Organizing Your Tax & Financial Records

I was recently interviewed by Cara of The Household Helper about getting your tax and financial records organized NOW for next year.

Some of the tips we talked about include…

- Create a system NOW: a folder for 2008 taxes where you can easily insert paperwork related to your taxes.

- Rule of thumb: keep copies of anything you will be deducting for 7 years. Keep the tax return as well as the back-up for that return.

- If you are NOT deducting things like utility bills or credit card bills, you DO NOT need to keep those statements (I usually keep them until I know the last check/payment cleared).

- If you are deducting things for home office expenses, you must keep those receipts/statements with your tax return (mortgage interest, internet, utilities, phone charges, etc.)

- We talked about more tax deductions, and I even surprised Cara with a deduction she missed this year!

To listen, please visit The Household Helper Podcast and click on Show #17 – Organizing Your Tax and Financial Paperwork.