We’ve talked about how copies of past tax returns can help you get a loan and help with your bills, but did you know that those past returns can also help you file your taxes this year?
Here are a few ways how:
- Receive more deductibles and credits. Copies of your past tax returns are a record of how much you’ve changed in a year. Are you living somewhere else? Making more money? Less? Why? The answers to all these questions can help you receive more deductibles and owe less money.
- Makes it easier to do the forms Let’s face it: tax forms are a hassle. They’re long and complicated and it’s easy to get lost in all the options–especially if you’re a novice. Using an online tax service [link prior tax] is one way to ease the process, but referring to copies of your past tax returns is another way. If not a lot has changed for you this year, you can use the old form as a guide for what you qualified for, where you’re supposed to fill it all out, and about how much money you should be getting back.
- Copies of past tax returns help you submit your current ones. For a lot of e-filing software, you have to verify that you are who you say you are. This is great because it makes it harder for people to steal your identity or your tax information. But it’s a hassle when you don’t remember the answers to the questions. And because it’s tax related, the questions the companies (or the IRS) are asking you can be found on past tax returns. So keeping copies of past tax returns nearby–especially when you’re ready to send it all in–is a great way to make something time consuming go that much faster.
Copies of past tax returns are some of the handiest financial documents you can have. They help you save money on loans, keep track of what you’ve been doing, even get you larger refunds. This is why we recommend that you hand onto those past tax returns for at least three years. But if you’re filing electronically, you can get PDFs of those returns–which means there’s no reason not to hang onto them for a good long time!
Tags: copies of past tax returns, e-filing, filing your past tax returns, past tax returns
