Tax Preparation Checklist

This tax preparation checklist is provided to help you lower your tax bill to the US Treasury by focusing your attention on getting organized and pointing out some of the most common deductions to claim on your personal income tax return.

Home

Income Items

Tax Deductions

Tax Credits

Tax Credit for Qualified Hybrid Vehicles

Tax Help

Tax Law Changes

Estimated Taxes

Credit for Telephone Tax

2006 Tax Rates Schedules

2006 Tax Filing Requirements

Where to File Your 2006 Federal Tax Return

2007 IRS Inflation Adjustments

Tax Forms and Publications

Our tax preparation checklist is organized into the major tax categories of income, deductions and credits.

Since ignorance of our complicated tax laws is no excuse for not preparing an accurate and complete tax return and since we are obligated to pay only the least amount of income tax, we recommend seeking the assistance of an experienced tax professional to assist you in the process of preparing your tax return if you are uncertain about some of the items on this tax preparation checklist.

You may have heard this before, but it bears repeating: getting your tax deductions and income organized starts on January 1, not April 15th. Many deductions are lost because we don’t keep good records which results in higher taxes.

Tax Preparation Checklist - Personal Items

1. Social security numbers and birth dates for yourself, your spouse and all of your dependents, including up to 4 Katrina displaced individuals who lived in your household
2. Checking Account number and routing transit number (this is a nine digit number printed on the bottom of your check and must start with numbers 01 through 12 or 21 through 32) if you elect to have your IRS refund check deposited directly into your account.
3. Were you married with children and lived apart from your husband for the last 6 months of last year? You may be eligible to file as head of household.
4. Did you have an interest in or signature or other authority over a financial account in a foreign country, such as a bank account, securities account, or other financial account? You may need to file form TDF-90-221.
5. Did you engage the services of any household employees? Check out the Nanny Tax rules.
6. Mailing address you want to show on your tax return
7. Occupation for yourself and spouse
8. Schedule of federal and state estimated tax payments showing dates paid and amounts

We hope this tax preparation checklist helps to get you started toward preparing your tax return. It is not the intention of this tax preparation checklist to list every piece of information that might be relevant to the preparation of an income tax return.
Please consult IRS Publication 17 for more information about filing requirements, filing status, what to include in income, what you can deduct and where to mail your tax return. If you are still confused after perusing this tax preparation checklist, please consider seeking the services of an experienced tax preparer.