Well-organized records make it easier to prepare a tax return and help provide answers if your return is selected for examination or if you receive an IRS notice. You must keep records, such as receipts, canceled checks, and other documents supporting an item of income, a deduction, a credit appearing on a return, etc. Here are the list of a handful of tips. 1. Go paperless with online bank account statements - perhaps even copies of cancelled checks and deposit records 2.

The Electoral College has confirmed new president-elect making great changes next year. For now, we still need to keep track of the routine things involved in bookkeeping and tax. Here are some quick steps: 1. Make charitable contributions before year-end This is an exceptional way to reduce your tax burden for the year as well. Remember to look up the charity to see what they do with your donations. Also, the IRS imposes several rules for claiming a deduction for donation:

“Audit-proofing” your return means documenting deductions so that you can prove them if you’re audited. Today’s historically low audit rates make it pay to be aggressive. But you should file your return as if you expect to be audited. That way, if it happens, you can support your deductions and walk away a winner. The IRS generally doesn’t require records in specific forms (except for travel, entertainment, automobiles, and gifts- 1). To verify expenses, you need to show wha

There are a range of reasons to keep records. In addition to tax purposes, people may need to keep them for insurance purposes or for getting a loan. Good records is useful to: Identify sources of income. People may receive money or property from a variety of sources. Records help them determine the sources of income needed to separate business from non- business income and taxable from nontaxable income. Keep track of expenses. This will help taxpayers identify expenses