While the bitter cold weather may have you thinking ahead to spring — a spokesman for the I.R.S. say you should at least be thinking a little bit ahead to have your important financial information ready. Christopher Miller says the deadline to file your federal and state taxes is a few months away, but that shouldn’t stop you from planning ahead.
Miller says it’s a perfect time to start getting all those bills, receipts, and canceled checks together for you charitable deductions, your unreimbursed medical bills, or your mortgage information. He says get it all together in one place, whether you use a shoe box of a regular file. Miller says finding all the information now will make it easier to begin the process of filing your taxes once your information comes from your employer.
He says it will make “tax time a lot less taxing.” Things were changed a few years ago so receipts are now required for charitable deductions. Miller says you have to have a proper bank record for a charitable donation, like a receipt from the organization, a canceled check or some other similar formal notification of the donation.
Miller say you can miss out on important deductions if you don’t have the proper paperwork. For more information, visit the I.R.S. website at IRS.gov.