Need tax tips? Every year, we help clients pull together their financial documents for their tax preparer. And every year, we see it all: from the box of receipts to the nicely filed papers, from the pulling-their-hair-out to the calm, cool, and, collected client.
Here are a few tax tips to make life easier this tax season!
1) Start early.
We cannot emphasize this enough. Tax Day is usually the same day every year (April 15.) And yet, every year, we see people scrambling to get all the information they need in for their tax preparer. It’s like holiday shopping–some people get it done by October, some people get up at dawn on Black Friday, and others are doing it all on Christmas Eve. To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of tax deadlines you may need to be aware of.
2) Capture information.
These days, there are many ways to keep information from year to year without filing it all in a file cabinet. Using an online calendar like Outlook, Google, or iCal, you can look over appointments from the previous year to find the information you need for mileage, medical expenses, child care, and more. It saves a ton of time and ensures you won’t forget these expenses!
3) Use your resources.
The IRS doesn’t just collect taxes, they provide a wealth of information on their website. To get started, check out these tax tips from the IRS.
4) Switch to QuickBooks or other accounting software.
You would not believe how easy it is to do your taxes once you have the right tools in place, and our #1 tool is software. If you haven’t migrated your data, read our blog post on writeup projects. It’s not too late to get this done!
5) Bring us coffee.
(Just kidding. Or not. We love coffee anyway, and we’re practically mainlining it during tax season.)
Looking for more? Don’t miss our blog post on strategies for tax season success!
With bookkeeping and accounting, we’re here to help make tax season easier for you! Contact us today for any assistance you need this tax season.