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• Home Organization • Paper/Filing Systems • Time Management | ||||||||||||
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APRIL 2004 Organizing Those W-2's and 1099's | ||||||||||||
If your filing system has its flaws, tax season can be particularly rough. But there is another way. The first piece of furniture my husband and I bought together was a cypress dining table. It stands proudly in our dining room, but we never actually dine on it. We eat at a cramped table in the kitchen. That's because the dining table is reserved for another important purpose: It's where we keep our crumpled receipts, our manuals for gadgets now long since broken and our kids' school papers. And at this time of year, the dining table is where we reunite with our tax records. Underneath all those other scraps of paper lie our W-2's and 1099's and other essentials. At least, I hope so. Okay, so maybe this is not an ideal system. Each year, the first week in April finds me scrounging for documents and year-end statements. Week 2, I'm frantically tracking down receipts. By the time I actually finish É well, let's just say I'm often thankful the post office stays open until midnight on April 15. Stacey Agin Murray, a professional organizer based in Fair Lawn, NJ, assures me that a lot of people's dining room tables look like mine. She has a name for this system: "open-face file cabinets." Natural, convenient; not particularly efficient. Tax papers kept haphazardly tend to get lost, leading to stress and family friction—and extra costs. If your records are a mess, your tax preparer may charge more. If you're rushed, you may not be as thorough about finding deductions. If you file late and you're due a refund, it means your money languishes longer in government coffers, earning interest you'll never get to spend. And if you owe money, you get slapped with penalties, interest and that nagging pain of a major to-do item left undone. It makes sense, then, to get those documents organized on the front end. As soon as possible. Start by making a list of everything you'll need to complete your 2003 taxes. Include W-2 forms, bank and brokerage statements, receipts and canceled checks. Many professional preparers offer standardized checklists. For a freebie, go to www.hrblock.com/taxes/doing _my_taxes/tax_preparation.html. Grab an accordion folder, or some paper clips and Post-its. Divide your documents into categories like Wages, Interest, Medical, Charitable and so on. Then you're ready either to tackle the returns yourself or deliver the information to a professional preparer. While you're at it, establish some new habits for the coming tax year. Follow these steps, and April 15 (as well as other financial D-Days) can be just like any other days—only better, because you'll know just what suffering you're missing. "Set aside a couple of hours, with as few interruptions as possible," advises Ellen R. Delap, a professional organizer in the Houston area. "I know it's hard to do. I like to tell people it's kind of like your adult term paper." (So if it helps to blast some of the music that once helped you pull an all-nighter—crank it up.) Designate a place to stash tax-related items throughout the year. "A lot of staying organized is creating a home for everything," Murray says. A drawer is better than the dining table. Better still is an accordion folder with labeled pockets; you can tote it to the sofa, playroom or commuter train—wherever you're sorting mail or cleaning out your purse. Keep receipts in your car. "Because I'm a business owner, I have a lot of expenses—gas, office supplies—that I can write off," says Sandra Salter, a Newark, NJ, financial advisor and mom. She stashes receipts in a big envelope that she keeps in her car. "Otherwise, you crumple them up in your purse and lose them." Schedule time regularly to update your records. Haul that envelope in from the car. Look for an appropriate multitasking moment: maybe while you and the kids watch a midseason baseball game. Flip through phone and credit card bills, highlighting business expenses. Set aside canceled checks and receipts. "I used to go through everything at the end of the year," said Marla McCutcheon, a public relations executive in Newport Coast, CA, and mother of an 8-year-old daughter. That was a nightmare marathon; now she does it monthly. I can already see myself next April 15, admiring the golden cypress surface of that dining room table. We still won't be eating dinner on it, though. We'll be doing that in some fancy restaurant, spending our tax refund. Katy Read, a Minneapolis-based freelance writer and mother of two, has written for Salon, Parents and Real Simple. | ||||||||||||
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WHAT AREA OF YOUR LIFE NEEDS ORGANIZING? | ||||||||||||
Organized Artistry LLC • PO Box 2682 Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 • 201.703.8438 stacey@organizedartistry.com | ||||||||||||
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