tax receipts

[JoRaeMi]

SO - I was laying in bed thinking this morning about how glad I am that the taxes are done, etc, etc. And I decided that I am going to actually keep/copy/file my receipts in some sort of order this year, in a special folder just for taxes. For instance, My husband had all his work receipts in one place, I had all my bills in another place, and I had healthcare receipts for each member of the family in that family member's folder and so on and so forth.

At tax time, I had to go to each and every one of those places and dig through the whole year's worth of stuff to find and copy the receipts I needed. This year, I think I'm going to try to copy them and file them in their original folder AND a folder just for the taxes, so at tax time next year, just pull it out and WA-LA! All done.

DOes anyone else do this? Have any advice or tips to make it easier along the way??

Jo

[occ_gurl]

Yes, I too have a "taxes" folder and try to put all related receipts, donations, etc in there. Only problem now is that I have some 2006 stuff in with 2005, so I need to make a new folder for each year.

I thought I was doing a great job keeping track of expenses, until I found out my accountant needed them in different categories. For example, I had a total of all my medical expenses, when in fact he needed my insurance premiums separate from prescription costs, etc.

It's all confusing and I really hate it...just one of those necessary evils I guess. Last year my ex-husband forced me into filing 2 extensions because he didn't have required paperwork done. Talk about dragging out the pain! ugh.

[Mykhal Jaems]

Wow! You are so organized! I'm doing good to find it all at tax time!

[JoRaeMi]

Well, Mykhal,
I guess that;'s what started it all for me! Even though I was semi-organized already, it was taking me HOURS to find everything just so I Could cart it off to the accountant to save myself some time! haha
Jo

[Emmy64]

Well, my procedure is a bit different, but it works. I have a shallow box under my bed. I sit on my bed and use a laptop to pay bills online. Whenever I have a document or receipt that I'll need for taxes, I just pull out the box and drop it in. I don't give my receipts to my accountant at tax time....just the figures. When he sends back my copy of my tax return, I scoop up the receipts and put them in a big envelope with the return.

I do use Quicken, so the reports I send to the accountant are all separated into catagories when I pay the bills...I don't need the receipts to come up with my figures.