What to Bring to your Tax Appointment

A new year means New Year’s resolutions, cold weather, and tax returns! It’s a good idea to check this item off your to do list as early as possible, so make your appointment with your tax advisor today. Here's a handy checklist of the documents you’ll want to bring to your appointment.

Copies of Prior Year Returns

If you are a new client, please bring copies of your federal and state income tax returns for the last three years.

Personal & Dependent Information

• Birth dates and Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number for you, your spouse and dependents who will be on your return
• Total paid for daycare and the daycare provider's tax identifying number such as Social Security number or business Employer Identification Number
• Amount of any alimony payments and ex-spouse’s SSN

Income Statements

• Interest and dividend statements from banks (Form 1099)
• Wage and earning statements (Forms W-2, W-2G, 1099-R,1099-Misc) from all employers
• Schedule K-1s: If you’re a beneficiary of a trust or an estate, or if you receive income because you’re a stockholder in an S Corporation or a member of a business partnership, a Schedule K-1 may be required
• Mortgage interest statement (Form 1098)
• Purchase date and total investment for any stocks or property sold
• List of investment-related expenses
• Education scholarships or fellowships

Itemized Deductions

If you plan to itemize your deductions using Schedule A, you’ll need to provide:

• Mortgage interest, real estate and personal property tax records
• Casualty and theft losses
• Amounts of state and local income tax paid in prior years
• Amount paid for preparation of last year’s tax return
• Records of cash donations to religious institutions, schools or other charities
• Records of non-cash charitable donations
• Amounts of miles driven for charitable or medical purposes
• Unreimbursed job-related expenses, including dues, publications, travel, tools, cell phone charges, uniform cost/cleaning, luggage, services fees, trade journals, meals and entertainment
• Invoice showing amount of vehicle sales tax paid
• Amounts paid for healthcare insurance and to doctors, dentists, hospitals
• Expenses related to your investments

Retirement Income and Contributions

Records of contributions to IRAs, HSAs or other retirement plans:

• Pension/IRA/annuity income (Form 1099-R)
• Social security/RRB income (Forms 1099-SSA, RRB-1099)
• Form 5498 showing IRA contributions
• Traditional IRA basis (i.e. amounts you contributed to the IRA that were already taxed)

Education

• Form 1098-T from educational institutions
• Receipts that itemize qualified educational expenses
• Records of any scholarships or fellowships you received
• Form1098-E if you paid student loan interest
• Records of tuition and other higher education expenses including books and computers

Health Care

The deadline for issuing 1095-B’s and 1095-C’s has been extended to March 31st, 2015. Because of this, the IRS has said that for 2015 only, you can still file without the 1095-B or 1095-C in most cases. You would still want to talk with us about it, but if you had insurance all year, then you don’t need to have the 1095-B or C, whenever you receive it you can just keep it for your records.

• Form 1095-A if you received health insurance from a state or federal exchange
• Form 1095-B and/or 1095-C if you had insurance coverage through any other source (an employer, insurance company, government health plan such as Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, TRICARE, VA, etc.) 
• Marketplace exemption certificate if you applied for and received an exemption from the exchange

<pStocks & Mutual Funds

If you are reporting sales of stock, you’ll need to bring a year-end statement that shows the original cost of the stock and information about the sale, including:

• the date(s) you purchased each item(s) sold
• the total purchase price of each item sold

Self-Employment Information

• Form 1099-MISC, Schedules K-1, income records to verify amounts not reported on 1099s
• Records of all expenses — check registers or credit card statements and receipts
• Business-use asset information (cost, date placed in service, etc.) for depreciation
• Home office/home business information, if applicable:

• Square footage of the area used for business
• The date you began using the space for business
• Original purchase price paid for the property
• Summary of your utility expenses (gas, electric, oil, condo fees, landscaping, snowplowing, maintenance, etc)
• Major home improvements and direct office expenses (repairs, business phone, etc).

Business Rent 

Summarize the rent paid for business purposes during the tax year and your landlord’s name and address.

Business Use of Vehicle Information

• Log showing total miles driven for the year (or beginning/ending odometer readings), total business miles driven for the year (other than commuting), and the business purpose of the mileage
• Amount of parking and tolls paid
• If you want to claim actual expenses, receipts or totals for gas, oil, car washes, licenses, personal property tax, lease or interest expense, etc.

Moving Expenses

If you relocated because of your job, bring documentation that shows expenses for your job-related move that were not covered by your company or organization. You can only deduct the cost to move your household goods, storage and the one time trip to make the final move to your new location.

Rental Property

If you received income from rental property (Schedule E), provide an income statement showing:

• The gross rental income you received during the tax year
• Your applicable expenses categorized and summarized by the type of expense such as advertising, mortgage interest, real estate taxes, repairs, maintenance, condo/HOA fees, etc.
• The rental start date and original cost base for all properties

Residential Energy Efficiency Improvements

Please provide the cost of the following applicable items:

High-efficiency heating and cooling systems, water heaters, windows, doors, insulation, qualified solar electric property, solar water heating property, fuel cell property, small wind energy property and geothermal heat pump property

Foreign Nationals on a F-1 or J-1 Visas

• Visa and passport
• Your permanent address where you are a citizen
• Your F-1 / J-1 VISA number
• The actual dates entered/left the United States for corresponding tax year
• The number of days you were in the United States for the previous three tax years

Estimated Tax Payments

If you made estimated tax payments this tax year, provide the dates and amounts paid of all federal and state estimated tax payments.

To File

• Proof of bank account routing and account numbers for direct deposit, such as a blank check
• To file taxes electronically on a married-filing-joint tax return, both spouses must be present to sign the required forms

If you have received any other tax document not mentioned here, bring it to your appointment. If you have any questions about what to bring to your appointment, give us a call at (209) 955-2244, or e-mail us at .