subject: Getting Ready For Tax Season Before Tax Season Arrives - Five Tips [print this page] Tax season is just around the corner and it is a good time to start thinking about preparing to file your income tax returns. It may be difficult to think about taxes when you have the holiday season on your mind, but you will thank yourself later when filing your taxes is a cinch. People who are more prepared for tax season likely save themselves from making costly errors that can come back to haunt them later down the road.
While the logical thing to do would be to prepare yourself throughout the year for tax time, this is hardly the route that most people take. If you are one of those people, do not fret because you can quickly get prepared by doing five simple things.
1.Gather Income Information-The first thing to do to be better prepared for tax time is to gather all of the information you have that pertains to any income you earned throughout the year. Not only does this include pay stubs and/or W-2 forms but also information having to do with any investment income you may have made.
2.Locate a Tax Preparer-Another important step to take, if you do not plan to prepare your own taxes, is finding a tax preparer. You will want to gather all of the books and forms that you will need. There are many choices in tax preparation professionals. So you should determine what you are looking for: low cost, a quick refund, or somebody local.
3.Tally Up Your Write-Offs-For many individuals write-offs make up for some of the taxes they owe and can greatly reduce tax debt. If you are going to be claiming any write-offs, now is the time to start tallying them up so your tax preparer can include them in your tax forms.
4.Pay-off Any IRS Balance That Could Prevent You from Getting a Return-You should also consider paying of any balance you may own to the IRS that may interfere with a return. If you are unable to pay the full amount, you may still be able to prevent this from happening by signing a payment agreement. Be sure to look into this option as well.
5.Hold a Teleconference with Your Accountant and Tax Preparer-Finally, to be sure everything is in order, you should hold a conference call with both your accountant and your tax preparer if they are not the same person. Teleconferencing is a great way to be sure that no write-offs or income is overlooked. Conference calling programs are often free online and easy to use, so you will not even have to fork over any money for your conference call.
Discuss when a good time would be for everyone to do a conference call and before you start the conference call make a list of any questions or comments you may have. If you gather all the important information you need, use teleconferencing, and rely on good old common sense, you could end up not only not paying the IRS any money this year but maybe even getting some back which is something anyone can appreciate.
