By the time 1099s start arriving in January, it’s too late to reconstruct a year of scattered receipts. Track these four things as you go, and tax season becomes a data-entry exercise instead of an archaeology dig.
- Every payment received, with the paying client’s name and date
- Business expenses, separated from personal spending from day one
- Home office square footage, if you claim the deduction
- Estimated quarterly payments already made
A folder beats a shoebox
Digital or physical, the format matters less than having exactly one place things go. A dedicated folder — even a plain one — cuts the January scramble down to an afternoon.
“The year I switched to a single tax folder, my accountant’s invoice went down almost as much as my stress did.”
None of this needs to be sophisticated. It needs to be consistent.
