As January 31 approaches, your mailbox should start filling up with forms like we talked about last week and earlier this month. But we’re not done!

  • Form 1098: Use Form 1098 (Info Copy Only) to report mortgage interest of $600 or more received by you during the year in the course of your trade or business from an individual, including a sole proprietor. — IRS site
  • Form 1065 aka Schedule K-1: This document is for business owners with a partner.
  • Form W-2: Everyone’s favorite! Form W-2 is for regular wages from regular jobs. If you’re a contractor, you don’t get a W-2. Instead you’ll need a 1099 — but no worries because I wrote an article about it.

Other good ideas for this time of year include:

  • Be sure to max out your allowable contribution to your 401k — $22,500  for 2023 (up $2,000 from 2022).
  • Max out IRA contribution limits to $6,500 — or $7,500 if aged 50 or older — for 2023 (up $500 from 2022).

If you’re a W-2 employee, now is the time to evaluate your withholding to make sure you will max out these two contributions — and adjust it in case you owed this year and want to avoid that next year. I recommend consulting with a financial professional before following through with any adjustments.

Hopefully you’ve got everything you need — or you will, soon. But even if you’re still waiting for a K-1, 1099, etc., you might as well pass what you have along to your accountant. Send your CPA everything you have so far, such as: 

  • Medical receipts 
  • Capital improvement paperwork
  • Donation paperwork
  • Insurance premiums
  • Tax payments and refunds.

Most tax professionals we work with prefer to get their hands on whatever the client has, as soon as possible — they can, at least, get started piecing the puzzle together. As always, I recommend doing your taxes with a Certified Public Accountant who has a real office and real reviews online. I’m not shy to mention that professionals with blogs are better than professionals with no blogs.

For more information, contact us.