Keeping it Painless
Tax season is upon us and it’s one of the most unfavorite tasks of the year to handle.
I know many people do this themselves but I’m not one of them. Hiring an accountant and turning over all of my paperwork to him is the best way for me to sleep soundly at night, every night, during this stressful time. Whether you hire someone or handle the task yourself, here are some ways to make it less painless:
Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute
Tempting though this may be, it’s the absolute worst thing to do. If you can’t locate a vital bit of information a few days before the filing deadline, there may not be time left to do so.
Accountants despise procrastinators and they are stressed in the six to eight weeks preceding the April 15th deadline. Keep your accountant on your side and try to provide your information as soon as possible.
Your accountant will love you if you can send them everything by the first week of February.
Divide the Work into Manageable Pieces
In a good year, organizing information for the accountant can take an hour. If things are complicated, doing a thorough job in sorting your tax information may take more time. If so, break up the task into a few sessions. I used the morning hours of a weekend for…