Oh my Goodness, it’s tax time. How many of you are in a dither about getting your taxes done? Is it the chaos of loose receipts? The fear of what you’ll have to pay? Or the sense of scarcity of not having the money to pay?

Most of us have a “thing” about doing taxes.  Forbes has a 5 step process that is easy to follow:

1. Gather your receipts.

2. Make a list of income sources.

3. Consider an IRA contribution.

4. Revisit your withholding instructions. Your savings rates might improve if you set withholding levels so you receive a refund you can deposit as one lump sum.

5. Devise a better system for next year.

The key here is to devise a better system. Trying to do all 5 steps with a filing deadline breathing down your neck is really a stressor and it makes it more difficult.

I fine-tune my system every year. I have other people do the final work for me, so the task is to have the detail together in a way that works for the tax man AND me. That way I can make the tax appointment, easily gather my information and the forms are filed with ease and grace. This way there is no beating myself up, spending hours finding all my pieces of paper and no shoebox of receipts to give the tax preparer.  

Oh, one other thing. I have changed my attitude about paying taxes.  I still have opinions about what the government should do with my tax dollar and I view paying taxes very differently.  

I am grateful that I pay taxes because it means that I made money this year.

Consider changing your method of preparation and your attitude about the process and it could actually have you be more accountable on a regular basis.  Accountability-keeping your word to yourself and others actually builds self worth, self confidence and self love, all of which lead to beint more producte and creative.

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