Tax Day - April 15!! Tips and suggestions

We are approaching that time of the year when we start getting all tax related documents in the mail - 1099s, 1098s, W-2s, K-1s, etc. For all those tax accountants out there - it is their busiest time of the year!! Some people dread dealing with taxes and others take it in stride. What kind of tax filer are you? Care to share?

Some tips that I can pass along is to be organized. Throughout the year, I keep a folder that any tax related piece of paper goes in. You might wonder what do we get throughout the year?? The first one that comes to mind is charitable donation receipts that you get when you donate goods to places like Salvation Army, etc. I also keep a list of cash or checks that I might have written - so that you are not guessing at year end. Another one is personal property taxes paid on vehicles - this depends on the state that you live in. This is typically done during the year and a lot of folks forget how much they paid and have to start digging into cancelled checks to get the amount. One more item is expenses that you incurred on behalf of the company that you do not get reimbursed for. Another biggie on this list is stock transactions - if you buy / sell stock make sure those confirms are retained. It will make the job of determining net gain (loss) at year end much simpler. Once you have all the documents ready, you are ready to prepare your return. This is just a list of some of the important items that most will deal with. Of course there is a ton of other items that I am not getting into here.

How many prepare their own return - with a purchased software and how many get it prepared by a professional? Or is this something your husbands take care of in your household and you just sign the return?

Having prepared taxes for many years, I can pass along some tips and suggestions. Having said that, you can guess who prepares the taxes and get everything ready in my house - my husband's only query is "are we getting a refund?"!!!!

So, ladies - any questions?

Hi Sobhana,
Good topic to discuss..
I would like to add few more things.
1. Collect all the T-passes.(Mass gives the tax break for T-passes)
2. Collect all the energy bills.(Mass gives the tax break for high energy bills)
3. Collect all telephone bills (Fed charges can get tax break)

Myself and my husband does it online.
I will type the information and my husband verifies them.
We both will be happy when the refund numbers jumps.

~Punitha

Thanks Punitha - it is always great to increase the refund!! Good point about the energy credits in MA. So many things are state specific that people forget about them at tax time. Thanks for your valuable input!

Right Thread at the Right Time...Shobana you rock...And I understand that your job is related to Taxes...Really you deserve much appreciation in coming forward to help fellow ILites with your tips

For the past few yrs we had filed thru a tax professional and ended up paying 150 bucks...but last yr we used Taxactonline.com and paid 15 bucks and got the same refund...

So I suspect that even the professionals use a similar software...Whats u r take on this?

Very useful tips. I agree that tax professionals charge too much. Once we used H and R block to file and then got a letter from the IRS stating that we were entitled to a higher refund than what H and R block told us we would get!!

Glad to see interest pick up here. Tax accountants use software too - but it is not like Taxcut or Turbotax. For the average tax filer, you can use those software and you will be ok. It is when people are invested in partnerships and have other complex tax issues that you most definitely need a professional. If all you have is wages, interest, dividends as income and house payments, tax, etc for deductions, you are fine using a software for $15. The only caution I would add is make sure you are taking advantage of all deductions - and that might mean asking the right questions. Take some time go through and see what is new for this year - like for example, the year they started the child tax credit - many people did not take that credit simply because they did not go through address new law changes. In Mythraeyi's case, H&R Block probably did not get all the information from her which resulted in the additional refund.

Let me go through and give a list of new law changes to watch out for this filing season.

Dear Shobana,
A very useful and timely thread.
I would like to add a few more:
1. Mortgage interest records
2. Honararium received (if any)
3. Contribution to IRA
One can also deduct the cost of tax-preparation software (under tax preparation fees) if he/she chose to file under itemized deductions instead of standard.

Shobana, we(I) already prepared our taxes, though my DH wanted to do professionally. :)

Hi Sindhuja,
Congrats !! if you had got back good amount of refund.
Else

All the best for others too for filing their taxes.
Even though it sounds funny and silly, we think filing in month of FEB is lucky for us.

~Punitha

Originally Posted by Sindhuja

Dear Shobana,
A very useful and timely thread.
I would like to add a few more:
1. Mortgage interest records
2. Honararium received (if any)
3. Contribution to IRA
You can also deduct the cost of tax-preparation software (under tax preparation fees) if you are choosing for itemized deductions instead of standard.

Shobana, we(I) already prepared our taxes, though my DH wanted to do professionally. :)

Hi Punitha,
Thank you!
Yes, I got a considerable increase in the refund than the previous years.
All the best to you too!
Wish this FEB brings you more luckiness than the previous ones.

Sindhu

Sindhuja - you have already filed? Wow! I am either getting it done on April 15th or else extending it!! I don't have all my information together anyway!