Are you looking forward to a Fast Tax Return this year? A key place to start is organizing your information. If you break the  process down into many small steps you will be able to get everything done faster and may even come away feeling like you have accomplished something!

I hate to admit this – and I’m sure this has never happened to anyone but me! – but I have had to take a dive on a few tax credits because I couldn’t find my receipts, even electronic receipts.   For Example, When I am “filing” emails and paperwork I always think that I can easily remember where I deposited them. Eight months later when I go to my email “business” folder to find all of the online receipts and confirmations, I don’t see the big donation I made to the SPCA! After sifting through all of the extraneous emails that wound up in my business folder because I needed to quickly clear out my exploding inbox, I remember that for the first few months of the year I was using the previous year’s tax folder to file business items! Sounds confusing I know, but you get the picture; a lot of info is processed over the course of a year and a little organization will keep us from pulling our hair out trying to find it! Below is my suggestion for gathering 2011 tax info and setting yourself up for an easier time preparing for 2012 taxes.

Info gathered online

~ Break out a new sheet on “notepad” or one of your other favorite place to write lists on your computer.
~ Start by taking a quick review of every folder for every email address you have. The task at hand is to establish a base from which you can get the info you need.  This list is just for you so don’t worry about whether they do or don’t have tax info in them at this point.
~ Jot down the email addresses and the folders you will need to have a look at.
~ Now create a folder on your main email address that is labeled ’2011 Taxes’
~ Over the next few days check the folders for Tax info.
~ Move anything into the ’2011 Taxes’ folder that could possibly relate to taxes.
~ Now you can tackle the items in your ’2011 Taxes’ folder and drill down even further.
~ Once the sorting is finished you should have a “pure” ’2011 Taxes’ folder that can be used to prepare your own tax return or send it off to a tax professional.
~ Continue to add to the ’2011 Taxes’ folder any correspondence or documents that are sent your way. This is a great thing to have if you are ever audited!

Do the same sorting with Hard-copy information

Gather up anything that looks like it might be tax related and deposit it into a folder or basket, grocery bag or anything that can hold it all temporarily.  Once you have scoured the house and your basket is full, sit down and go through everything in the basket until you have a good set of paperwork to either take to your tax professional or process yourself. (Tax professionals are very good at sifting through paperwork so if you have included something that cant be used it won’t hurt anything)

2012 tax year

Start now by creating a ’2012 Tax’ email folder.  Throughout the year move anything into it that could possibly be used on your tax return. Do the same for hard copy information: Get a folder or bin going right away and you will be glad that most of the above steps wont be needed when January 2013 rolls around.

Looking for more information?  Check out these articles:

~ Looking for additional information on organizing your paper piles? Check out this article by Home Goes Strong – “Getting Organized: Learning How to Deal with Paper Piles”
~ There are people out there who will take your piles and sort through them for you – PilesofPaper.com advertises that for a fee they will process your documents and return them to you organized!
~ Maybe there is a Tax Deduction you didn’t know about?  Check out Kiplinger’s article “The Most-Overlooked Tax Deductions” or MSN Money’s “The 19 most-overlooked tax deductions“

I started mine this weekend. Having used the boxed version the last 10 years, I have decided to venture out an try the online version (which is available at a discount here on DealTaker.com – get your TurboTax coupon today).  So far I am impressed with the interface.  Not much different that the boxed version and I can jump on and work from any computer.  Stay tuned for more input as I complete the process.