Sunday, November 24, 2013

Necessary Tax Documents

A tax accountant can do a lot to help someone save money on taxes. However, he needs to have all of the proper documents in order to do the best job. He cannot just magically save people money without anything at his disposal. This is why it is so important for people to bring the right paperwork with them when they come to see a tax accountant.

Bringing all of the necessary documents when meeting the tax accountant saves time and usually a large amount of money. There are a few things that absolutely need to be brought to the person doing the tax return. The most important of these things are income documents, such as the W-2 and 1099 forms, personal identification and any expense documents.

These documents are important because the the internal revenue service and many state tax agencies are starting to crack down on anyone who claims their dependence more than one time. This is a common common situation when two estranged parents claim the same child as a dependent. The tax preparers are likely to ask their clients to provide social security cards for each and every dependent. So, it is important to bring those when meeting with this accountant. Bringing in all of these identification cards helps the preparer to eliminate any electronic filing errors. The names and numbers on these cards are sure to match up with the records of the internal revenue service or state taxing agencies.

There are all sorts of documents someone may want to bring along to verify his income for the year. The most common of these papers is the W-2 that the employers send out at the end of the year. Self-employed people need to bring their 1099-MISC forms. Interest and dividend earnings are recorded on 1099-INT and 1099-DV forms respectively. The 1099-B shows brokerage trades in bonds and stocks. The K-1 form shows income that comes from a small business, trust or partnership. The 1099-SSA form shows all of the Social Security benefits earned by a person over the course of the year.

Additional income can be recorded on written documents. Additional income can include money made from rental properties, self-employment earnings or alimony. These can be verified by bringing in spreadsheets, bank statements or other documents.

Tax-related expenses should be verified with receipts, canceled checks or spreadsheets. These expenses can include contributions to an IRA, college expenses, moving expenses, dental and medical costs, real estate taxes, donations to churches and charities and costs from childcare and daycare. The mortgage interest gets reported on a 1098. Student loan interest is recorded on a 1098-E. People who paid estimated taxes should bring in their summaries of the state and federal estimated payments and the canceled checks.

The tax accountant can help to track down any missing documents. However, it is much easier for the person to bring in all of the documents than it is to make the tax accountant spend his valuable time on tracking them down when he could be working on ways to save the person money. It is very important to keep all of these documents in one safe place where they will not be thrown out or bothered. Many people file them in their offices.

Tax accountants are very helpful people, but there is not much that can be done without the proper paperwork. Anyone who is going to see a tax accountant to prepare a return should bring in the proper documents. It will make everything much easier, less stressful and more lucrative and productive for the tax accountant and client.

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