March is always synonymous with spring but in my self-employed life, it’s also synonymous with taxes! Organizing a year of income and expenses is always something that I’ve had a love/hate relationship with. On the one hand, I love seeing how successful my year has been. On the other hand, going through all that information is hard work and can occasionally take weeks!
That’s why keeping my information organized is a must for me, and luckily, Master Lock has been helping me do that for years now! If you’re getting ready to tackle your taxes, these tips may help you get the job done quicker…and keep you organized for next year too!
Whether you like taxes or loathe them, keeping all that important paperwork organized and easily accessible will be a load off your mind. And with all the work that taxes can entail, anything that makes the job easier is a good idea!
sabina Edwards says
for us its, go to the dollar store and buy a bright zipper pouch to store anything we might need to income tax purposes….. toss stuff into envie as we get it, take envie to accountant LOL
I get a nice amount back every year
Jonnie says
I have always loved doing taxes. I started with doing my parents when I was a teen and still enjoy it today. Filing online has really made things easy but I never thought of taking pictures of our paperwork before. I will have to start!
ivy pluchinsky says
Thanks for the info!
Holly MacRitchie says
Thanks for the great tips, tax time is always stressful at our house.
Lynda Cook says
I have a tax lady that handles all my stuff, but I should really start taking pictures of my receipt’s
kathy downey says
Thanks for sharing this post great tips,i hate the stress it brings filling out the forms
Lori R says
Thank you for the tips
Debbie White Beattie says
We keep all of the paperwork in a file but we have an accountant do all the work for us
Cheryl says
Thanks for the tips!! I am lucky that my DH does this all.
Julie F says
Thanks for the tips, this is a stressful time of year!
Doris Calvert says
I always do my own and it’s easy of your organized, thanks for the tips
Sophia M says
I do the taxes in my house so thank you for the tips. I never thought about taking photos of receipts; that’s a great idea. Also, this is the first year I filed online and that definitely took away a lot of the stress and headache.
jan says
this is the first year ours is not going so easily. may need to call in some help.
Karla Sceviour says
Great tips!!
Florence C says
My father taught me how to do my taxes. I do mine and my husbands. I have a filing cabinet with a folder to poke everything in. I did the H&R Block course a few years back and learned a few tips.
Sherry K says
Thanks for the ideas. It is hard to get my husband to keep all his papers every week. This should help out .
Wanda Tracey says
We have a file to keep all our tax papers in.Thankfully my husband does ours every year.
Thank you for all the great tips.
Judy Cowan says
We have a box that we put all of our taxes papers in during the year. Our taxes are pretty simple so they don’t take that long to do.
Laurie Bolduc-Cadieux says
Thanks for the great tips. I file our taxes every year and seem to always struggle gathering all the paperwork.
Elizabeth Matthiesen says
I used to fill out all my tax forms on my own when I lived in Germany now I go to a tax accountant. Mine are now difficult since my support money comes in Euros. It might well be easier next year now that I’ll soon be getting my pension – hopefully anyway 🙂
kristen visser says
great tips! thankfully we have gotten all the tax stuff all taken care of 🙂
Athena says
Thank you for the great tips!
Joanne Frank says
awesome thanks so much for the tips
Ed Fastly says
The idea of digitizing and uploading receipts and documents to a secure site is interesting. Keeping the documents in a fire safe is also a great idea. It’s hard to choose which is better.
Kim Tanti says
I purchased a filing cabnet. My hubby thinks everything is just thrown in the top drawer and that is filing. Thank You for the great tips. I will have to get him to read them. LOL silly me.
Wayne Couzens says
I hate doing taxes. But maybe with this info it be easier
Christine Topley says
I do my moms, hubby’s, son and my income taxes and sometimes for friends too. I use the online free tax forms which I find making tax time so much easier. I am somewhat of an OCD when it comes to organization so I have everything separated and filed how it should be and kept as paperwork arrives and needs to be added. I find keeping receipts in an envelope or some sort of folder and out of sunlight keeps the receipts from fading. Also, it’s always good to use your debit card to make transactions or for those who have a credit card, use that as well. This way receipts can be numbered and matched to your bank/credit card statements as a back up as well.
DORIS HUMBER says
I do my own taxes every year. These are great tips…thanks for sharing!
AD says
I hate Tax time… But I have found that staying organized and sorting all my paperwork every month prevents me from losing my mind every April. Great tips!
Tiesha says
Thanks for the tips. I always appreciate ideas on how to be more efficient and effective!
Silvia D says
thank you for all the great tips!
Swapandeep Singh says
nice
Debbie W says
Mine are so simple. Just a T4 and sole income. Nothing much.
Vicki Ho says
good tip about taking photo of receipts, as those thermal slips fade away
angela marriott says
I love the tip about taking photos of your receipts.
Nate says
Very good tips
Joy D says
I have a clear vinyl pouch that I keep all my tax related receipts in. It always stays in one particular desk drawer. I rarely have to go searching for miss place documents.
caryn s says
great tips as i love making my taxes easier!
Treen Goodwin says
I have a friend who does our taxes every year , great tips and tricks thanks for sharing 🙂
Cameron DeLaCroix says
I do taxes for all my friends…
Ira says
10 days to go and our taxes are still not done… and everything was organized from the beginning… But the part of checking and rechecking it and then verifying it again is time consuming and scares us off…
Stephanie LaPlante says
Thank God we done our taxes this year.
Lydia Baran says
Use tax software and you won’t make math errors! Also the programs suggest deductions you may not think of
Krista M says
I have never taken photos of my receipts but this is such a fabulous idea! I do scan certain important documents into my computer for a back-up for safe keeping. I used to do my taxes by hand but over the years as they’ve gotten more complicated I now use a tax program to file.
Mishelle says
I love scanning the receipts but always wonder if I should keep the paper or get rid of it after a while.
Mishelle
Shirley says
Thanks for the great tips. Tax time is always stressful but staying organized definitely helps.
LILLIAN bROWN says
Thanks already use most but did learn some new tips
Amanda Fontaine says
We have a four drawer cabinet and I have a file in there for each income tax year. Anything to do with income tax for that specific year gets filed and then all I have to do is pull out the folder at tax time for hubby to do it. 😀
Thank you for the extra tips though, theyre great.
Caryn Coates says
Thanks for the great tips. I do mine and my moms taxes every year.
Viv Sluys says
My mother-in-law does our taxes. She is really good at it and enjoys it.
Carol M says
Lots of great tips, thanks