13 Tax Time Tips from Readers

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I recently asked PT Money readers to give their best tax tips. Here’s what they came up with:

2012 Tax Saving Tips from the Readers

1. Always wait till you get all you 1099’s to file. Some places like Scottrade dont get them to you til after Feb 15th – Russell
2. If you want to sell a stock that you bought at multiple times, remember to sell your oldest stocks first. Otherwise you may be subject to the short term capital gains tax, which is higher (for most people) than the long term rate. – Geremy Heitz
3. Stagger your tax deductions – If you are close but not quite there to make itemizing worth it, bunch your deductions into every other year. Plan to itemize in the even years, for example, but to take the standard deduction in odd years. – Daniel
4. Use a tracking system such as Quicken to keep track of your tax-deductible expenses through the year, so that come tax time, Quicken can easily (and quickly) give you the numbers you need to itemize deductions. Intuit (make of Quicken) makes it easy for the transfer of information into TurboTax. – Jeremy Walter
5. Don’t forget about expenses associated with volunteer activities. That really helped us last year. – Kim
6. Don’t let your sister-in-law do your taxes while you’re not around so you don’t miss out on any other deductions. Be present when someone is helping you with your taxes- you never know what has changed to benefit your tax return. – Ann
7. Pay attention that Vehicle License Fee may be deducted from Schedule A, but make sure to include only the VLF portion of the bill, not the whole registration fee. – Trinity
8. Never do your taxes without TurboTax, you may miss out on deductions you are entitled to. – Patricia
9. Review your tax situation each year and adjust your W4 so you come out near $0. It’s terrible to get a big return, you gave an interest free loan! Also, send any refund returns first and wait to send returns when you owe. – Michael
10. If you are doing your own taxes, be sure to use your social network for help with questions regarding your taxes. You may know more tax accountants than you think you know, and their insights are very helpful in any small questions you may have. I’ve asked my friends in the past, and their advice always helps! – Maritza
11. I always trust my tax filing to TurboTax. It’s always up to the code and we won’t miss any possible single deduction. This software never disappoint me every time. – ira
12. Be *very* involved in your tax filing process, even if you file through a tax service. Taxes aren’t over your head, and you’re just as able to find out about deductions yourself as tax pros are. Keep your money matters in your own hands! – Sam
13. Here’s a tip: Always check to see if filing separately is better than jointly. I file jointly because it puts us in a lower tax bracket. – Guy

Thanks for the tips everyone. Be sure to check out the taxes tag section of my website for more tax tip related articles.

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