{"id":1211,"date":"2012-12-13T15:08:20","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T21:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"\/tax-prep-records-you-need-gather-now-file-next-year"},"modified":"2025-02-11T03:54:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T11:54:01","slug":"tax-prep-records-you-need-gather-now-file-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/tax-prep-records-you-need-gather-now-file-next-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Tax prep: Records you need to gather now to file next year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Any job is easier when you have the right tools. When it comes to filing your income taxes, the right tools include the paperwork that documents your financial life. Heading to your appointment with your tax adviser without the proper documents isn\u2019t just a waste of time\u00a0\u2014<\/span>\u00a0it could be a waste of money. Your money.<\/p>\n

>><\/span>\u00a0Start Your FREE E-file<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Having documentation of major life changes may mean more deductions<\/a> and a smaller tax liability. Many common events, such as having a baby<\/a> or buying a home, can trigger tax credits<\/a> or deductions.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife changes are life events that drive new tax benefits such as starting a new small business<\/a>, taking care of new dependent, having a dependent parent or going back to school,\u201d says Mark Steber, chief tax officer for Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. \u201cLife changes drive more tax benefits than tax law changes and if you are not looking for them, you might overlook or miss documenting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most important document to have when preparing your income tax return, experts say, is your last year\u2019s return.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best documents to give to your tax advisor is your prior year’s income tax return<\/a>,\u201d said tax attorney Lawrence Ploucha of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. \u201cIt contains good information about your income, assets, deductions and other important matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Documents detailing income include:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Wage statements\/W-2s
\n\u2022 Self-employment business income and expenses\/1099-MISC
\n\u2022 Commissions received\/paid
\n\u2022 Pension, retirement income\/1099-R
\n\u2022 Unemployment income\/1099-G
\n\u2022 Canceled Debt Amount\/1099-C
\n\u2022 Social Security income\/SSA-1099
\n\u2022 State refund amount\/1099-G<\/p>\n

Documents that may represent deduction or tax credits include:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Medical and dental expenses
\n\u2022 Real estate and personal property taxes
\n\u2022 State or local taxes paid
\n\u2022 Estimated taxes or foreign taxes paid
\n\u2022 Cash and non-cash charitable donations
\n\u2022 Mortgage or home equity loan interest paid\/1098
\n\u2022 Unreimbursed employment-related expenses
\n\u2022 Job-related educational expenses
\n\u2022 Educator expenses
\n\u2022 Tuition and Education Fees\/1098-T<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Any job is easier when you have the right tools. When it comes to filing your income taxes, the right tools include the paperwork that documents your financial life. Heading to your appointment with your tax adviser without the proper documents isn\u2019t just a waste of time\u00a0\u2014\u00a0it could be a waste of money. Your money. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,36,37,31,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tax-preparation","category-past-tax-returns","category-paying-taxes","category-tax-deductions","category-tax-strategies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1211"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9050,"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211\/revisions\/9050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irs.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}