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New Year, New Tax Season: Here’s Your Tax Prep To-Do List

Tax documents, receipts, and updating personal information—there are a lot of tasks to check off for the tax season, but a checklist can help! Thankfully, the tax experts at SD Associates have come up with a helpful checklist to make your tax season much easier this year. 

Organize Your Tax Records
Although organizing your taxes won’t reduce your liability completely, there are some financial benefits you could experience if you get organized this month. However, with all the different tax documents, it’s hard to know which ones you need to gather and organize. Here’s a simple checklist:

  • Keep an eye out for tax documents that come in the mail, like W-2s, 1099s, mortgage interest statements, etc.
  • Gather all the receipts you accumulated over the past fiscal year and organize them by category.
  • Make sure you have the cost basis of those stock that you sold during 2018
  • Schedule out your income and related expense from those rental properties.

Once you have all the documents, make your life easier by grouping similar documents together. When it comes time to file, you’ll be glad you took this extra organizational step sooner rather than later!

Add Funds to a Retirement Account
Did you forget to contribute to your retirement account in 2018? Not to worry! You have until April 15, 2019 to do so—and if you have the funds available, you might want to make that a priority. Not only are you making smart choices for your future but contributing to an IRA or SEP account you are eligible for that tax deduction in 2018.

Make Sure Your Address is Up to Date
If you moved in 2018, it’s important to make sure you update your address with any organization that you know will be sending you tax-related documents. This includes:

  • Former employers for your W-2s
  • Banks for 1099-Int documentation
  • Brokerages for either a 1099-DIV or a 1099-B
  • Lenders for 1098 documents
  • IRS, state tax agency or clients for your 1099-MISC
  • Investments and trusts for K-1s

Name Change? Make Sure It’s Updated
When you get married, there are a lot of new and exciting things that happen, and if you became a newlywed in 2018 (congratulations!), a name change is one of them! Typically, newlyweds remember that they need to change their name on their driver’s license, passport and paychecks, but don’t always remember to notify the Social Security Administration. However, if your name doesn’t match your Social Security Record, you won’t be able to e-file your tax return, so now is the perfect time to review this.

Whether you want help filing your taxes, are looking to maximize your tax deductions or identify tax credits, SD Associates can help! Contact us today to make your upcoming tax season a breeze.