How to Easily File your Taxes

Tax season is here! Are you worried or stressed by doing your taxes? I have some great news. I’ve teamed up with H&R Block to show you how to easily file your taxes without any stress this year!

As a busy mom of 4 kids, it can be overwhelming to keep myself sane during tax season. I thought many of you feel similarly, so this year I wanted to share with you some of my tax tips on how I get myself organized for tax season every year.

1.) Get Organized

It is so frustrating to realize that you’ve misplaced a form or receipt. Stay organized by setting aside a folder specifically for tax documents. I have a manila file folder and one of these organizers on my shelf in my home. When a tax document comes in the mail, it goes directly into this folder. That way when it is time to do my taxes everything is already organized and in the same place.

You can also consider purchasing a NEAT System, which easily helps you scan and organize your documents.

2.) Choose how you want to file

For me, it changes every year. Sometimes I like to file from the comfort of my home while my kids are in bed. Other times, my taxes are a bit more complicated and I prefer to go in and talk to someone face to face. H&R Block offers many different options to filing. You can file online from the comfort of your own home and have access to a tax professional online, or you can go into one of the thousands of H&R Block offices and do it with a qualified tax professional.

Either way you get the same great service and customer first approach.

3.) Make sure you add the price of filing your taxes to your budget

You all know how much I love budgeting, so it’s frustrating when I don’t know how much getting my taxes done will cost. It is harder to budget. With H&R Block’s Price Preview, you know the price you will pay BEFORE you start! That way I can budget what I am going to pay in order to get my taxes done.

In the past I’ve have always had upfront access to a base price. However, historically, the DIY tax category has not always provided transparency when items were added or changed as I was completing my return. As a result, I did not always understand why my final price was different from the starting price.

This year, H&R Block introduced Price Preview to provide transparency from start to finish, without any surprises.

“With H&R Block’s Price Preview, the price is upfront and transparent throughout the process, so that DIY consumers know of any changes as they happen,”said Heather Watts, senior vice president and general manager of H&R Block’s DIY tax business.

4.) Check out Refund Advance: Consider all your options

Many people make plans for their tax refund once they know how much they will be getting. I always recommend people not to SPEND it before they HAVE it. Often times situations are our of our control and you may need a loan before your refund comes, with H&R Block’s Refund Advance, you could get up to $3,000 the same day you file.

You do have to qualify, but if you qualify you can get your loan that same day. This is a great feature if you have something with an immediate need. You need a car, your refrigerator broke etc. For more details, make sure you head over to read about what Refund Advance options are available to you.

Over the next three months I am going to walk you through more tax tips, so make sure that you stay tuned and check out H&R Block in the meantime.

Disclosure: This blog post is part of a series sponsored by H&R Block. All opinions are 100% my own.