AICCCA Recommends Getting Organized for Tax Season
Fairfax, VA (February 18, 2005) —
Each year many Americans may overlook potential deductions as a result of haphazard record keeping. "If consumers were more organized with their tax records and receipts, they may realize more deductions and tax savings," commented Dave Jones, President of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies.
"Few people would deliberately leave a ten dollar bill on the ground; however, these same people may be losing the equivalent of that ten dollars because they lost or misplaced pertinent receipts," suggested Jones.
AICCCA suggests these helpful tips to keeping up with items you will need to file your 2004 tax return.
Gather your receipts. For this year's return, get all of your pertinent tax information in one place. This includes receipts, invoices, sales slips, canceled checks, credit card statements and investment statements. For 2005's return, save these items throughout the year in a designated desk drawer or box. This may take a little practice, but the benefits will save you time and perhaps money.
Set up a filing system. Now sort your 2004 receipts using an often-used system: the envelope system. As it suggests, you label an envelope for each category needed: charitable contributions, medical expenses, investments, college tuition, and non-reimbursed professional fees. You need also to save your paycheck stubs if you have deductible expenses withheld from your paycheck such as union dues, medical insurance premiums or 401(k) contributions. You can set up the envelope system for 2005 receipts at the same time.
Start working. Now that you have all of your receipts and other tax related information filed in an organized manner, you can start working on your tax return. Take comfort that if you are audited you have all of your documentation easy to retrieve if you need to substantiate your claims.
Run totals. To calculate last year's deductions, add up the items in each envelope. You would be wise to double-check the total to ensure you are accurate. You will need this information if you do your taxes on your own or if you hire a professional.
Separate out problems. If you aren't sure if a claim is legitimate, hold this receipt or document in a separate envelope. After you get advice about these specific items, you can adjust your totals for the categories involved.
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Try the envelope system for next year's taxes. You can get started right away to make next year's tax preparation smoother and perhaps more accurate
Founded in 1993, Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies (AICCCA) is a national membership organization, established to promote quality and consistent delivery of credit counseling services. AICCCA and its members are focused on improved creditor relations, efficient processes and advanced technology to best serve clients and creditors. AICCCA members are independent nonprofit agencies that advocate for debtors, counsel millions of consumers annually nationwide and provide debt management services to consumers with excessive unsecured debt. For more information or to contact an AICCCA member office call (800) 450-1794 or visit www.aiccca.org.
