Prepare for Tax Day.

Nothing is worse than realizing your taxes are due tomorrow, and your important documents are MIA.

Boring is great, in terms of your taxes. Whether you hire a pro or DIY, you’ll need to provide personal information about yourself and your dependents, including your income, and expenses you’ve paid that may reduce what you owe or earn as tax credits.

Review the checklist below to best prepare yourself for Tax Day:

Personal information

• Social Security numbers for you, your spouse, and dependents. 
• Your bank account number and your financial institution's routing number. 

Income

• Income from your employers (refer to your W-2s).
• Income you earned as an indipendent contractor (refer to your 1099-MISC).
• Income from unemployement benefits (refer to 1099-G).
• Social Security benefits (refer to SSA-1099) or payments from the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (refer to RRB-1099).
• Interest you’ve earned from your savings accounts (refer to 1099-INT).
• Dividends you’ve received for stocks, mutual funds, money markets (refer to
•  1099-DIV) or income from sales of stock (refer to 1099-B).
• Money you received through a pension, annuity, or IRA distribution (refer to 1099-R).
• Lottery winnings, pay for jury duty, cash won at the casino (refer to 1099-MISC).

Deductions and credits

You can take either a standard deduction or itemize your deductions. If you choose to itemize, you need to know:

• Interest paid on the mortgage for your home, vacation home, and equity loans.
• Interest paid on student loans or tuition (refer to 1098-E and 1098-T).
• Income, property, and sales taxes paid during the year.
• Taxes paid on personal property (vehicles).
• Expenses on medical and dental services. This may include doctor bills, insurance premiums, assisted-living expenses, medically required home improvements. (Example: wheelchair ramps).
• Donations to qualified charities, (refer to your receipts).
• Expenses for childcare or care for other dependents. (Know how much you’ve spent over the year and the provider’s tax-ID number).
• Expenses on education. (Find a breakdown of these tax benefits on the IRS website). 

Preparing for Tax Day can take some time. It helps to break it up into manageable pieces.