CFO Corner: It's Tax Season—Here's Your First Move

liveyourmoneystyle
1 day ago
4 min read

Updated: 9 hours ago

Tax season is officially here, and most W-2s and 1099s should be hitting your mailbox or inbox any day now. This week on CFO Corner, we're taking one simple 10-minute action that's going to save you hours of stress later: organizing your tax documents and reviewing them for accuracy. This isn't about filing your taxes today - t's about catching errors early, putting everything in one place, and creating a tracking system so you're ahead of the deadline instead of scrambling to meet it. Think of this as the proactive move that makes everything else easier.

What You'll Learn in This Episode about Tax Season

Why This Matters Right Now Tax season is officially starting. Most W-2s and 1099s are required to be sent by the end of January, which means they should be arriving now. Catching errors early prevents delays, amended returns, and last-minute scrambling stress. This small proactive step makes everything else easier.

What You're Doing Today (Not Filing Your Taxes!) This is a simple income accuracy and organization check. You're making sure the numbers on your income forms look right, putting everything in one place, and creating a quick checklist of what you're still waiting on. This takes 10 minutes now but saves hours of chaos later.

Review Your Income Forms

Reviewing Your W-2s: A W-2 shows your wages and taxes withheld from your employer.

What to check:

Name and Social Security number - Make sure they're spelled correctly. Errors here cause filing delays.
Employer's name - Verify it matches your actual employer, especially if your company has a parent company or was acquired during the year.
Wages (Box 1) - Does the amount seem roughly right based on what you earned? If it looks way off, flag it.

Reviewing Your 1099s: You might receive different types:

1099-NEC - Freelance or contract work
1099-INT - Interest from savings accounts (hopefully from your high-yield savings!)
1099-DIV - Investment dividends
And several other types

What to check:

Client or platform name - Make sure it's actually someone you worked with or an account you have
Amounts reported - Does it match what you remember earning or see in bank statements?
Multiple sources - If you had multiple clients or income sources, make sure you have a form from each one

What to Do If Something Looks Off: Don't panic—just contact the employer or client NOW. The earlier you flag errors, the easier they are to fix. Most employers can issue corrected forms within a few days if you catch it in February. Wait until April, and you'll face stress, rush, and potential backlogs.

Remember: This is a review, not a deep audit. You're catching obvious errors like names, numbers, amounts. That's enough.

Organize Your Tax Documents

Create One Central Place: Choose physical or digital (or both):

Physical: Grab a folder or envelope, label it "2025 Taxes," and put all W-2s and 1099s inside.

Digital: Create a folder on your computer, Google Drive, or Dropbox labeled "2025 Taxes." Take photos of paper documents or save PDFs from email. Get everything in one place.

When it's time to file, having everything in one folder instead of scattered across your inbox, kitchen counter, and three drawers saves massive time and frustration.

Make a List of What You're Still Waiting On: Write down or type:

"Still waiting for W-2 from [employer name]"
"Still waiting for 1099-INT from [bank name]"
"Still waiting for 1099-NEC from [client name]"

This list can be a phone note or sticky note inside your tax folder. It just needs to exist so you know what you're watching for.

Why this matters: If mid-February arrives and you still haven't received something, you'll know exactly what's missing and can follow up. No guessing, no assumptions—just clarity.

Why This Helps All Tax Season

What you just accomplished:

✓ Faster, smoother filing - Everything is in one place when you're ready to file. No searching, no guessing.

✓ Less back-and-forth - You caught errors now instead of dealing with corrections in April when everyone is overwhelmed.

✓ Clear view of your income - You know what you made last year and where it came from. Useful for taxes AND budgeting.

✓ Peace of mind - You're ahead of the deadline instead of scrambling. You're in control instead of reactive.

Maintenance Tips

Over the next few weeks:

As new documents arrive: Add them to your tax folder immediately. Don't let them sit on the counter or stay buried in your inbox.

Check back mid-to-late February: Pull out your "waiting on" list and see if anything is still missing. If yes, reach out to the employer or client.

Then you're done: You don't need to think about this again until you're ready to file. You don't need to check your folder weekly. You've set up a system—now just maintain it with minimal effort.

What You Just Accomplished

You reviewed your income forms for accuracy. You organized everything in one place. You created a tracking system for anything outstanding.

This is how a CFO stays ahead of deadlines instead of reacting to them.

You didn't wait until the last minute. You didn't hope everything would work out. You took 10 minutes to get clear, get organized, and set yourself up for success.

Next week on CFO Corner: Budget categories and how to create ones that fit YOUR life!