Growing up, my mom was self-employed, and I remember watching tax season roll around, and every year, my mom and her accountant friend would sit at our table for days, stressing out over forms and receipts. I didn’t know what they were doing, but it didn’t seem like any fun.

Way back when I started doing my own taxes, I tried doing them on my own, and realized pretty quickly that it was worth it to have someone do my taxes for me. And now that I have a business, I’m even more sold on having a tax professional take care of the nitty gritty. And to avoid feeling the stress that I saw my mom feel as a business owner, I decided to put some systems in place to make tax season as easy as possible.

I’m clearly not a tax professional, so this isn’t tax advice per se, but after a few years of organizing my business and household taxes, I’ve come up with a system that works well for me. And I’m hoping that by sharing, some of you guys will find some valuable takeaways (or offer me even more tips!). 

I’m a freelance writer, so I have multiple 1099s plus my husband’s W-2 plus forms for HSAs, interest statements, donation statements, and more, and I’m sure you do, too. So putting a few systems in place can help make sure things don’t get lost and are easily accessible when tax time rolls around.

1. Start a physical tax folder

At the beginning of every year, I label a file folder for that year’s taxes. Anything I get throughout the year that is remotely related to taxes, I put in the folder. This includes receipts for my business, giving receipts, a letter for each child that’s addressed to them (for proof they live with me, apparently that’s required), and bank forms.

2. Start an email tax folder

As soon as I get any tax related emails, I start a tax folder in my email for that year. As I receive tax forms, I put them in the folder to be printed later. This includes 1099s, my husband’s W-2, etc.

3. Print a checklist

I love a good checklist, so I made one that lists all of the forms I typically need for taxes. This may change from year to year, depending on the clients I have, but it stays relatively the same from year to year. I put this checklist on my tax folder.

4. Print all forms and documents

Once I get all of my forms, I print each one, and put them into the physical folder, usually in the order that corresponds to my checklist and then take the whole thing to the tax appointment.

As I write this, I realize that this is a pretty simple system, but it really works for me and takes a lot of the stress out of getting ready for my tax appointment.