Peace of Mind Organizing

Worth repeating: Handy tool for organizing your taxes

30 January 2013

I originally posted this endorsement of Smead’s Tax Organizer almost a year ago. I was back helping the same client with her taxes this week, and we used the tax organizer again. We actually bought a new one and she stored her supporting documents in the old one. Consulting last year’s organizer made this year’s taxes even easier. If you’re compiling documents for your tax preparer, you might find this product handy.

The good folks at Smead sent me their Tax Organizer a six-pock letter’-sized file that helps you assemble your tax information.

I didn’t have a use for it myself, since I use Freedom Filer odd year/even year tax files to gather my taxes year-round and then I do my own taxes with Turbo Tax.

But yesterday I helped a client assemble her tax documentation for her accountant. I’d set her up with a Freedom Filer system, so her documents were all in one place (hooray!), but I brought along Smead’s Tax Organizer in case it might be helpful.

As we went through the workbook her accountant provided and gathered documents into the categories he designated, we used the Tax Organizer to hold everything. It comes with pre-printed labels (which I supplemented with hand-written removable labels as necessary) and we were able to compile a very organized, portable packet of information.

My client was pleased and she’s sure her tax preparer will be pleased as well. When she gets the organizer back, she’ll store it for the same use next year (because the Freedom Filer hanging file folders are working so well for her for year-round filing of tax documents and receipts).

If your taxes are simple, you could use the Tax Organizer go gather your documents as they come in throughout the year. Even if they’re more complex the Tax Organizer might help you, like it helped my client and me, in terms of creating portable document storage to hand off to your accountant.

Tagged with: organzing products, smead, taxes, worth repeating

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