If you take a long time to assemble all necessary documents to prepare your tax return think about being better organized for next time.
Here’s a few useful tips from Omnibus Organizing in the San Francisco Bay Area:
As with all filing, the important questions isn’t “where should I put this?” but “when I need it, how will I find it?”
The first question leads to those beautifully labeled files that are never accessed (about 85% of filing, according to the NAPO Statistics). The second question will help you save time by grouping things together you’ll need at tax prep time.
When setting up home business files – consider using the headings from Schedule C, that way you just copy over your totals.
When paying utility bills, use your bank’s online service then, at year end, you can download that info into Quickbooks or Excel and quickly calculate your deduction.
By taking time to organize your system properly, you will save money because you won’t overlook a deduction and will continue to save time every tax season.
As you add a new year to your filing, remember to remove and shred old documents,
