Tax Season. You are either scrambling to close out your browser to avoid reading about this topic or your blood pressure just spiked. Whether we like it or not those tax forms have started to arrive in our mail and email boxes. But tax season doesn’t have to be this hard doom and gloom event that everyone makes it out to be. Today, I want to dive into a few things to think about that may help relieve some of the stress around this tax season.
We saw a lot of changes happen during 2022. You may have gotten married, bought a home, or had a child. Will this have an impact on your taxes? Most likely, yes. Respectively it may change your tax filing status (single, married, head of household). From there it could also affect what tax bracket you fall into. If you had a child, you also now have a new dependent you can claim on your taxes regardless of when during that year they were born (December 31st 11:59pm is the cutoff). Any other big life changes you may have had during the year could impact your taxes.
However, there’s no need to panic because there’s nothing wrong with calling a tax expert or hiring an accountant to file for you. I’ll let you in on a secret, I have an accountant file for me. During this time of year, I am more focused on helping my clients with tax strategies or I’m in meetings collaborating with their accountants. I know that paying my accountant means that my taxes will be filed both on time and in the most efficient manner.
The last tip I have for preparing for tax season is to stay organized. Whether you are filing yourself or using an accountant, you must make sure you have all your documents. These days it seems like everything comes in a mix of paper and electronic copies. Because of this, it can be easy for things to get forgotten or lost in the shuffle. Two great ways to combat this.
Refer back to all of the places you received documents from last year or
Make a checklist of all of the places you expect to receive documents from this year
* Be sure to remember that if you changed jobs during 2022 you will receive documents from both the older employer and the new
Have any questions about this tax season? Please feel free to reach out via the contact us tab on our website
