Mastering Tax Season: Essential Tips and Tricks

Introduction:

Understanding what you'll need for tax season can indeed feel overwhelming and stressful. But fear not! I'm here to equip you with effective pointers and strategies to alleviate the anxiety that often accompanies tax filing. With these tools at your disposal, you'll be able to tackle tax season with confidence and ease. Remember, while taxes may initially seem like a lot of work, they don't have to be.

Tips

Maintain Accurate Records

Maintaining accurate tax records can be easy; here are some pointers to keep you organized all year long. Keeping note of your tax-deductible expenses as they are incurred throughout the year is the first step towards maintaining effective records. This includes all business expense receipts, medical expenses, childcare receipts, etc. It will be far more difficult for you to locate specific amounts and information that would have been easy to find if you had kept track of your expenses and the documents related to them in the first place.

Arrange Your Tax Documents

Maintaining well-organized documents not only simplifies the filing of your tax return but also reduces the stress associated with responding to IRS notices and audits, if ever you receive any. Any taxpayer, whether they are self-employed or not, must abide by this. If you currently have a computer file with all of your tax records arranged in folders OR if you have a filing cabinet where you store them, then that's excellent news for you . You are free to disregard this advice! However, if you're one of the many people who simply have a bin full of tax paperwork and invoices, then that's not the way to go. You are aware that you will need to take it out and scrabble to find the required tax documentation when tax time rolls around. Keeping documents organized can be simple if you establish and adhere to a strategy that works for you. I promise this will help. As new documentation comes in during the year, you want to keep going through that procedure. Making a computer backup of your information is also an excellent strategy to prevent losing or misplacing important documents.

Hire a Tax Professional

I advise hiring a professional to complete the task if you don't want to worry about having to file your taxes yourself using programs like TurboTax or H&R Block. A lot of stress stems from the concept of having to do it yourself, simply because YOU THINK you would save money and time doing so. In reality, you're not. In fact, in most cases, the fees you pay, especially the hidden ones, are typically the same OR LESS than the cost of hiring a tax professional. In terms of time, hiring a professional to prepare the IRS paperwork can save you 10x as much because they are equipped with the knowledge needed to assign accurate numbers and expenses to the right places and prevent audits that may be triggered due to erroneous mistakes! 

Tricks

Ask Questions

If you currently have a tax professional or planning to get one after reading above, I recommend that you ask them any questions you have regarding your specific situation. Ask questions like where I can save money on taxes and/or how I can get a larger refund. Don't be hesitant to ask questions and wonder what they're doing with your information. Don't be hesitant to inquire and grasp exactly what they're doing with your information, or how they're preserving your documents to ensure maximum security. It is important to be aware of this information so that you can determine whether this tax specialist is the perfect fit for you. You may have questions regarding specific deadlines or being audited. They should have answers to these questions!

Note to self about receiving your W-2 or 1099 form.

Depending on your job, you can anticipate to receive either a W-2 or a 1099 misc/NEC from your employer. Most people expect a W-2 if they have an employer-employee relationship at work. Independent contractors/self-employed individuals receive a 1099 misc/NEC.

I hope these tips and tricks make your tax filing endeavors easier for you.

Keep an eye out for our next blog! :)