| 1. Be Careful and Thorough. Avoid common problems | | | | your current year's tax bite. If you fall into the |
| like illegible hand writing, mathematical errors, | | | | Alternative Minimum Tax, you may want a |
| transposition of numbers, and missing signature. These | | | | professional to advise you. |
| little oversights can end up costing you time and | | | | 4. Know When To Ask for Help. Tax preparation tools |
| money if you are slapped with penalties. | | | | like TurboTax and TaxCut are great, but people with |
| 2. Get Organized. Allow enough time to get your | | | | anything more than a straight W-2 (including anyone |
| "stuff" in order. For example, properly categorizing your | | | | with even the smallest business "Schedule C") should |
| expenditures now will save you a lot of time later. | | | | be aware of the limitations of these software |
| Come tax time, you will be glad you grouped your | | | | programs. |
| expenditures by category (match it with verbiage on | | | | 5. Don't be Penny Wise and Pound Foolish. Hiring an |
| Schedule C if self-employed) and not by month or | | | | expert CPA or EA to prepare your return is a small |
| name of vendor payee. | | | | annual investment that can pay off big! Don't do your |
| 3. Be Flexible. Timing your cash flow can save you | | | | taxes yourself unless you are a straight W-2 wage |
| money. In other words, always accelerate deductions | | | | earner that takes the Standard Deductions (in other |
| in the year you are doing taxes for and always defer | | | | words, someone who doesn't itemize or have any |
| income, if you can, into the next year, thereby lowering | | | | unreimbursed employee business expenses). |