It’s that time of year!
Tax season is slowly rushing towards us, remember how long January felt? Well with April 15th up ahead, you’ll miss that “how is it only Tuesday” feeling!
This is the busy season for accountants and daily money managers so here’s some advice and guidance to make it a little less painful.
Give your accountant access to your statements, if your financial advisor can share them directly with your tax preparer, it lessens the risk of you forgetting to forward a 1099.
Use your accountant’s portal! Rather than dropping off a shoebox of paperwork, scan and upload everything (or go paperless) so that they have everything neatly in front of them and there’s no worry about things going missing. Bonus, you don’t have to worry about turning in originals. Double bonus - if you scan them to a file on your computer, you’ll always have the copies.
Keep a tax folder for each year. By this time you should already have a 2025 folder, drop all your donation receipts and co-pays for office visits into it.
Get your records of property taxes and estimated taxes and make sure you record those.
Get statements from your insurance, pharmacy, church or other donation recipient. Don’t do the hard stuff yourself, most places will provide you with a statement upon request! This includes out of pocket for home health aides!
Be aware of deadlines - April 15th is not only for income tax but also your first estimated payment. If you have to contribute to an IRA that is usually April 15th as well. Also check when your financial institution is planning on releasing statements. Some arrive late, if that’s the case, be sure to let your accountant know!
I often take a look at last year’s return for a new client so I know what I’m missing. Did you consolidate accounts this year or did your bank merge with another bank? You may have to update your checklist of what you should be expecting from where.
Don’t forget major health expenses or life changes - did you sell your home?
Start early! Review your checkbook and credit card statements to find any deductions you may have missed - category spending may help but make sure to double check these - credit cards only use AI to determine if Doc Martens are a medical office visit!
