✦Seasonal · 11 recordsFile a tax return

The filing takes an afternoon. Finding a year of records takes considerably longer, and the bill is the part people are not ready for. So this starts early, keeps the gathering separate from the filing, and puts the money aside before the deadline arrives.

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Free on any plan. You will see this list again in the app, and nothing is created until you press install.

✦ Everything it creates

The whole plan, before you install it

Goal

Filed early, with the bill already set aside Month 2

Records first. The form itself is an afternoon.

Gather the records Week 5

The part that actually takes weeks.

  • List every source of income for the yearDo firstDay 5
  • Collect invoices, receipts and statements in one placeDo firstWeek 4
  • Add up the small recurring costs people forget to claimWeek 5

File and pay Month 2

Early, so the number is known rather than discovered.

  • Fill in and submit the returnDo firstWeek 6
  • Set the money aside for the billDo firstWeek 7
  • Diarise next year's gathering for two months earlierWeek 8

Routines

  • File this week's receiptsweekly
✦ It comes with a note

Filing early is not paying early

In most systems the two dates are separate, so filing tells you what you owe months before you have to pay it. That is the difference between a planned payment and a shock.\n\nThe small recurring costs are where accuracy lives: software, phone, mileage, use of home. None is large alone and together they are usually the whole difference.

✦ Questions

File a tax return, answered.

Weeks before the deadline, and the first task is records rather than the form. The filing itself is an afternoon; reconstructing a year of invoices, receipts and statements is what actually takes the time.
Because filing tells you what you owe, and knowing that in advance is the difference between a planned payment and a shock. In most systems filing early does not mean paying early.
The small recurring things — software, phone, mileage, use of home. None is large on its own and together they are usually the difference between a rough estimate and an accurate return, which is why the plan gathers before it fills anything in.
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