Tax Time Brings Anxiety…Once Again

I just visited my tax accountant’s office a few days ago, and left it feeling a nagging sense of anxiety. But this is nothing new for me really. Every year, I agonize over gathering all of my year’s information together, making sure I get every possible deduction, since in addition to having a regular nine to five job, I also run a business on the side, and making sure I’m also not missing any of the streams of income I’ve generated, so I don’t inadvertently make Uncle Sam mad.

That’s the last thing any of us needs, and the tax man tends to strike fear in most American’s hearts, especially those that run businesses where the record keeping can be very confusing and the tax codes don’t exactly help. Even with a professional to help you, it can be confusing as to what you really need ot even take in to your tax preparer every year, and when you do finally gather everything together, you’re almost always left with a nagging feeling that you forgot something.

I mean, a whole year’s worth of information is a lot! Especially when I tend to forget things that happened a mere one day ago, let alone several months ago. It helps a lot if you keep an immaculate record of receipts and comings and goings of your personal money and also any business related money that happens to enter in to the picture.

Another thing that can help tremendously, which I myself have not implemented due to time constraints, are money management systems like Microsoft money and Money business edition, which simplify the book keeping process – especially if you are the secretary, treasurer, and CEO all in one, which a lot of small business owners have to be due to income and debt ratios.

Every year stress seems to peak about taxes in March, because that’s when that dreaded April deadline comes looming and people start to panic and know they have to start getting their information together quickly. However, if you do a little planning ahead, you can stave off this sort of mess and actually enjoy your March month!