Get Ready for March Madness: Time to finish your Tax Filing!
In last month’s post (see link below), I shared with you tips to prepare for filing your taxes early in the year to lighten the load as the April deadline approaches. This month, I want to build on those tips to ensure you are ready to finalize tax prep and file on time!
One of my clients is among the 8 million extending her tax filing to October every year. She paid estimated taxes even when she was entitled to a refund just because she dreaded pulling the data together.
With just a few coaching sessions, she learned how to organize her finances, so she files on time and gets her refund - in April not at the end of the year! Her long-time accountant about fell out of his chair the first time as he had been filing her extensions for over 20 years.
Here is what one client said about making this change in her financial management routine:
“Laurie’s coaching with my taxes meant that instead of paying taxes I received a "tidy" refund. You can imagine my gratitude! I have a complicated financial situation as I have more than one source of income and multiple responsibilities to maintain. Her coaching helped me to identify priorities in my management which at times had felt overwhelming. Now I feel like I have a "Financial Fairy" who magically sprinkles financial wisdom for positive results. Thank-you Soooo Much Laurie!!!” - Jennifer R.
Tips for Finalizing Your Taxes:
After compiling your data it’s tax preparation time. Many of you may hire a tax professional to do this for you, but if you do them yourself, I have suggestions that can help you complete them quickly. Let’s review some tips about either hiring an accountant or DIY’ing your taxes.
Hiring A Professional
Your first step is to decide if you need to hire an accountant or tax professional. Some people hire a professional because they simply don’t have the time or interest in doing this work themselves, or their tax situation is complicated. You may have multiple W2 jobs, income from real estate investments, child support/alimony payments, and want to ensure a professional review of your data. Whatever your reason for hiring a professional – it is fine. The cost is typically worth the stress saved!
If you don’t already have an accountant – ask your friends and family who they use and why they like them. Interview a couple to ensure they are a good fit with your personality, have experience with your financial situation, and make a choice. For instance, if you are a single parent, receiving alimony, have rental property and a full-time job – ensure the accountant understands and can advise you on all the nuances of your situation. Once you have a tax professional selected you are well on the way to finishing your taxes.
Most accountants have a questionnaire they have new clients fill out to obtain all the needed data – which you have already compiled after reading the last blog. These professionals also use a tax filing application so they are ensuring all the tax laws are met and will file electronically for you.
DIY Your Taxes
For those of you that prepare your own taxes, you are most likely using a tax preparation app. I suggest this option to my clients if they have a simple tax situation (like one or 2 W2 jobs, own a house and some investments) or like the autonomy of completing their own taxes. I like apps for two main reasons:
Education: The first reason I suggest using an app is for the education factor. An app walks you through questions based on the tax law, provides information about why the question is asked to file your returns and may find deductions or credits you didn’t consider or know were available. This process helps you to better understand your finances, tax situation, and specifically what options for deductions or credits are available to you so that you can be better prepared for next year and beyond.
Support: The second reason, is that these apps offer online support to answer questions and for an added fee you can have a tax professional review your returns. This way you have the autonomy of completing the return on your own with the support of a professional – a win / win in my mind.
Need Help choosing an App or a tax filing service? – Click here to view US News & World Report comparison chart or Click Here for free tax filing options.
Once you have your App selected, schedule an afternoon to sit down with a cup of tea, your data, and finish your filing. It is such of feeling of accomplishment to hit that “submit” button.
You can see that the process is pretty simple once you have all the data ready. You too can be like Jennifer R and have your taxes done by early April and put that task behind you for the rest of the year.
If you want to discuss how Evolution Financial Coaching can help you get organized – schedule a no-cost Clarity Call with the link below.