Get Ready For Tax Season With This Tax-Prep Checklist
For many of us, tax season can be a major source of stress. But for most taxpayers, by taking the right preparatory steps and collecting the needed resources beforehand, tax filing doesn’t have to be so taxing.
Read on to learn about the forms to collect and steps to take to ensure the relatively stress-free submission of your federal and state tax returns.
What You’ll Need To Be Prepared For Filing
While everyone’s financial situation is different, for the vast majority of taxpayers, filing tax returns can be a relatively simple and straightforward process—if you’ve got the right documents in hand. In most cases, the needed information falls into the following categories:
- Personal details: You’ll need to gather the Social Security numbers and birthdates of everyone in your immediate family, including yourself, your spouse, and your dependents.
- Income and investment information: This includes your W-2 form, which is typically provided by your employer and shows how much you earned over the course of the year, along with how much of your income was withheld for taxes. Other common documentation needed in this category can include:
- documentation of payments made on a home mortgage
- if you itemize deductions, documentation of the amount of your state refund from your previous year’s taxes
- all 1099 forms you may have received for income other than wages, salaries, and tips
- documentation of any other miscellaneous income, such as gambling winnings, award money, lottery payouts, etc.
- Self-employment information (if applicable): If you’re self-employed or own a side business, you’ll need documentation of your business expenses, your mileage records, and any installments you may have already paid on your tax bill over the course of the year. Further, if you’re looking to take a home office deduction, you’ll need to know the square footage of your working space.
Tax Deductions for People Who Qualify to Itemize on Schedule A
- Information on medical expenses: Because you’re able to claim a tax deduction for unreimbursed medical expenses exceeding a certain percentage of your income, you’ll want to collect documentation of these if the unreimbursed amount spent on them was significant. Applicable expenses can include those for exams, preventive care, prescriptions, braces, glasses, and more.
- Donation receipts: If you are aiming to claim a tax deduction for your charitable donations, you will need to have receipts showing the organizations you contributed to and the value and date of the contributions.
- Details on already-paid taxes: Taxpayers who own residences can claim a deduction for any property taxes they paid during the year, so having a copy of your property tax receipts can be a big help. Deductions can also be claimed for any state and local income taxes paid and any personal property taxes paid (such as taxes on a new vehicle), so documentation of those expenses can also be helpful.
- Other information: If you are seeking to have your tax refunds sent via direct deposit, you will need to have the routing and account numbers of the account. Other info needed can include information about any foreign bank accounts and their peak values during the year.
For today’s taxpayers, a range of professional assistance and software is available to help ease the process of filing tax returns. Here at Security Finance, our tax preparation services make it as easy as scheduling an appointment, dropping off your tax information, and picking up your completed tax forms when the filing is complete.
Visit our Security Finance Tax Preparation page or schedule an in-person appointment to learn more about how we can help you get started on your tax prep today.