Not sure what documents you need before you file? This episode provides a practical January checklist of common tax forms and records to gather—and a helpful reminder about waiting for all your documents before submitting your return.Want help getting organized or planning ahead before you file? Visit elevate-wealth.com and click Let’s Talk.#Taxes #TaxPlanning #ElevateWealthAdvisory

It's January. What documents do you actually need to file? Let's make a checklist today on Elevate Wealth. Welcome to Elevate Wealth. I'm your host, Preston Wilkie, and today I'm joined by the president and CEO of Elevate Wealth Advisory, Deanne Rosso. Welcome, Deanne. Hey, Preston. Good to see you. Good to see you, too. So, what are some of the must-have documents people should collect in January before they file? Oh, that's a really great question, Preston. And actually, you can't even do them all in January because a lot of them don't come out until after January. But in simple terms, you know, all of these forms have kind of letters and codes. So, of course, forms W2s for your income, 1099s, which there's different forms of 1099s. You have 1099 INT for interest, a 1099 DIV for dividends, 1099R for retirement plan distributions, and then you've got 1099 SSA if you get Social Security. There are other forms like a 1095A for marketplace health insurance, a form 1098 for mortgage interest. You've got other things that don't maybe come in form like that like property tax receipts, charitable gift acknowledgements or tax receipts, education forms, if you made contributions to HSAs or FSAs, what are those documents? Child care provider info. A lot of people don't know that child care expenses to an extent are deductible. And then records of estimated tax payments that you may have made throughout the year. So there's quite a few items that you could add to the list of things that you need to gather in order to be ready to prepare your tax return. Okay. Thank you. So can I file as soon as I get my W2? Well, yes and no. If your W2 is going to be the only tax form that you have, then yes, you could go ahead and file as long as the IRS is accepting returns. But generally speaking, most people have to wait until February or March to file simply because some of the 1099s don't come out until February. They sometimes get an extension by the IRS to come out later. And so it's not always the best idea to file as soon as you get your W2. You want to make sure that you have gone through your checklist and received all of your documents before you file. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Having a simple checklist and waiting until you've received all your forms can save a lot of headache at tax time. If you'd like help planning ahead and getting organized before you file, our team is happy to assist you. Visit elevate-wealth.com, click let's talk, and we'll see you next time.