With the end of the year creeping up. It's
time to start getting ready to file those dreaded taxes
. And here to help us is tax expert,
Carla Dennis. Thank you so much. I need
these tips. You do need these tips. It's
not, it's not dreaded taxes. Shannon, come
on. I'm gonna make you not dreaded. Ok
. Well, good. Let's start with this.
So many people are, you know, they're facing
inflation, they're struggling, they're living check to check
with so many expenses having to be put out.
Is there a way to maybe change the way we
file our W twos are with? Yeah. So
if, if we have to decide between putting food
on the table a roof over our head, we
can change our W-4 withholdings to bring more money home
today. But I always advise them talk to their
tax professional because they don't wanna owe when it comes
to filing season next year. Oh, so it's
the difference between paying all of your taxes up front
and every check or say I'm gonna withhold some and
then pay it later. But then it's gonna accumulate
. So you have a larger chunk to pay at
the end of the year. Exactly. Or if
you're getting a big refund, right. Why are
we letting the government hold our big refund when we
need that money right now to eat every day and
live indoors? Ok. So you talk also about
, uh, avoiding a balance due return. So
what does that mean? A balance due return means
when you file your income tax return, you don't
wanna owe IRS as much as we like to have
relationships with people. IRS is not a person you
wanna have a relationship with where they're sending you letters
. If you owe, they're gonna send you letters
. So I highly suggest paying what you owe off
when you file your return. So basically you're,
and I think last year I owed$5000 for example
, you can pay, uh, like a$500
every quarter or every month to kinda bring that down
for what you will owe later. Yes. Exactly
in advance. Exactly. Estimated tax payments you could
pay as you go. Well, one of the
things I like to do is make sure my money's
working for me. So what are some ways I
can get my money to work for me? You
know, that's, I love that one way you
can get your money to work for you. Really
? Is we need to stop the credit card debt
. We need to start putting money in savings.
I think people think, oh, if I only
have 100 bucks or 200 bucks. I shouldn't put
money in savings. We need to start thinking long
term. Instead of short term, we need to
fund our retirements, our Ira s and things like
that. Absolutely. Track your money. Shannon,
it's important. You make it sound easy, but
a lot of people they're living, check to check
and the kids are always in your pocket. How
can we save if we're always putting out? Yeah
, you can't, you just have to have a
budget, right? Every dollar has to be allocated
. I think we have this mindset that we are
just going to spend, spend, spend and whatever
is left goes in the savings instead of having a
mindset of savings first, let's pay the car note
. Let's pay this like allocate towards that. Ok
, so that brings us to a fall financial cleanse
. How do we accomplish that? Absolutely. I
love a fall financial cleanse. This is where you're
gonna go through all of your bank statements from January
through December or whatever month you're in and start looking
at those things that you're paying for. How many
of us have just memberships we never go to.
It's on auto debit coming out of our bank account
. Right. We need to eliminate those expenses.
We need to drill down on our budgets and we
need to set a goal. That's really what it's
about before you go. Number one tax tip,
number one tax tip, get organized plan right now
. Don't wait until April. Don't wait until March
plan right now. So I should not keep all
my receives in that garbage bag and say get rid
of that garbage bag. Thank you so much.
Car. Great tips.