{"id":244,"date":"2010-01-27T12:47:46","date_gmt":"2010-01-27T12:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/?p=244"},"modified":"2017-01-21T22:15:57","modified_gmt":"2017-01-22T03:15:57","slug":"3-ways-to-save-money-on-your-taxes-even-if-your-business-records-look-like-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/taxes\/3-ways-to-save-money-on-your-taxes-even-if-your-business-records-look-like-this\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Ways to Save Money on Your Taxes, Even if Your Business Records Look Like This&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-opt-id=652951585  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mlsfkhvpsenu.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/FileDrawerWithOverflowingPapersCropped.jpg\" alt=\"image of paperwork\" width=\"172\" height=\"250\" align=\"left\" \/><strong>1. Get a copy of your return from last year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re like most people, your tax situation doesn&#8217;t change much from year to year.\u00a0 So last year&#8217;s return is probably full of clues to help you know what paperwork you need to collect for this year. <\/p>\n<p>If your circumstances have changed, make sure to note any differences, e.g. a new baby, a new house, a new car, a new job.<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nSee which forms you received from outside sources last year<\/strong> that provide proof of income and deductible expenses shown on your return.\u00a0 Pay special attention to these:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 120px;\">\n<ul>\n<li>1099-INT<\/li>\n<li>1099-DIV<\/li>\n<li>1099-MISC<\/li>\n<li>1099-B<\/li>\n<li>1099-R<\/li>\n<li>1099-G<\/li>\n<li>W-2<\/li>\n<li>SSA-1099<\/li>\n<li>K-1<\/li>\n<li>1098<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>If you used these forms last year, <!--more-->it\u2019s likely that you\u2019ll need them again this year.<\/strong> If your tax preparer gives you an organizer for this year, she\u2019ll probably have listed all the relevant items you reported last year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you have more than one bank account, brokerage account, or mortgage, make sure you have forms from each of them. <\/strong>If you opened new accounts this year, make sure you have forms for them, too.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re self-employed, make sure you have 1099s from all the clients who paid you more than $600.\u00a0 Refer back to my previous posts if <a href=\"https:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/email-tips-strategies\/do-you-have-to-report-income-if-you-dont-get-a-1099\/\" target=\"_blank\">you don\u2019t get a 1099<\/a> or if the information on <a href=\"https:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/taxes\/what-if-your-1099-is-wrong\/\" target=\"_blank\">your 1099 is wrong<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2.\u00a0 Review your paper and online calendars, day planners, and archived to do lists. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This will remind you of any business trips you took, conferences and classes you attended, customers you entertained, and stock purchases and sales you made.  This can be a gold mine full of tax related information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Gather together your bank statements and credit card statements. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t have paper copies, check your on-line accounts for copies.\u00a0 Look through the transactions for possible tax deductions you might have overlooked.\u00a0  Did you pay for your State license plate renewal by credit card? You might have an excise tax deduction in that transaction.<\/p>\n<p>Do your best to assemble everything you need before you make an appointment to get your taxes done. <strong>Making sure that your paperwork is complete BEFORE you turn your documentation over to your preparer is a great way to speed up your return preparation and reduce your fees.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If the preparer gets everything she needs from you all at once, she won\u2019t have call you to ask for missing forms and she won&#8217;t have to keep interrupting her work flow.\u00a0 Your return will get done quicker and easier.<\/p>\n<p>If questions do come up while your return is in process, arrange (if possible) to communicate by email or fax because that usually takes less of the preparer&#8217;s time.\u00a0 Every phone call can add dollars to your tax prep fees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1. Get a copy of your return from last year.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re like most people, your tax situation doesn&#8217;t change much from year to year. So last year&#8217;s return is probably full of clues to help you know what paperwork you need to collect for this year. <\/p>\n<p>If your circumstances have changed, make sure [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":"","tve_custom_css":"","tve_user_custom_css":"","tve_globals":{},"tcb2_ready":0,"tcb_editor_enabled":0,"tve_landing_page":"","_tve_header":"","_tve_footer":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[73,216,215],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-taxes","tag-business-taxes","tag-organization","tag-tax-preparation","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2704,"href":"https:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions\/2704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sherylschuff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}