Preparing to See a Tax Professional

You have always prepared your own tax returns. However, your financial situation has become more complicated and you need the assistance of a tax professional. But, how do you prepare for your meeting?
Hopefully, you have selected someone with whom you will be comfortable and confident. Once you begin using a tax professional, chances are you will need to continue to do so for many years. Thus, you will be best served if this professional thoroughly understands your goals and objectives, and your personal and financial situation. If this is not the case, you probably need to choose someone else before it is too late.
Regardless of whom you work with, you will be best served if you thoroughly prepare for your tax meeting. The more organized your records, the less time the preparer will need to process your return. This likely means greater accuracy and probably paying less tax. Among the items you need to present include:
• Your personal ID
• Your most recent tax return
• All sources of income documents (W-2s, 1099s)
• Records of all expenses
• Dependent information
• Records of any estimated tax payments made
• Savings and investment records
• Health savings account information
• Receipts
• Other income and losses (i.e., gambling records, jury duty, payment card transactions)
• Home ownership records (i.e., property tax documents, home improvement receipts)
• Rental property income, expenses and transactions
• Charitable donation records
• Investment related expenses
• Medical expenses
• State and local tax payments
• Childcare expenses
• Educational expenses
• Retirement and other savings records
In addition, if you expect a refund, you need to provide how you want it to be handled (i.e., applying some or all of it to next year’s taxes).
If you have any questions concerning how to prepare for a tax meeting, we welcome you to call us. If you are a client, remember we provide unlimited complimentary tax-planning advice to our clients.
Professional Tax Services is a locally-owned provider serving over 3,500 local residents and businesses. For more information, call 661-259-1967 or visit www.scvprotaxservices.com. Through their complimentary EZ2 Thrive program, they provide unlimited free tax-planning advice to their clients.