7 EASY STEPS TO AN EARLY TAX REFUND

If you want to get your taxes in early and get your refund quickly, here are Chris’s Seven Strategies to getting those dollars in your pockets ASAP. Here’s what you have to do:

1. Get Started

The first step is the hardest. Stop thinking about it and get moving. Until you actually start your return, you’ll never get to finish it. That’s probably going to slow down your refund.

If you don’t have all your numbers, just put your name and address on the form. It will get you in the mindset to move forward.

Your first step is to break the inertia.

2. Get the Data

When the holidays are over, you’ll need those numbers. By the end of January, make sure you’ve gotten W-2s and any statements from your brokers and banks. You’ll receive 1099 Forms for any interest, dividends, and sales of stock. Your mortgage company will send you a Form 1098 for any interest and real-estate taxes paid. Get those statements together and review the numbers. They’re not always right . . .

3. Get the Numbers Summarized in IRS Categories

Neither the IRS nor your tax preparer is going to add up those numbers for you. Well, maybe the tax preparer will. Several years ago, a psychiatrist in San Diego paid me $150 an hour to open her mail with tax documents enclosed — because she couldn’t be bothered. In any case, don’t even suggest it to the IRS.

You’re going to want to have totals for the income and deduction categories the IRS provides. You’ll need that final “number” if you’re doing your own return, whether by hand or by computer. If you’re having your return prepared, you’ll want to give that number to your income tax preparer to minimize his or her bill.

I suggest my clients use what I call the “envelope” system. You create an envelope for each of the IRS income/deduction categories. There’ll be an envelope for medical expenses, charitable contributions, job expenses, interest paid, etc. Find all the receipts, all the checks, all the invoices and put them in the appropriate envelope.

You can use this simple system all year. Throw all of your receipts into a file or even a shoebox. When you reconcile your checking account, on a monthly or at least a quarterly basis, you break down the checks and receipts according to the categories you selected.

By the end of January, you should have had all your checks and receipts broken down in each envelope by deduction category. You add up the receipts and checks (don’t accidentally double count!), and that’s the number you use on your return or give to your tax preparer.

That’s how much you’ve spent in each deduction category. And, with this system, you never have to fear an audit.

An audit is nothing more than the IRS asking you to prove the numbers you put on your return. You’ve already done that. Just hand over the deduction-category envelope with the receipts and checks. After a series of matches, it’s going to be a quick audit.

4. Get Those Numbers Analyzed

Sometimes, the raw data you have is going to be wrong.

On the income side, you’re required to report any and all interest and dividends received, even if you don’t receive a Form 1099.

You’ll have to match up the sales of stock with the cost of those shares. The number shown by your broker on Form 1099B is only the sale price. You’re not taxed on 100% of that number. You reduce it, on Schedule D of your return, by your cost, including broker’s fees. You’re only taxed on the net profit.

If you don’t sell 100% of your position, you’ll have to allocate your costs on a per-share basis.

On the deduction side, you may have deductions not reflected by the raw data. Say you made your January 1, mortgage payment on December 31, . The interest you paid won’t be reflected on the Form 1098 sent by your mortgage company. That’s because they didn’t get the check until .

But it’s a deduction, and you should run an amortization schedule to compute the additional interest. You can use the ReesNet.com Financial Calculator to do that. It’s easy! Print a copy for your records. Also easy! That additional interest should be shown in the figure you report to IRS on Schedule A for “interest not reported to you by a bank or mortgage company.”

5. Get in a Call to Your Tax Preparer

If you’re going to have your return professionally prepared, call your tax preparer now for an appointment.

I know, you’re her favorite client. But if you want an appointment tomorrow, you better call her yesterday.

In any case, once you’ve made that appointment, you’ve made a commitment to get that return done. And that means you’ve committed to get ready yourself. Just make sure you’ve got the numbers in order when you show up. Your wallet will appreciate it.

6. Get That Ink Onto the Paper

Or, at least open the tax program on your computer. You’ve got your numbers. If you’re doing your own return, put ink to paper. Go to your quiet place and actually do your return.

You’ve done the real work. Now you’re just putting numbers in boxes. Relax; this is really the easy part. Remember, we started with how to get your refund faster.

7. Get That Return in the Mail

The maximum Lifetime Learning Credit (take this on Form 8863) has doubled for 2003 and thereafter. This year eligible expenses are increased from $5,000 to $10,000. That doubles the 20% credit from $1,000 to $2,000.

A completed return on your desk that calls for a refund is the IRS’s idea of heaven. It’s your money. Don’t leave it with the IRS. It’s bad enough that they’ve held it all year without paying you any interest on your excess payment. Don’t compound the pain by delaying the mailing.

Of course, the best way to speed up your return is to e-file. The IRS appreciates the cost savings and claims it expedites your refund. The IRS is offering what it bills as a free e-filing service. It’s not quite free. You may still have to pay a “transmitter” a fee to convert your return into IRS code and send it on.

In either case, electing a direct deposit of your refund will always get it into your hands faster than snail mail. More than 41.6 million taxpayers used direct deposit for their 2002 refunds, up from 39.7 million a year earlier.

Complete the direct deposit information at the bottom of page 2 of your Form 1040 and, coupled with an e-filed return, in theory you could have your refund in your bank account in as little as 24 hours.

Alternately, the IRS now has a new refund assistance line, 1-800-829-1954. It also has a new Web tool called “Where’s My Refund?” that can tell you whether the IRS received your return and whether your refund was processed and sent to you.