This week on The Retirement Readiness Podcast, hosts Tim Regan and Katie Umland  explore the practical side of tax season and what to consider as you start to file your taxes.

With paperwork and tax forms arriving in the mail—and sometimes even much later in the year—knowing what to organize and when can feel overwhelming. They walk through which documents matter, what can be ignored, and how taking stock during tax season can double as a valuable “financial spring cleaning” for your overall retirement readiness.

“It’s kind of a good opportunity to organize it as you’re organizing it for the accountant, but then organize it for yourself and say, where do I have all this money? And is it doing the best that it could for me?” 

Also covered are the benefits of communicating life changes to your accountant, checking for missed opportunities with retirement contributions, and why having a second set of eyes review your return can sometimes uncover valuable errors. The episode also touches on the gap that often exists between basic accounting and comprehensive financial planning.

Click play to learn how to approach tax season proactively—and what steps you can take now to set yourself up for next year.

3 Key Takeaways

• Tax season is a great time to inventory your finances, identify old accounts, and make sure your money is working as hard as it should be for retirement.
• Life changes like refinancing a home or making charitable contributions can affect your taxes—be sure your accountant knows about anything new from the past year.
• Reviewing your tax returns with both an accountant and a financial planner can help catch errors and ensure you’re maximizing opportunities for tax savings.

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