Important Papers/Tax Prep

The new year means it's the start of tax season. I do our taxes here (well, Turbotax helps a little..) and it is so helpful when it's time to get that done if I have prepped ahead of time throughout the year. Even if someone else does your taxes, this little filing system helps you find important papers much easier than thumbing through desk drawers. We do have a safe deposit box where birth certificate copies, SS cards, etc are stored. This box is more for things that don't need the security of some documents and that need to be quickly accessed..

I picked up this file box at Target several years ago. It is very sturdy and cute, so it met my needs.

Since it's been a few years they did not have the exact one anymore, but here were some great options in my local Target last week. I will also include links at the bottom.

I use the labels (I should use my label maker to make it even cuter! Soon..) and have folders for Bills, Pay Stubs, Cars, Dogs, Each Child, Other, and Tax Stuff.

• Bills - I keep the paper copies of all our bills. I know that is not necessary, and many things are done electronically, but I just keep them, ok?! I do take them out of the envelopes and unfold them so they take up less space in the file box. And eventually I get rid of them.
• Pay stubs - same scenario with the bills
• Cars - I keep the receipt and information from when we have car work done, as well as any paperwork involving our cars and the purchase of them. This helps me if I need to go back and look at the last time we had any kind of belt replaced/tires rotated/etc. because I have a bad memory.
• Dogs - obviously, vet visits and things pertaining to our puppies are filed here
• Each Child - each child has a folder that holds their blue immunization form, and the extra copies of their birth certificate. This is not where I store their keepsakes.
• Other - there are some things that just don't fall into another category, so that goes in this file
• Tax Stuff - this is my most helpful folder this time of year. Throughout the year, I put papers that I know I will need when it's time to work on taxes into this file. This includes receipts for medical expenses, donation receipts, and since we are diligent about tracking our checking accounts, the hard copies of our account registries are filed in there. It's so nice to just grab that file out when the W2 and other tax papers are available and get to work.

I have a separate folder that holds things that have to do with housework, like garage door work, painters, tree trimmers, estimates, so I can get to those numbers and receipts easily when we need work done around the house. It is stored on the shelf next to this file box. It's blue and I should turn in around so it looks a little neater :).

Alright, this is my technique:

I keep all these papers for an entire year. I keep it in a place that is easy to get to, but obviously out of children's reach.

When it's time to start working on taxes, I put all my papers that have anything to do with taxes in an accordion folder. It takes me a few sessions of sitting at the computer for 20 minute intervals to actually finish. Also I have to print some forms online and some papers come in the mail. The accordion folder makes it easy to just grab and store in a drawer without the risk of someone (a mischievous two year old) getting his hands on it and me losing something. I keep all tax related papers in this folder while working on taxes. Once I'm done filing, I print a copy of what we filed, and add it to this folder.

Once taxes have been filed, I take my little folder upstairs to the guest room closet and put those papers into my long term tax box. Remember when I talked about my plastic boxes here? This is what one of them is used for. Our tax papers since 2002 are in there! Once condensed, they don't take up too much space.

That's when I purge out my important papers box and shred the papers from the previous year that I won't need anymore. Most everything is cleared out, but I just go through each section and decide what I need to keep and shred the rest.

I know it seems tedious, but we've been doing this for five years and the little bit of effort on the front end has proven to make life much easier for me. And if something happens to me, I know my husband could pick right up and find what he needed in there. This is obviously not the only way to store your papers, and if the box was fire proof that would be wonderful, but it is a suggestion that hopefully will help someone come up with a system that works for you!

Here are link to some file boxes. Anything that makes doing your taxes less tedious is nice! Have a wonderful weekend!!

 

Nate Berkus Hanging File Box ($19.99 Target)

Vaultz Locking File Chest Storage Box ($39.87 Walmart)

Staples® Large Open Top File Box ($8.49 Staples)

Bigso John Canvas Paper Laminate Desktop File Box ($27.99 Amazon)

Cargo Atheneum File Box ($20 Amazon)

Realspace™ Hanging File Basket ($29.99 Office Max)

Espresso Parker Desktop File ($29.99 The Container Store)

Bigso Kate Stockholm Desktop File ($19.99 The Container Store)