If you are like most people, you don’t enjoy filing your income tax returns. There’s too much paperwork involved. You might need to hunt for receipts and doctor’s bills. Then at the end of all of that you might owe the government money.
Tax Day is never going to be fun. However, you can ease some of the pain of April 15 by preparing for it early.
How early? You can’t file your taxes until your employers – or your clients, if you are a freelancer, send you your W-2 or 1099 forms, which they must mail by Jan. 31st. Once those forms arrive you are free to send the IRS your tax returns.
Contact Your Accountant or Tax Professional Early
The tax deadline is in April, but you should never wait until April to call your accountants. You have to remember that you’re not their only client, so the earlier you give them your financial documents, the better. If you wait too long, they may be booked up for the season.
Get Those Documents Ready
The biggest hassle of filing taxes, if finding all the documents you need.It’s wise, then, to start compiling these documents as soon as you can.
You’ll need to find your W-2 statements from all your employers during the previous year, records of your IRA contributions, receipts for deductible expenses if you are itemizing and receipts for charitable donations and medical expenses, again if you’re itemizing.
Gathering documents can be more complicated if you work as a freelance contractor or you’re self-employed. If you’re a freelancer, you’ll need to find all those 1098-MISC forms you received throughout the year from your clients. Depending on how many people you’ve worked for during the year, you might need to track down a lot of these documents, so starting early is a smart move.
