By Mark Sipos, LFG Tax Services
With the Holiday season behind us, it is time to start thinking about the 2025 tax filing season. Most documents that you will need to compile and file your 2024 tax return will be arriving in your mailbox soon. Before you begin working on your personal income tax return, it’s a good idea to collect and organize your tax documents and related records. The tax preparation checklist included below will help you keep track of the information you will need. While this is not a complete list of items that may be required for your tax return, it will cover the documents and other information needed by most people to file their federal income tax return.
Personal Information:
- Social Security numbers for you, your spouse, and any dependents.
- Dates of birth for you, your spouse, and any dependents.
- Bank account routing and account numbers for direct deposits or tax payments.
- Driver’s license for e-filing.
Taxes you may have paid:
- 2024 estimated taxes for federal state, and local tax agencies.
- Taxes paid in 2024 for amounts due for 2023 tax returns.
- Real estate taxes.
- Sales tax paid for large items purchased.
Income:
- W-2s, 1099s for interest and dividends, brokerage year-end tax summaries for investments.
- 1099Rs for pension and IRA income.
- Business and rental income received. Gather all related expenses for these types of income as well.
- K-1’s from S-Corporations and Partnerships.
- State and local refunds.
- Gambling income.
Deductions:
- Medical Deductions – medical, dental, eyecare, insurance premiums, and long-term care premiums.
- Mortgage interest.
- Charitable deductions – cash, appreciated property gifted, QCD’s from your IRA distributions.
- Gambling losses.
- Contributions to IRA, ROTH, SEP-IRA, HSA accounts.
- 529 plan contributions for state tax deduction.
Whether you prepare your tax return yourself or use a tax professional to prepare them, this checklist will assist you in making this filing season a more pleasant experience. LFG Tax Service provides a tax organizer for all our clients who wish to use it to assist us in gathering the information we need to prepare a thorough and accurate tax return for our clients. Please feel free to contact a member of our tax team with any questions regarding your tax preparation.
