Tax Day falls on my birthday. This year, I’m giving myself the gift of a tax preparer.<\/p>\n
Last year, in the days leading up to The Big Day, I locked myself in the home office. I emerged bleary-eyed from staring at a computer screen and mentally exhausted from climbing my way through an avalanche of paperwork and receipts. I also was hopped up on caffeine and paranoid \u2014 did I miss anything? Did I forget to carry a “1”? Was my hair on fire?<\/p>\n
Yes, I waited until the last couple of weeks to file my return. I’ll admit it. I hate<\/em> doing my taxes nowadays, so I avoided it as long as possible.<\/p>\n It wasn’t always this way. When I was a full-time employee, I’d file form 1040EZ as soon as my W-2 arrived. But since becoming a full-time freelancer, taxes and forms have become more complicated<\/a>. As the 1099s arrived in my mailbox, I tossed them into a folder, putting off the inevitable. “We need to do our taxes,” said my husband. I know, I know,<\/em> I thought. Next week.<\/em><\/p>\n Well, Tax Day\/my birthday is a few weeks away.<\/strong> And because of upcoming travel plans, my personal Tax Day is effectively two weeks sooner. I could either stress out about getting my taxes filed (and not just about the deadline, but about being accurate, too), or I could join 49% of you and pay a pro<\/a> to handle it for me.<\/p>\n Waiving the white flag But this year I’m going to try hiring a tax preparer. Why the change (besides procrastination and an upcoming trip)? Here are my reasons:<\/p>\n Basically, I want to focus on my business and eliminate the stress of doing taxes myself.<\/p>\n Saving money by saving the tax preparer’s time<\/strong> But my work isn’t done. I could<\/em> show up with a stack of papers and a shoebox full of receipts, if<\/em> I want to pay for the time he’ll need to sort through the mess.<\/strong> My tax preparer knows this all too well, which is why he provided a guide to speed up the preparation process \u2014 ways to save him time that will save me money. I’ve expanded on that list using other sources, and came up with the following 12 documents, numbers, and data to organize, locate, or calculate before you meet with your tax preparer:<\/p>\n Sources: James R. Kay, CPA; Consumer Reports; Generation X Finance; Mainstreet.com<\/em><\/p>\n Whew. It’s still a lot of work, especially if you haven’t been diligent about record-keeping. It took me a few hours to locate everything I need and organize it into a file folder (with colorful paperclips and brightly colored sticky notes \u2014 obviously requirements).<\/p>\n I’m feeling prepared for the tax preparer, but I’ll be sure to report back about the experience for those of you on the fence, along with any hot tax tips I might glean. (Hmm…”hot stock tips” sounds exciting while “hot tax tips” falls flat. The IRS has zero sex appeal.)<\/p>\n For me, this year April 17 will just be my birthday. And if you’re still doing your taxes at the eleventh hour, I sympathize. Join me afterward for some cake.<\/p>\n Readers, can you add to this list? What other ways can you prepare and organize to minimize tax preparer fees?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tax Day falls on my birthday. This year, I’m giving myself the gift of a tax preparer.<\/p>\n Last year, in the days leading up to The Big Day, I locked myself in the home office. I emerged bleary-eyed from staring at a computer screen and mentally exhausted from climbing my way through an avalanche of paperwork and receipts. I also was hopped up on caffeine and paranoid \u2014 did I miss anything? Did I forget to carry a “1”? Was my hair on fire?<\/p>\n Yes, I waited until the last couple of weeks to file my return. I’ll admit it. I hate<\/em> doing my taxes nowadays, so I avoided it as long as possible.<\/\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[481],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128572"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>According to a GetRichSlowly.org, MoneyRates.com, and MSN Money online poll<\/a>, 48% of you do your taxes by hand or with software. That was what I’ve done with every return so far. It’s cheap (or even free), and the process is simple if your tax returns aren’t complicated.<\/p>\n\n
\nI found a tax preparer using these tax tips<\/a> from Richard Barrington<\/a> (GRS is still my favorite personal finance resource, even if I am on staff now!). After checking the accountant’s credentials and a free consultation phone call, I set up an appointment.<\/p>\n\n