.
I try to use my money wisely and expect charitable companies to do the same.
2. Review your retirement contributions
If you are participating in a traditional 401K plan you may want to consider increasing your December contribution to lower your tax liability.
This won’t work for Roth 401K’s, but I still recommend adding a bit of extra – I’m all about maxing out retirement contributions.
If you don’t have access to a 401K plan, you can always open a Retirement IRA. Again I recommend a Roth IRA which doesn’t have tax benefits in the current year (we are thinking long-term here). However, if your income exceeds the IRS Federal guidelines you can also open a traditional IRA get the tax benefits and then do a backdoor conversion. If you go this route, you will be essentially moving the tax savings from one year to the next year since you’ll end up paying the taxes when you do the conversion from a Traditional to a Roth IRA.
If you are struggling to figure out your retirement planning check out some of the free tools offered by Personal Capital.
3. Prepay your Mortgage or Student Loan payment
If you are itemizing your deductions you can write off a portion of your mortgage and student loan interest.
By making an early mortgage payment the interest you pay will be included in the current years 1098 form. You can only write off a percentage of your mortgage interest, but depending on your current interest payment this could save you a few hundred dollars.
The same policy applies to student loans.
4. Gather Your Receipts
If you are itemizing deductions it is time to start reviewing your spending for the current year.
This is the time to start gathering receipts. I try and keep mine sorted on a monthly basis, but still find myself digging through hundreds of receipts to get everything sorted. I’ve started saving my receipts for taxes in an expanding file like this one and it has really helped.
Aaron and I have a decent amount of 1099 income, so we track our travel, meals and business-related expenses. I’m fairly conservative in their area and am careful to only use true business expenses. The minimal savings isn’t worth the hassle of dealing with the IRS later.
We do have a room set aside in our home for business, so I also keep copies of my utility bills and other household expenses.
5. If you are self-employed review your potential deductions
I’ve covered this slightly above, but for those who are self-employed, you have a whole different level of accountability. You need to review all of your income, ensure your quarterly reports are being made and then finally start looking at potential deductions.
I’m not an account and beyond the basic don’t feel comfortable giving advice. I highly recommend this article that details additional measure you can take as a self-employed individual to prepare for taxes.
6. Did you have any major life changes that will impact your taxes?
Life events that may impact your taxes are typically associated with birth, death, and marriage. However, if you have older children leaving the nest this will affect your taxes as well. We had a baby this year, so I’ve got to make sure I have all of her personal information to provide to the accountant.
Carefully review any potential life events and make sure that they won’t have an impact on your taxes.
7. Review your Will or Estate Plan
Federal and state tax and estate laws change frequently. Personal situations change frequently as well. If you have kids or a large estate having a will and estate plan is critical.
Double check with your attorney if you have a complicated plan. You don’t want your heirs to be caught holding the bag because you didn’t update your records.
If you are using the basic form from an online system like LegalZoom. I recommend redoing your will every 3-5 years. This will ensure you are up to date with applicable laws, but also helps you review your personal situation to ensure your family needs are still met.
8. Use any excess funds in your Flexible Spending Account
My company doesn’t use Flexible Spending Accounts, so this one doesn’t apply to me. However, I know a lot of people who use these accounts and not everyone knows that FSA accounts are a use it or lose it benefit.
Check with your human resource person and if you are on an FSA account use up your funds asap.
Please note that FSA accounts are separate from an HSA accounts which will roll over from year to year.
9. Contact your accountant
Touch base with your accountant towards the end of each year. He can alert you to any major tax law change. He may also have suggestions for additional deductions or tax write-offs that you may not have considered. A good tax accountant can save you thousands of dollars.
I used to prepare my own returns using Turbotax. It was fine until my personal finances got more and more complicated. The accountant I used for work offered to do my return for free if I switched to him. I had already done my return through Turbotax but figured I might as well give it a shot. My accountant prepared the return and I ended up with an extra $1,300 refund. Don’t underestimate the power of a good accounting professional.
On a side note, it is very important that you know how to organize tax documents for your accountant. The more organized you are with your information the cheaper the process will be. I personally use a tax binder similar to this one that saves me so much time.
10. Review your previous year’s financial goals and set goals for the new year
I know this won’t help you immediately with taxes. However, if you start now to set your financial goals one of your primary goals can be to set up your finances to make future tax seasons easier.
(You can download my simple free goal planning template if you need help setting up your goals.)
