Planning for Your Appointment with Your Tax professional

 It is tax season again and time to prepare yourself to see your tax professional. Thorough preparation will help ensure your tax meeting goes smoothly, and you receive all the deductions you are entitled to.
If your tax professional is efficient and wishes to save you money on future taxes, he or she should request receiving your information well in advance to assure the best outcome and a productive meeting. This could allow time to provide you tax planning advice during your meeting, which is essential to helping you save considerably on future taxes. Certainly, not all tax professionals may be willing to discuss tax planning, which we believe would be a disservice. Those of you who are our clients know we consider this so essential that, in addition to providing you tax planning advice during your meeting, we offer our clients unlimited complimentary tax planning advice throughout the year. So, do take advantage of this opportunity.
Preparation for Your Tax Meeting
1. Set up your appointment now.  If your tax preparer is in demand, do not procrastinate.  Their schedule will fill up quickly.
2. Get your receipts together and group them by type of expense.
3. Collect the various types of information you have received for your returns. This includes W-2s, 1099s and all other tax forms.
4. Group similar documents together. If you have many papers, it is best to use file folders and label them by category.
5. Gather records of charitable contributions. You will need specific information, and, for all contributions over $250, you must have a written statement from each charity acknowledging the amount of your gifts.
6. Make a list of personal information, including social security numbers, addresses of rental properties you own, records of property purchases and sales, etc.
7. If you are using a new preparer, make sure you send them a copy of at least last year’s return.
8. For small business owners, gather all your income and expense information.
To make this task go smoothly, we recommend you use personal or small business software, such as Quicken or Quickbooks. If you have questions, we welcome you to contact us.
Professional Tax Services is a locally-owner provider serving over 3,500 local residents and businesses. For more information call 661-259-1967 or visit www.scvprotaxservices.com. Through the EZ2 Thrive program, Professional Tax Services provides unlimited complimentary tax planning advice to their clients.