Newsletter February 2016 – How to survive tax time
How To Survive Tax Season
Is the documentation you’ve accumulated threatening to take your productive workspace? Do you need to get that 2015 paperwork organized before you deliver it to your CPA? Is the question on your mind what to keep and what to discard? Then read on for our easy How to Survive Tax Season Guide.
Let’s start with a few easy record retention tips:File Name/Content Length of Retention Bank account statements Until year-end reconciliation Brokerage accounts Indefinitely Canceled Checks One year Tax-deductible IRA Indefinitely Non-deductible IRA Indefinitely Credit card statements At least one year Income and royalty statements Until receipt of W-2 or 1099 Investment monthly statements Indefinitely Buy-Sell Confirmations Indefinitely Receipts for major expenditures: *On home or investments Until you no longer own the item *Retirement plan year end statements Indefinitely Tax returns and supporting documents At least 7 years from filing date
Now, some simple steps to organizing your accounts:*Having computerized accounts is best whether it be QuickBooks, Quicken, Mint, etc., or a simple Excel spreadsheet. *Remember to keep those sales receipts or invoices so you can easily track your income. *Classify your expenses into these categories:
Just taking a few minutes a month to organize your financial paperwork and update your accounting files will save you valuable time every year prior to April 15th. If that seems like a daunting task, we can help. K-Kan has been helping organize documents using various accounting systems and even Excel spreadsheets for solopreneurs and small companies for seven years. We can assist you in getting a clear idea of your bottom line, being able to pay your bills on time and knowing which customers owe you money, helping you to avoid any nasty financial surprises at the end of the year.
Going Paperless:More and more business are going paperless. When considering such a move, implement paperless procedures and utilize software following these simple yet invaluable guidelines:
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Next Month –
An in depth look at ways to get your desk clean,
keep it that way and various time-saving tidbits.
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