Get a Jump Start on Your Taxes
Preparing and filing your taxes is a less than exciting task.
Much like visiting the dentist it something that must simply be
done. There are ways to make it a little less painful.
Get a Jump Start on Your Taxes
As with many things, procrastinating on the preparation of your
taxes is a bad move. Tax preparation procrastination leads to
one thing - frustration. If you try to sit down, organize your
records, fill out forms, recheck your math, discover a stack of
missing receipts, redo your taxes, recheck your math, discover
another set of receipts...well, you get the idea. Doing it all
at once is a recipe for disaster and mayhem. Don't do this if at
all possible. Instead, spread out the tasks. While you are
waiting for clothes to dry, grab your receipts and organize
them. A few days later, get all of your 1099s together. A few
days later, add the receipts you've subsequently found to the
first stack you created. Taking little steps is not much more
fun than slamming it out at one time, but it is a heck of a lot
less frustrating and stressful.
If you anticipate getting a refund from the government, go ahead
and prepare your taxes as early as possible. While many people
are ecstatic to receive a refund, they fail to realize they are
giving the government an interest free loan. If you're refund is
sizeable, you should take a look at adjusting the number of
deductions or size of your quarterly estimated tax payments to
forgo having the government hold your money for months on end.
Doing so will also help your cash flow from month to month.
Once you begin preparing your tax returns, it is time to start
thinking about math. The biggest error made by taxpayers on
returns is math. Double-check your addition and subtraction
figures. Many times you'll find you made a small mistake, which
actually results in the payment of excessive tax. The IRS, of
course, isn't going to let you know such a mistake was made, so
you have to do it yourself.
Finally, the best advice I can give you is not to panic.
Contrary to popular opinion, taxes are not the end of the world.
If you don't have money to pay them, the IRS will not throw you
in jail. Instead, they will put you on a payment plan until you
do have enough money to pay them. That's as bad as it gets, so
don't let the tax man get you down.