Most people put off filing their taxes because they have to gather all of the information needed to complete them. This can seem daunting, but being prepared ahead of time will make it much easier. If you’re not sure how to start preparing your taxes, Gallery Leather can help with our full line of organizational products and some tips on how to use them. It will feel so liberating once your annual tax filing is complete. Before you know it, you will be doing the things you really enjoy.
Here are six tips to help you prepare for tax time:
1. Plan Ahead
In the United States, federal taxes are due on May 17th this year. However, state and local taxes may have different deadlines. If you own a home, you also need to pay property taxes, which may have their own deadline. How can you keep track of all of these deadlines?
By writing them down in your Gallery Leather planner. Our planners come in daily, weekly, and monthly formats. If you need to track expenses for tax purposes, you can mark bill due dates in your planner to determine how much and how often you pay for particular items.
We come out with new planners each year. Almost all of our planners have the year marked on them so that you can refer to past tax and expense records easily in the case of an audit. If you have both business and personal taxes, you can even personalize your planner with your business name and your own name to differentiate between them.
2. Keep a Journal
Most people don’t have many expenses to keep track of beyond their households’ needs. We recommend keeping a journal of the money they spend and make throughout the year for those individuals. They’ll have a complete record to show to their tax professional at the end of the year.
Gallery Leather offers travel journals that allow you to mark these expenses down while you’re out shopping or paying bills. At 7” X 5”, these journals fit perfectly in a purse or backpack. They come with either a monks’ lace or elastic closure to keep your information secure.
3. Draw a Chart
Charts and graphs are visual representations of your income and expenses. These can be helpful to your accountant or other tax professional. Creating them could be considered an art form, except with numbers rather than shapes and colors.
If you’re incredibly artistic and good with numbers, our sketchbooks are the perfect place to draw out your charts and graphs. There are computer software programs that do this. However, they are nowhere near as attractive as a hand-drawn representation of your tax time.
4. Go Digital
Gallery Leather has been in business for over four decades because we stay relevant to our customers’ needs. More people are opting to store files, including financial and tax documents, digitally. However, it is still recommended to have a physical back-up if your device fails. That’s why we offer CD cases.
Our CD cases are the ideal solution if you choose to save your files to a CD or DVD. Our acid-free, archival pages with a full flap and soft, non-woven pocket liner protect disks from dust and scratches with the option of holding two or four disks. In turn, your important files are also protected from the damage of either the disk or the device.
5. Protect Your Documents
You need to provide many essential documents when you file your taxes. For example, most individuals need to have W-2s, charitable donation statements, and healthcare expense forms submitted with their taxes. Shouldn’t you make sure that you keep these documents as safe from the elements as possible?
Gallery Leather realizes how important these documents are. That’s why we offer our archival-quality presentation pages. Sold in a package of 10, which should accommodate most individuals’ needs. The acid-free ivory dividers allow you to display materials of different sizes on opposing sides of a page.
These pages accommodate up to 8.5″ x 11″ inserts, which are the size of a standard letter. They are made of acid-free, 2mm BOPP polypropylene page film that preserves presentation materials while providing distortion-free viewing. Although intended as a refill for our Presentation Binders, you can use these inserts with any ring-bound binder that you may have.
6. Keep it Together
Not long ago, a customer asked us to make leather presentation binders to house their library of film scripts. We liked the result so much that we decided to create a line of presentation binders. We soon found that financial and tax professionals were using them in their respective trades.
We craft our presentation binders with the same archival materials and attention to detail as our albums and organizers. They provide the perfect solution for individuals who want to have an organized record of their documents in an attractive, bonded leather package at tax time. These binders come in sizes ranging from ¾” – 1 ¼” so you’re sure to find the perfect fit.
Whether you’re an individual or a business owner, Gallery Leather can help you prepare for tax day. You’ll find that paying taxes is a lot less painful than in years past with our help. Shop our selection of organizational products so you can be ready for tax time.