This tax season, be prepared well in advance. No one really enjoys doing taxes, but you can make everything easier by using these five simple organization tips to take time off of taxes. Implement one or all five and you’ll definitely see a big improvement over previous tax seasons!
1. Work With a Financial Planner
Since organization is the foundation of minimizing the time you spend on taxes, working with a financial planner is a must. A quality financial planner can offer you individual tax preparation services that will help ensure your taxes are done in a timely, efficient and accurate manner. There’s no better way to take care of your taxes, whether you have modest income or a large family estate to organize.
2. Log in Miles as You Go
If you use a company vehicle and you need to keep track of the miles for the deduction, keep track of mileage as you go. Don’t wait until tax time to go back and try to calculate the mileage for every company trip you made. Use whatever method you’re most likely to stick to. Ideas include using a mobile app, keeping a written logbook in your glove box, and using spreadsheet software to keep track of your trips.
3. Invest in Accounting Software
Even though you’ll probably be using a financial planner to actually prepare your taxes, everything will go much smoother if you use accounting software throughout the year. Accounting software like Quickbooks or Quicken not only helps you organize your finances for tax time. It also helps you to set and monitor financial goals. Best of all, you can run reports to see how your finances have improved over previous years.
4. Designate a Space for Taxes
When you sit down to prepare your taxes, you’ll be pulling all kinds of documents from your files. To eliminate the possibility of something being misplaced, designate a special area in your home just for your tax preparation work.
5. Start a Tax Filing System Early in the Year
Get ready for next year’s tax return by making a folder for it as early in the year as possible. Then, when you accumulate receipts and other documents, you can just slip them into the folder and they’ll be all in the same place, ready to be entered into your accounting software.
Whether you choose to do all of these tips or just a few, this next tax season will definitely be an improvement over other years. And remember, the more organized you are with your finances, the sooner you can file and get back any tax refund you might have coming to you. Remember that you don’t need to go it alone. The professionals, friendly team at Larry Turner, CPA would be glad to assist with your business or individual Taxes.