You’re Only Lost if You Stop – MDPNY20070516, originally uploaded by mdpNY.

If you are getting organized for tax filing, don’t get stressed out! Keep it simple. Your money is coming out of four main places: business bank accounts, business credit cards, cash, or personal accounts.Make a list of what you need, then contact your bank to get if statements are missing. Here’s a basic checklist of what you need.

Bank Accounts: Collect bank statements from your business checking account from last year. You will need January 2008 if your December bank statement doesn’t include through December 31, 2007.

Credit Card: Gather all credit card statements business account from last year. You will need January 2008 if your December statement doesn’t include through December 31, 2007.

Cash Receipts: Unless you plan on returning something,only hold on to ones that are deductible expenses like taxi receipts. I personally try to pay for anything business-related via debit or credit card so those pesky little receipts don’t pile up.

Personal: If you made purchases or paid business expenses via a personal checking or personal credit card, then go through your statements and check off every business expense so that they can be included as deductible expenses.