If you’re trying to get your taxes done, but you don’t know what documents you need, where to find them, etc, keep reading.
I’m going to help you get organized & going in the right direction:
First, you need to be aware of the filing deadlines.
April 15th is the individual tax filing deadline this year.
That means for your individual tax return, you must have either filed your return or filed an extension of time to file by 11:59 PM that day. Keep in mind that filing an extension does not extend your time to pay your taxes. This is a common misconception people have.
It grants you six additional months to file your return, but your payment is still due on April 15th. If you owe additional tax when you file your return later in the year, you will likely owe penalties and interest on that payment.
If you are required to file a tax return for a partnership or S Corporation, the deadline to file is March 15th—not April 15th.
You will need to file your Form 1065, Form 1120S, or file an extension by 11:59 PM that day.
If you have a C Corporation, you will be required to file on April 15th. The same extension rules apply.
Before we dive into the various forms you’re likely to receive, let’s talk about some useful items to have to prepare your taxes:
Have any tax ID numbers handy—this would include:
While this is not strictly required for filing this year’s return, you’ll want to check the differences between this year and last.
If there are significant differences that you weren’t expecting, something could be incorrect in this year’s preparation.
It will also show any carry forward items that you may need to apply to this year’s return.
Most people receive a Form W2.
This is a statement of wages paid to you by your employer.
Next, you’ll likely have one or more of the 1099 forms.
If you were paid interest this year, you will receive Form 1099-INT. Most often these will come from your bank.
If you worked as a self-employed contractor, you will likely be issued Form 1099-NEC from anyone that paid you over $600.
If you were paid rents or royalties, you should expect a 1099-MISC.
Those of you that received unemployment compensation paid by the government should receive a 1099-G.
Taxpayers that withdraw from a tax-deferred retirement account, or rollover a retirement account balance need to be on the lookout for a Form 1099-R from their custodian. It will show the taxable portion of the transaction..
Form 1099 Composite/Consolidated will usually be provided to those with a taxable brokerage account. It will report all the taxable events from your portfolio. Typically it will include in it:
Those will report your ordinary dividends vs qualified dividends, your interest generated from your brokerage account, and any capital gains or losses among some other taxable events.
Quick note: Let your tax preparer know if you completed a backdoor Roth IRA.They will need to file Form 8606 to track your Roth balance.
Next, let’s finish with some ancillary forms to round out your list:
With the explosion of the sports betting industry and the accompanying apps, many taxpayers will have a W2-G that will report gambling winnings. Make sure you check your sports book app for this document.
You will need to report your pass-through entities on your individual tax return. After your Form 1065 or 1120S is filed, you'll need a copy of your Schedule K-1 to file your taxes. This form reports your share of income from the entity.
Marketplace insurance holders will need to have their Form 1095-A to report premiums paid and to settle up any premium tax credit balances.
If you had a mortgage, you'll likely be provided Form 1098. This will report mortgage interest paid, which can be an itemized deduction. In addition, be on the lookout for property tax receipts from your local government.
Gather all receipts and documents related to your charitable contributions for the year. These will also help verify your itemized deductions for the year.
If you were a victim of identity fraud and someone used your information to file a fraudulent return, you may have requested an IP PIN in the prior year. The IRS will mail you or digitally provide a 6 digit PIN that you will have to have to electronically file your taxes. Do not lose this document. There are ways to get a new copy of the number, but they are annoying.
This is a non-exhaustive list of things to be on the lookout for, but this should get most people through the information gathering process.
And as we approach the tax deadline, you might be wondering “what can I still do to lower my tax bill?"
If this is you, you need to make a change this year. Being in this spot means you were reactive last year. This is never the goal.
Great tax planning is PROACTIVE…not reactive.
We're already doing 2025 tax planning for clients as it is so important to be ahead of the game.
But for now, here are the 6 best options you still have:
For a Solo 401(k), if you are an S Corp, you can still get in the 25% employer side contribution (if it’s open).
If any other entity structure, you can do the full $69,000 for last year if you made enough. You can calculate this figure by taking your gross self-employment income and subtracting your business expenses + half your self-employment tax.
This will reduce your taxes by your marginal rate.
If you put $50k in and are in the 32% bracket + 5% state. You would save $50k x .37 = $18,500 on taxes.
You will then need to pay taxes later when you take these funds out.
You can get as much as you want into a SEP up to the tax deadline.
For an S Corp, this is 25% of compensation. For any other type, this is about 20% of profits (same equation as used above).
You have until the tax filing deadline to do a profit share, but know this is for all employees if you have them.
You can either do a flat amount for everyone or can carve out a pool of dollars and do it based on income.
If you have an HSA and did not max it out for last year, you still have time.
You can go open an account at somewhere like Fidelity and finalize the room you have left.
The max for 2024 was $8,300.
Doing it this way is pre-tax but not pre-FICA tax. In future years, aim to do this via payroll so you can save on FICA taxes too.
Most people with a high tax bill cannot contribute to a pre-tax IRA (unless they are not offered a retirement plan at work).
However… you can still do a non deductible contribution and convert to Roth (but make sure you have no other pre-tax IRA dollars out there). This might not save you on taxes today, but tax-free growth and tax free use in the future will save a ton on capital gains taxes.
If your business took off last year and you are thinking in it will continue, adding a cash balance plan could be great move.
This allows you to defer another $100k+ a year depending on age.
But know you typically have to do this for 3+ years and they are expensive to administer.
But you definitely come out ahead with the tax savings.
If you plan ahead and do great tax planning throughout the year, you have a ton more options.
Get these moves done.
File your taxes, then start game planning for this year.
This is the year to move from being reactive to proactive.
If you're reaching a point where you feel like you'd benefit from working with a financial advisor, please use this link to apply to work with me.
I have room for 20-25 more clients before I will be at capacity. I'd love to help you navigate your financial life.
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