Preparing early for a successful Tax Day

Last year, I promised myself to get on top of my finances. Whilst I have sorted out some of the bigger issues already, there is a lot more to do. The problem is that there is not always more motivation to do it – or time.

That’s why I decided to turn every action that’s needed to reach my goal into small actions which I can tick of as I go along. My thinking is that one small action every working day should get me to my goal by my summer time.

First and foremost, I will prepare for my tax return so that I can submit it ahead of time and with none of the usual pressure and anxiety if the postal service will get my forms there on time.

Before diving in though, my small task for this week is to set up a solid filing system. For the task at hand, I focus on digital filing. I scan all documents which I receive in the post and download my statements. This means I won’t think that much about my paper documents at this point and keep that task for post tax day.

I’m certain that this is the main step that will make all the following task and activities so much easier. That is why I’m spreading this one action over a whole week. Once my filing system is set up, it’s literally one small task of looking at one account a day and saving the necessary statements and files into the filing system. Easy! Stress free! Successful!

What is your way of going about the yearly tax filing? Are you thinking of starting early this year?