Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
The Opportunity of Tax Time
Tax time is here again, and with it the pressures and opportunities that come with any big project, so don’t fear or avoid, but lean in and ask yourself:
What was hard about it?
What could I do differently next year to make it simpler?
Take steps now to make next year less hard: April is a great time to weed your file cabinets and think about tweaking your systems going forward. Things change: What might have been a great system when you had one job, paid rent and didn’t have as much money to give much to charity might not work so well now that you have five income streams or your own business, make mortgage payments and take lots of deductions. You don’t have to start from scratch, but take a moment to consider what is and isn’t working and if you can honestly call your process a system at all.
Maybe you can set a goal to be stricter about only using one credit card for business expenses or commit to pay doctors only with checks. It’s always easier to look in one place versus three (or more!), so making a conscious choice about how you pay for certain things can be a time-saver at tax time. Do you have a way (digitally or in paper form) to file tax-deductible receipts so they are already in the categories you need? Now’s the time to set that up.
While you’re at your desk amongst your papers and records, take the opportunity to purge. You don’t need to keep receipts unless they are for tax deductions or for very expensive items that you might need for insurance or resale purposes.
Perhaps you didn’t start 2017 with quite the renewed vigor that you had planned, but that’s okay, I think April 15th is a perfect opportunity for a redo. So don’t dread tax-day, embrace the opportunity for a fresh start, and Happy April 15th!