For example, in early January I created a folder for any tax documents I receive. As soon as I start getting W2’s, 1099’s, 1098’s and all the other junk, I immediately place it in my folder. Once February/March hits and I’m ready to start preparing for taxes I know exactly where to search for my documents.
Another goal I made last year was to track my receipts better. Now, whenever I clean out my purse I organize them and place them in an expanding file. It is so much easier to find all of my health receipts when I have them clearly marked and in one spot.
Tax Preparation Makes Tax Season Bearable
Paying taxes is miserable. If you spend the time and organize for taxes now, the whole process will hopefully be a little bit easier to stomach.
I used to be very organized and had an easy time doing my taxes. The last few years, I’ve slacked off and as a result tax season hit me like a ton of bricks. I was scrambling around trying to find documents and realized I had missed some deadlines because of lack of organization. I finally got everything cleaned up, but it took a lot of extra time because of my awesome procrastination abilities.
This year, I’ve got virtually everything organized and should be able to send everything to my accountant in early February. Wish me luck!
I think it is important to think about your taxes and prepare year round. If you don’t you will be scrambling to get everything sorted and together when the time comes. Great tips, thanks for sharing!
I’m glad they helped! I’m sure as a tax firm, it makes your job significantly easier when people are prepared!
I hate tax season too and I’m guilty of doing it last minute. There’s a lot to consider, which to be honest, overwhelms me. But with your guide, I think I’ll have a better year this year doing my taxes. So really, thanks for making this list and making it available for everyone.
With regard to deductions, those with tax qualified long term care insurance. But deductions will only be applied when income stops or during retirement, wherein medical expenses start to pile up. Those who are 40 years old and below will have a $390 tax deduction while those who are 70 above will have $4870 tax deduction. Visit IRS for the complete tax deductible limits for 2016.
Thanks again, Amy, for putting up this awesome tips!
I’m glad I’m not the only slacker! I wasn’t aware of how this worked after retirement. Thanks for sharing!
Great advice on preparing your taxes! It’s important to make sure you have all the appropriate paperwork together before you sit down with your tax professional.
I’ve made that mistake before! There is nothing worse than having to dig through your old paperwork to find info for your CPA.
Love your post, definitely some awesome and helpful information! Also consulting with a professional can help save you a lot of stress and time during tax season. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it. Consulting with a professional always helps find the errors you may have missed. Good luck this tax season!
Wow, this is definitely some great advice! Also if you feel like you may not have the time to do your taxes yourself hiring a professional is a great investment!
I definitely agree. I’m not about to try and do my taxes by myself. They are way to complicated now days.
This was a great list of inofrmation for tax preparation. However, this also an eyeopener for everyone. Thank you for the share, Amy, you are such a great writer. Keep posting.
Bruce,
I’m glad you enjoyed it and appreciate your kind words.
Thanks,
Amy
Love your post! Definitely some very helpful information. Sometimes if you find your taxes to be complicated, confusing or you simply do not have the time to do them yourself it is best to consult a professional. Thank you for the stats, Amy.
Taxes have gotten so complicated that getting professional help is often completely necessary. It will save you time and money in the long run.
I have no idea of tax preparation till I found this article but after reading entire article i have got some idea about tax preparation, thanks for the sharing your thoughts.
John,
I’m glad you enjoyed the article and hope it helps you get your taxes in order.
Amy
Wow, great article! It certainly gives a lot of great info on preparing for tax season. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I got some idea regarding tax preparation now. Thanks for helping with this post. Expecting more of these.
Ben,
I’m glad it helped!
Amy
Hi I am glad you found this post helpful. Feel free to reach out to Simple Accounting PR with specific questions! ?
Will do! Thank for the help.
Wow the great article with nice Info…! It certainly gives a lot of great information on preparing for tax season. Thanks for sharing us 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I like your simplification of the tax process. Just knowing to review your finances to find extra deductions and write-offs sounds like a good way to get started. Tax law can be complex, so it’s beneficial to hire a tax service to help you locate those deductions.
Larry,
Reviewing your finances is critical to finding the right tax write-offs. You never know where you can save a little bit of money. Hiring a good CPA can make all of the difference when it comes to loop holes and other ways to save.
Amy
I didn’t realize that self-employed people have to ensure quarterly reports are made. It seems like there’s a lot to know and do when it comes to filing and paying your taxes. Hiring a tax professional might really help a self-employed business owner. It would probably help almost anyone who’s not familiar with all of the latest tax codes.
Lucy,
Quarterly tax reporting is critical for self-employeed individuals. Working with a tax professional is a good way to keep yourself out of trouble with the IRS.
Amy