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<\/p>\nApril 15th (Tax Day) will be here in about three weeks and since my taxes are done and my method for keeping track of stuff worked, I thought I’d share it here.<\/p>\n
You will need:<\/p>\n
1 box business envelopes
\n1 manilla envelope
\n1 sheet blank address labels<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You can do 1 of 2 things with the labels. You can either write on them very neatly or you can go into a Word program and create a new sheet of labels.<\/p>\n
Here is my list of the generic labels I create:<\/p>\n
Car Registration\/Maintenance
\nMedical — Doctors\/Dentists
\nMedical — Laboratory
\nMedical — Glasses
\nMedical — Equipment
\nMedical — Clinics\/Hospitals
\nEducation
\nCharitable Donations — Items
\nCharitable Donations — Money
\nPay Stubs
\nW-2’s
\nMedical Insurance<\/p>\n
Since Jon is a pastor, he is considered to be self-employed by the government and his labels include the following:<\/p>\n
Travel
\nMeals Out (work purposes)
\nGas (January to March 2016)
\nGas (April to June 2016)
\nGas (July to September 2016)
\nGas (October to December 2016)
\nDry Cleaning (his suits and alb are uniforms)
\nPost Office
\nMinistry Expenses
\nWedding Expenses
\nOffice Expenses<\/p>\n
Create labels, print them out and put them on your business envelopes.<\/p>\n
Write “Taxes 2016” on your manilla envelope or make another label for it.<\/p>\n
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Use these labelled envelopes to keep track of your receipts and documents. Did you take a trunk full of stuff to Goodwill? Fill out that receipt (making sure to attach an itemized list of what you donated) and stick it in the “Charitable Donations — Items” envelope. Did you have to take some continuing education classes? Stick it in the “Education” envelope. Are you self-employed and had to drive 50 miles for something job-related? Write down your mileage and stick that gas receipt in the proper envelope. <\/p>\n
What I love about the business envelopes is that they all fit in the big manilla envelope which means keeping track of them is easier. <\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
At the end of the year, you can go through the envelopes and total everything up. I like to use Excel for this because I can actually just highlight a column and click the “sum” button to tally everything up. I am also a huge fan of It’s Deductible<\/a> for helping me tally up my charitable giving. It helps you figure out what all your donated items are worth and how much you’ve given through the year. Best of all, it’s free so you’re getting to use the same software that all the Turbo Tax people use and not having to pay through the nose for it.<\/p>\n As far as doing your actual taxes, you can take them to an accountant or you can use tax software. When I was married to Jon, we had to use Turbo Tax Home\/Business<\/a> which can be pricey but I can usually get it for 40% off if I buy it at Costco or on Amazon and use the coupons that Intuit sends out in late January. I’ve been using it for our taxes for 10 years now and I can’t say enough about how much I love it. When I needed help with something in February, one of the Intuit people stayed on the phone with me for an hour as we troubleshot my problem and made sure I was able to get everything e-filed without a problem. TurboTax.Com<\/a> even has a free option if your taxes are relatively uncomplicated.<\/p>\n This is what worked for me last year. I hope some of it is helpful to those who are reading it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" April 15th (Tax Day) will be here in about three weeks and since my taxes are done and my method for keeping track of stuff worked, I thought I’d share it here. You will need: 1 box business envelopes 1 … Continue reading