| p>Taxes... they're inevitable for all of us. Usually tax | | | | start sorting and weeding your receipts, invoices, bills, |
| season starts with a generalized sense of anxiety in | | | | and bank statements. For many, this is often the most |
| January, followed by increasingly acute stress in the | | | | dreaded task in preparing for taxes, so it's an |
| months leading up to April. To prevent tax-related | | | | especially good idea to get started on this well before |
| meltdowns, get a jump-start on your tax prep by | | | | the tax deadline looms. |
| starting to work on them now. The fall may not seem | | | | Prepare for the future. Once this year's documents |
| like the right time to start working on your taxes - after | | | | are in order, why not get ready for next year's |
| all, April 15th is months away! But by taking a small | | | | documents? If you've created a set of folders, dividers, |
| amount of time now, you can make sure that when | | | | or an accordion to keep your financial paperwork |
| tax time comes next year, you'll be completely | | | | organized, why not create a second one that you can |
| organized and prepared. Here are a few key things | | | | use on January 1st? It's only a small amount of effort |
| you can do right away to get you started: | | | | to create a duplicate set while you're in the process of |
| Talk about taxes. Ask your tax preparer what | | | | creating the original system - but it's a lot more effort |
| documents they will need, how they'd like them | | | | to start from scratch next year. |
| organized, and any other ideas they may have about | | | | Consider going electronic. If you haven't already, |
| how to make tax time easier. Most tax preparers will | | | | consider using electronic systems for managing your |
| be very happy to share this information with you - it | | | | finances. Systems like Quicken and NeatWorks are |
| makes their lives easier when your documents are | | | | designed to help make it easy to keep track of your |
| organized. You can even ask if there are discounts on | | | | finances and your financial paperwork. It's easiest to |
| tax prep if you get your information to them before a | | | | set these systems up at the beginning of the year, |
| certain date. | | | | rather than sometime in the middle. |
| Start the sorting. Once you have a list of required | | | | What are your strategies for getting ready for tax |
| documents from your tax preparer, now is the time to | | | | time? |