It’s income tax time again, Americans: time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta. ~Dave Barry
Last night I decided it was time to start getting all my tax papers together and organized. All year long I put receipts, pay stubs, and other tax related papers into folders. Now I need to separate the papers in each folder by category to make it easier to do my taxes.
I use Turbo Tax and when you go through the program it asks for information in a certain order. You may use a different tax program but it probably works the same way. By having the papers separated it’s much easier, faster, and less likely I will not miss entering any information.
Here are the categories I use to separate my papers.
Income:
- W-2’s
- 1099’s: Misc., Retirement, Interest, Dividends, etc.
- Investment Income: Brokerage and bank year end statements
Deductions:
- Charity donations
- Mortgage Interest
- Property taxes
- Student loan interest paid
- College expenses
- Medical expenses
If you have business income and will be filing a Schedule C (self employment) then gather all those papers and separate them by income and expenses.
Now you’ll be ready to sit down and do those taxes.
Today, it takes more brains and effort to make out the income-tax form than it does to make the income. ~Alfred E. Neuman
To a lighter load along the way.
Janice
P.S. If you’re looking for support with dealing with paper clutter, join the free private Facebook group. “Controlling Paper Clutter Support Group”