Time to Organize for Tax Season!

It may only be the end of February, but I know that many of you are starting to feel the kind of anxiety that has the potential to drive you to distraction during the waking hours, and refuses to let you get a wink of sleep at night. It's tax time, and you have a mountain of paperwork sitting in the corner mocking you as you pace nervously in front of it. Unless you have an accounting degree, you're going to need to organize this chaos to hand off to someone who's qualified. And the more disorganized you are, the more money they're probably going to charge you, which means less money in your pocket on your return! Stop the procrastinating, turn off the television, turn on some music, and let's get down to business.

1) Schedule some time. Look, this isn't a 5 minute task, you're going to need to invest some serious man-hours into this project. If you have time to meet your friends for drinks, you have time to organize your taxes, so stop procrastinating!

2) Get yourself a filing cabinet, an accordion folder or just a box with dividers. Put someplace that's accessible all year round, so you can add paperwork to it over the course of the tax year.

3) Organize your expenses. Get yourself some accounting software like Quicken or Quickbooks and organize your utility bills, expense receipts, medical bills etc. Not only will you make things easier for your accountant when they starting filling in the boxes, but you'll begin to get a clear picture of your financial year in review! Maybe it's time to make some changes.

4) Are you drowning in receipts (I know I am!) consider investing in a nifty receipt scanner like Neat Receipt  that copies and electronically files receipts. Something to consider, if you have homeowners insurance, you are generally required to produce receipts (or copies) for the items that you need replaced. Neat Receipt is a great option for you!

5) When everything's all neat, organized, and you're ready to present it to your tax accountant, write down a list of questions that you may for them and paperclip it to your tax 2011 folder. Remember, put an efficient filing system in place now, and every tax year ever after will be a piece of cake!