The 5-minute audit that saves most people from a messy tax season

Every year it's the same story: people sit down to file taxes and realize they're missing a 1099, can't remember which receipts they kept, or forgot they sold some crypto in March.

Here's the audit I run on myself every January, takes about 5 minutes:

1. Income check — List every source of money that touched you last year: job(s), freelance gigs, interest, dividends, stock sales, rental income, unemployment, crypto trades. Each one has a corresponding form (W-2, 1099-NEC, 1099-INT, 1099-B, etc). If you can't remember getting a form for something, that's your first follow-up.

2. Life-event check — Did you get married, have a kid, buy a house, start a side business, or pay off student loans? Each of these unlocks a deduction or credit most people forget to claim.

3. Paper trail check — Charitable donations, medical bills over 7.5% of income, home office expenses if self-employed, childcare costs. If you don't have the receipt now, you won't have it in April.

Doing this in January instead of April is the difference between a 20-minute filing and a stressed-out weekend hunting through your email for a 1099 that never got downloaded.

I turned this into a full checklist (with every document type broken out) — built it because I got tired of re-making the list every year. Posted it in my store if it's useful to anyone here.

Every year it's the same story: people sit down to file taxes and realize they're missing a 1099, can't remember which receipts they kept, or forgot they sold some crypto in March.

Here's the audit I run on myself every January, takes about 5 minutes:

1. Income check — List every source of money that touched you last year: job(s), freelance gigs, interest, dividends, stock sales, rental income, unemployment, crypto trades. Each one has a corresponding form (W-2, 1099-NEC, 1099-INT, 1099-B, etc). If you can't remember getting a form for something, that's your first follow-up.

2. Life-event check — Did you get married, have a kid, buy a house, start a side business, or pay off student loans? Each of these unlocks a deduction or credit most people forget to claim.

3. Paper trail check — Charitable donations, medical bills over 7.5% of income, home office expenses if self-employed, childcare costs. If you don't have the receipt now, you won't have it in April.

Doing this in January instead of April is the difference between a 20-minute filing and a stressed-out weekend hunting through your email for a 1099 that never got downloaded.

I turned this into a full checklist (with every document type broken out) — built it because I got tired of re-making the list every year. Posted it in my store if it's useful to anyone here.