Organizing Your Records for Tax Time

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I know this may be a little late for some and a little early for others. It is timely for me because we are going to get our taxes done in a week and need to gather everything up to be ready for our tax appointment.

So what do you need to do to get ready to do your taxes? Well, I keep an empty file folder in the file drawer year-round that says “Current Year Taxes”. Any time throughout the year that we get a receipt for a charitable donation or something else that we know we will need for our taxes, I can just drop it in and never have to worry about where I put it when the time comes. This system has been working well for us for many years.

One year I got the brilliant idea to list everything that we actually used during our tax appointment in the order the tax guy requested it so that next year I would have a checklist and know when we had everything we needed to do the taxes. This addition to the folder system has worked better than I ever thought it would. Some years I realize that something has changed, so the list gets updated from time to time.

Basically, my list is in outline form as shown below. We actually list out the names of employers, banks, retirement accounts and such to make it as specific as possible.

Things Needed for Taxes:

Wages

• Job 1 W2
• Job 2 W2

Interest (1099s)

• Checking Account
• Savings Account
• Investment Account
• Retirement Account

Mortgage Interest

• Home Mortgage

Taxes Paid

• State Income Tax Refund
• Excise Tax on all vehicles

Charitable Contributions

• Church
• College

Deductions

• Work Tools
• Mileage
• Medical Bills
• Not-For-Profit Charities
• Tuition Expenses
• 529 College Savings Plan

So this is by no means a complete list, but it is the bare bones of what we gather up with a few additions of things I know others need to have to complete their taxes. If you haven’t done your taxes yet, make yourself a list in your computer and gather each item up as you add it to the list. When you do your taxes this year, see what needs changed on your list or added to it. Find a large envelope or folder of some sort to keep your list and documents together. If you’ve already gotten your taxes done this year, you can set up this system to make it even easier for you next year.

If you see anything that I missed on the list or have a better system, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to contact me or leave a comment below.

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