The end of the financial year is coming up so I thought I’d throw together a few tips for managing your paperwork so that tax time is stress-free moving forward.
- Have an easily accessible file for your taxable receipts and make sure they’re separate from non-taxable receipts (an envelope in a drawer works just fine, just label it well with the year)
- Keep all your tax stuff together in the one storage type – don’t stash them in different places such as portable files, tubs ore piles on the bookcase.
- Always have a “current tax year” folder at hand to drop anything relevant in there as it arrives (no more asking for a replacement group certificate!)
- Ask your accountant to send you a detailed list of what you need to keep and for how long so that you can refer back to it when filing, organising and culling
- Digitize as much as possible and sort the files with folders by financial year
- When you’re sorting through your piles, have one for “current tax year” and the rest can go in one pile for now – it’s the current one (and any not lodged yet) that are important at the moment
- Don’t let it build up – work on it throughout the year and it won’t be a) lost or b) overwhelming when the time comes.
If you struggle with paperwork, perhaps setting up a proper household paperwork system that suits your personality might be worth the effort? Make next year’s tax a breeze!
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