I have been asked how am I doing my taxes enough that I figured I ought to right a post on it.
First thing is I make a list of all the items I am expecting to receive. What I am looking for in the mail will be the specific W-2’s for the places that I was employed in 08. Then 1099’s for other types of income. I have several money market accounts and I expect a 1099-INT from Bank of America, Citi Bank, and ING Direct.If you have invested into stocks or mutual funds in ‘08 you will also be getting a 1099-DIV from the dividends that were received for investments.
After I get all this, I buy the current year’s version of Turbo Tax and will enter all my information in. This is a very simple and easy to use program and would recommend to anyone. In all honesty I think pretty much all of the types of tax software will do the same thing so it might not matter which one you have.
Anyway, tax time can be pretty simple when your year was pretty straightforward. But in all honesty when I start getting into complicated things such as children, buying & selling property, tax breaks on energy efficient materials, etc. I will more than likely end up going with a professional to do my taxes.
