TAXES BINDER ORGANIZATION | TAX SEASON

[@TheGoldProject]

Do you keep your tax documents organized?

[@bitrudder3792]

Every year we have a color coordinated tax binder to present to the accountant. We do have a dedicated place to put tax-related paperwork throughout the year. There is a section for every type of expense group. I have thought about using pocket dividers, thanks for the reminder of how handy that is. Anyway, we have had multiple binders instead of 10 years worth in one binder. I like your idea of keeping it all in one place; we now keep a similar rotating set of files in our file cabinet. Here is a tip: instead of putting the full year on each tab, take a tip from Freedom Filer and just put tabs 0 to 9. Those represent the last digit of the year. You won’t have to write or print a new label every year. You could even print up the numerals as words in a beautiful font, if you want, Something that goes with whatever beautiful cover you put on to the binder.

[@PenniesNotPerfection]

Smart! I need to keep my taxes more organized!

[@rajaizhar1025]

Lovely video I learn about taxes for proper plan

[@iamalwaysgeekay]

This is such a neat idea!!! I currently have a bin under the desk in my hubby's office that I throw anything tax related. But I would love to change it up :) Thanks for sharing Kristin

[@TheGoldProject]

And, thank you for watching.

[@TRdOzment]

How do you keep receipts for filing your taxes? I am currently using an accordion file but I feel like it's still a bit sloppy and frustrating to tackle at the end of the year.

[@TheGoldProject]

We don't have to turn in receipts for taxes.

[@bitrudder3792]

Tina Ozment - receipts are the worst! I’m grateful that we can no longer deduct sales tax expenses, because I felt compelled to keep every blasted receipt. But back when I was in the thick of it, I’ve simply used ordinary envelopes. Each credit card or method of payment had an envelope for every month of the year. Every few months, I would go through the receipts and write the amount that I could deduct on the back of the envelope. If I was being really on top of my game, I actually circled important information on the receipt either as I put it into my wallet or when I emptied my wallet into the envelope. I tried to keep a paper clip on my stack of receipts and keep them more or less in chronological order. In case I needed to make a return or something. Then I got up my calculator every month or so and added up all of the receipts in the envelope and put a binder clip around them. And I double checked the total. At the end of the year, I could add in any stray receipts. Then I took all my subtitles and added them up for the taxman. Then the envelopes full of receipts Were stored in a file box with the rest of the supporting documents and stored with a big sign on the outside of the box showing what year it was for. Usually, it was a tossup as to whether the actual sales tax is paid or under or over the standard deduction. But since you never know if you need to buy a new car or do something else hideously expensive in a given year, I felt compelled to keep track of sales taxes. That is probably more information than you want to know. But I do feel that the envelope system helped with the sanity of it all. Whether I have the envelopes inside of monthly file folders or inside of an accordion file, I had good control over those zillion bits of paper. And of course, any receipts that had to do with other sorts of deductions were not deducted from sales taxes, they had their own categories. Thermal receipt paper can cause your deductions to literally evaporate. For those, I wrote the date and the amount and the seller/vendor and what it was for on the actual receipt and then photocopied it. Then I stapled the receipt to the copy. If there was any question as to what the faded receipt said, there was really good handwriting proof with a good copy of the receipt to show that it was a real expense. I like the Freedom Filer approach to filing Receipts and statements for tax preparation. You’ll want to sets of files or two accordion files or two binders, or even a combination of those if you have lots of receipts.… The little annoying ones. One is for years ending with even number, the other one is for years ending with an odd number. That way you’ll have some place to file the new year’s receipts before you complete your tax prep for the current year. The set up you choose depends on how complicated your tax situation is . If you have lots of categories of deductions, having a generous accordion file or fat binder or file folders that allow you to sort as you go through the year is really helpful. If you’re doing a binder system, I love her idea of pocket dividers. If you want to do a binder system but have lots and lots of receipts, I have seen letter sized plastic pockets with hole punches for three ring binder‘s. Those would hold a lot, and you Could Group your receipts by month or by type, And be able to keep your tally sheet inside of it as well. You might also look into using something like Receipt scanning software that can help you total your receipts as well. The main thing is to separate items that you have entered from items that still need to be entered. Good luck!

[@amelaolsen4580]

We are so lucky we don't have to file taxes nomore. Wish I had this when we did!

[@TheGoldProject]

That is amazing.

[@jessicamason8733]

When do you stop paying taxes?

[@mossyoakmom8880]

They say you should keep your tax return indefinitely.

[@TheGoldProject]

I read where you should keep 3-7 years, depending on the type of return.