Posted on October 17th, 2022.

Almost 85 million taxpayers pay professionals to complete and submit their tax returns, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). If you're one of them, it is important to organize your receipts, forms, and other documents well before tax time.

Your preparer may take information directly from you or ask you to complete a questionnaire. Either way, a little preparation will help you get through the process quickly and easily. Even if you do your own taxes, the steps below will help you get organized.

Choose a Tax Preparer

If you don’t have a tax preparer, a good way to find one is to ask friends and advisors (such as an attorney you know) for referrals. Be sure the person you choose has a preparer tax identification number (PTIN) showing they are authorized to prepare federal income tax returns.

Be sure to inquire about how much they charge in fees. This, of course, depends on the complexity of your return. Avoid using a firm that takes a percentage of your refund. The IRS website has tips for choosing a preparer and a link to the IRS directory of preparers, which you can search by credentials and location.

Schedule an Appointment

The sooner you meet with your preparer, the sooner you should be able to complete your return—even if you decide to file for an extension. If you anticipate a refund, you'll get that sooner, too.

If you wait too long to schedule an appointment with a tax preparer, it might not happen before the filing deadline. That means you could miss out on opportunities to lower your tax bills, such as making a deductible contribution to an individual retirement account (IRA) or a health savings account (HSA).

Gather Your Documents

You should receive all the tax documents you need from your employer or employers as well as from banks, brokerage firms, and others with whom you do business by the end of January.

Check that the information matches your own records on each form.

These are some of the most common forms:

Form W-2 if you had a job.
The various 1099 forms that report other income you received, such as dividends (Form 1099-DIV), interest (Form 1099-INT), and nonemployee compensation paid to independent contractors (Form 1099-MISC).
Brokers aren't required to mail Form 1099-B, which reports gains and losses on securities transactions, until mid-February, so those may come a little later.
Form 1098 for reporting any mortgage interest you paid.
Form W-2G if you had certain gambling winnings.

Round Up Your Receipts

The receipts you'll need to provide depend on whether you itemize your deductions or claim the standard deduction. You'll want to choose whichever produces the bigger write-off, but the only way to know for sure is to add up your itemized deductions and compare the result with your standard deduction.

For the 2021 tax year, the standard deduction for single taxpayers is $12,550, and for married couples filing jointly, it is $25,100. Those figures increase in 2022 to $12,950 for singles and $25,900 for married couples filing jointly.

Make sure you look for receipts for medical costs not covered by insurance or reimbursed by any other health plan (such as a flexible spending account (FSA) or an HSA), property taxes, and investment-related expenses. These are all subject to limits, but if they're substantial enough, it may be worth your while to itemize.

If you itemize your deductions, you'll also need to collect any backup you have for charitable contributions. For example, donations of $250 or more require a written acknowledgment from the charity stating the amount of your gift and that you did not receive anything (other than perhaps a token item) in return.

If you don't have such an acknowledgment, contact the charity and request it. You can find more details on charitable deductions in IRS Publication 1771.

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