How to Simplify and Improve the Individual Tax Preparation Process

Kerkering Barberio representatives have compiled these tips to help clients and the firm streamline and improve the individual tax information collection and preparation process. There are three sections:

I - Information We Need from You – Your Tax Organizer

Most of you are very familiar with the Individual Tax Organizer we send every January to help you gather your tax records. Read this section for tips on how to most effectively use the Tax Organizer.

II - Ways of Effectively Communicating and Securely Providing Information to Us

Tax documents come to us in a variety of ways: paper, email, upload, text and in a variety of forms and formats: PDF, JPG, Word, Excel, etc. This section provides suggestions for sending information to us electronically.

III - Reviewing your Tax Return and Signing and Returning E-file Authorization Forms           

Delaying sending us your signed E-file Authorization form could result in potential problems. Read this section to avoid problems with timely filing your return.

By following these suggested steps and working closely with your tax accountant, you can ensure a smooth experience when filing your tax return.

I - Information We Need from You – Your Tax Organizer

Your Tax Organizer helps you and us to gather your tax records. The Tax Organizer shows all of the tax related items that were present in your prior year tax return. We use it as a tool to make sure we account for all known sources of income and deductions. We strongly encourage these steps when you collect and provide your tax information to us:

1. Open the Tax Organizer. The cover letter lists areas that need your attention. The second document is our engagement letter. Please read it to make sure that all relevant questions will be addressed. Pay particular attention to the page titled “1040 Organizer Questions”. These are questions we need you to answer annually. Read these questions carefully, as they are multi-part questions.  All “Yes” answers require additional information from you. Please include it when returning the Tax Organizer and your tax documents to us.
2. Provide all government tax forms, such as a W-2s, 1099s, and K-1s. The IRS often requires us to report additional information on these forms. Writing the amount you believe relevant in the Tax Organizer is not sufficient. If you have a government tax form, please don’t simply write these amounts in the Tax Organizer.
3. Include all pages of the government tax forms, such as consolidated Forms 1099 and Schedules K-1. When pages are missing, important information and supporting schedules may also be missing.
4. Do not put stickers, post-its or notes on the government tax forms you give us. This requires additional work to remove them before your documents are scanned.
5. Turn to the page titled “Federal Tax Payments”. Provide all the individual amounts and dates of estimated tax payments you made for the current tax year including the 4^th quarter payment due by January 15^th of the following year, if applicable. If you have copies of your checks, send those as well. If your return is on extension, include confirmation of all payments made for the extension(s) and for estimated taxes paid for the current year.

II - Ways of Communicating and Providing Information to Us

We receive documents in a variety of ways: paper, email, upload, text and in a variety of forms and formats: PDF, JPG, Word, Excel, etc. With Covid-19 and the reduction in face-to-face meetings, the amount of electronic communications has increased substantially.

To assure secure, accurate and timely receipt of this information, we strongly encourage the following:

1. Send documents through our secure portals.
2. We can send you a link to one of our secure portals or you can find the secure portal link on our website. This method is sufficient if you plan to send just a few documents.
3. We can set up your own portal to use for document uploads. This method works best if you have many documents to send or make multiple uploads. Your portal is available at all times, all of your information is located in one folder, and provides easier access and tracking for you and us. We can also use it to share documents with you, such as a PDF of your tax return.
4. Upload individual forms or group like form types together and provide a descriptive name. For example, W-2’s as individual files or multiple W-2’s together, multiple 1099-int forms together, etc. Avoid mixing different form types together in one large file.
5. Keep multi-page documents in the proper page-number order and in one file.
6. If you are uploading multiple documents over multiple days, please email us saying that you will be doing so and email us when you have finished the upload. It is more efficient and cost effective to have  all of your documents uploaded before we begin downloading them and working on your return.
7. Cybersecurity experts offer these l suggestions to assure secure, accurate and timely receipt of information flow:
   1. Do not email documents that have your personal information, like your Social Security number. Email is not a secure medium and identity theft is a major problem.
   1. Do not text documents. Texts are not secure and the quality of the document is usually poor and hard to read.
   1. Do not send pictures of documents. The quality of the document is usually poor and hard to read. Instead scan and upload documents, request an electronic copy either from the payer or send the actual paper document.

III - Reviewing your Tax Return and Signing and Returning E-file Authorization Forms           

Prompt submission of your signed E-file Authorization form could prevent potential delays and problems. For example, for security reasons, returns may have to be re-processed if the E-file Authorization is not returned to us within ten days.  Further, the nationwide volume of e-filed returns goes up tremendously around the due dates. As a result, in more than one instance in 2020, both IRS and a tax software provider had technological problems that precluded returns from being timely filed.

What you can do to help:

1. Please review your tax return as soon as you receive it to make sure everything is complete and accurate. As soon as you have done this, but not before, please sign and return the E-file Authorization form to us, so we can release your return to the IRS.
2. If your return has been released to the IRS, any correction would require filing an amended return.
3. Return the E-file Authorization as soon as possible. Do not wait to return the signed E-file Authorization until just before the due date, when you are ready to send the tax payment to the IRS.
4. We can e-file your tax return even when you plan to send your payment later, by the due date.  Sending a payment to the IRS doesn’t have to be done at the same time as e-filing your return.

By following these suggested steps and working closely with your tax accountant, together we can ensure a smooth experience when filing your tax return. If you have any questions on these processes, please do contact your Kerkering, Barberio & Co. representative at 941-365-4617.