Tax Season Starts Monday

[canyonwalker]

Tax season officially starts Monday. January 23 is the first day the IRS accepts tax returns. How soon will you file yours?

Years ago I used to be doing my taxes already by this point. Largely that was because years ago my taxes were simpler. I wasn't waiting on as many forms from as many different financial services providers. This year it looks like I won't get all the official reports I need until mid-February at the earliest.

I've got some travel planned in mid-February so I probably won't have a free weekend to focus on finishing my tax return until late February or early March. That tracks with most years. Last year I did my taxes the last weekend of February and first weekend in March. The year before I did taxes on Valentine's Day. It's so romantic! 💕

The hard work of taxes being 6 weeks away doesn't mean I haven't started. I've got my first form already. It's just a W-2 but, hey, it's something. And I've been keeping and organizing records for 2022's taxes since... well, the start of 2022. That's over a year at this point.

Comments

[some_other_dave]

Ours usually get done some time in March, though sometimes it's later because of difficulty getting the paperwork from certain entities.

I don't think we even get the "tax questionnaire" from our accountant until the end of January! Though, like you, we've (mostly I've) been collecting the various things needed as we go through the year. There's a folder in my email called "2022 Taxes", and stuff like donation receipts has been going in there since last January.

[canyonwalker]

I save receipts in a folder, too, though that isn't even the main part of my effort in preparing for taxes 12+ months ahead of time. I've built a spreadsheet over the years for estimating my taxes. Among the inputs to it are my forecasts for salaries, dividends, and capital gains. I update it throughout the year.

With those estimates I adjust tax withholding and make estimated tax payments. The purpose there is to avoid a tax surprise in March. If I get a huge refund it's a fail— for giving the government a zero-interest loan instead of investing it myself. If I owe a huge amount that's a fail, too, as there can be penalty fees applied.