I recently had an amazing opportunity to share some tax-time tips with a wide radio audience. The interview aired this Sunday on many of the K-Love affiliates throughout the country.
I have to give props to Marya Morgan, the Public Affairs Director at K-Love, and my awesome interviewer. She did a fantastic job at guiding me through the questions and editing down the interview.
Listen to the Interview Now!
The interview can be heard online by visiting this page, or directly at the following link:
The entire segment is about 18 minutes, but I’m only the first half of the interview, followed by some tips from a professional organizer about how to get your tax paperwork in shape.
Key Points
I’d like to rehash some of the main points I made during the interview and things you definitely want to follow up on.
- IRS Withholding Calculator: If you do nothing else this year, make sure you check in with the official IRS calculator. It’s now updated and ready for the 2011 tax year, and it will help you figure out how much you can expect to owe/be refunded at the end of the year.
- Mind your family situation. Yes, you should adjust your W-4 now if you’re expecting to get married or have kids this year.
- You don’t have to be an accountant. Keep your eyes and ears open for the latest law changes and how they will affect your bottom line.
- But, you HAVE to be a good steward of your own money. Remember—no one cares about it like you do! Figure out systems that work for you and capitalize on that knowledge.
Additional Resources
If you’re interested in learning more about tax time, check out some of the posts I’ve written previously on this topic:
- A more detailed look into the IRS tax calculator.
- My lessons learned from filing taxes for 2008, 2009, and 2010.
- A brief overview of why I use TurboTax.
- The first post I ever wrote in February, 2009—why tax refunds are bad.
Speaking of tax refunds, I just got mine direct deposited on Friday. Have you made time to file your taxes yet?
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Disclosure: This post contains links to advertisers with which I have a financial relationship.
Fiscal Fizzle 