Getting ready for Your Tax Appointment

Be Ready!
The time to gather paperwork, sort it, and organize it is now. If you wait until the night before your appointment, you might miss an important deduction.

January 31
This is the due date for all forms to be in the mail. You may not get some forms until the first week of February from those who are late mailing them. Keep all of the forms in a single file folder. The forms to look for include the following.

W-2s
A W-2 is required for each job worked during the year.

Form 1099-INT & Form 1099-DIV
These forms are issued for each account that paid interest or dividends over $10.00.

Other 1099- s
Real estate sales are listed on Form 1099-S. Stock sales are listed on Form 1099-B, and Social Security payments are on Form 1099-SSA. Unemployment, state tax refunds and gambling winnings are also reported on Forms 1099.

Form 1098
This form reports interest you paid on a mortgage. It is required to be issued by commercial lenders only.

Forms K-1 (Partnership, Trusts, and S Corps)
These forms usually arrive late in the tax season. You don't need to wait for them to schedule your appointment. We can do everything else for your tax return. Then, and when these forms are received, you can fax or mail them. We can complete your return then.

Purchase or Refinance Paperwork
If you buy or refinance a home, we need the settlement statement. If you're not sure which one that is because you got a lot of forms at the closing, bring the entire package.

Stock Sales
If you sold stock during the year, we need the original cost. If you sold a mutual fund, the mutual fund company should provide you with the average cost per share.

Mileage
You must have some kind of log. If you lease your business automobile, we need a full listing of all the operating expenses including gasoline, oil, tires, insurance, lease payments, tags, and repairs. We also need the total business and personal mileage driven on all automobiles.

Self-Employed Health Insurance
100% of health insurance may be deducted.

Office in Home
You may be able to deduct an office in home if you use it to conduct "administrative or management activities" and there is no other fixed location where you do a substantial amount of this work. Deductible expenses include utilities, property insurance, repairs and maintenance done to the home, plus furniture and supplies purchased for the office. You will also need to know the square footage of the office and the total square footage of your home.

Estimated Tax
There may be a penalty for underpayment of taxes if the balance due on your return is over $1000.00

IRAs & Other Pension Plan Contributions
You have until April 15th to make contributions to your IRAs, both Traditional & Roth's. If you have a SIMPLE or SEP retirement, you have until the due date for filing your return, April 15th, or to any date granted by an extension. Education IRAs must be funded by December 31st.

EMAIL Address
Do you have an email address? If you do, please give it to us during your appointment. We want to build a file of everyone who has one so that we can provide updates and other information as it becomes available.