Today is March 15th.  That means Americans have 30 more days to gather information required by the Internal Revenue Service to submit their tax return.

In order to know whether you qualify for a refund or will be required to give more money to Uncle Sam,  you need a record of your income and deductible expenses.  Preparing the return is tough enough if you’re organized and have information available at your fingertips, but if you’re the guy who throws everything in a drawer with no system in place, it can be a complete nightmare.   You probably have a good amount of information stored in your head, but putting your hands on the right piece of paper isn’t always easy to do.

What if you had to do it all in 3 days – start to finish?

That’s about how much time a family is given, at time of death, to plan a funeral.

This might not seem like the best time to start working on planning your funeral when you’ve got taxes to do, (although there is a bit of irony there!)  but it’s a great time to start thinking about what information your family would need in your absence.

Here are just a few areas you’ll be “touching on” during tax return preparation.

Insurance – Life, health, medical, disability
Bank accounts – checking, savings, certificates of deposit, safe deposit boxes
Investments – stocks, bonds, mutual funds
Retirement programs and profit sharing
Trust accounts
Real Estate
Loans – both payable and possibly receivable

Would your spouse or other family member have all the information they’d need to access the funds in your absence?     It seems ridiculous to think you’ve spent a lifetime providing for your family, only to leave them helpless and unaware without your guidance, doesn’t it?   Do something about it.  Don’t leave your loved ones guessing.

Joyce Moseley Pierce
http://www.EmersonPublications.com