Don't Mess With Taxes

Photo by Belle Co

We made it. Tax Day 2025 is finally over for most of the country’s 140 million or so individual tax return filers.

Now what? First, take a minute or more to celebrate being done with this annual tax obligation.

Then, start thinking about taxes again.

Wait! Come back! You did click over here, after all.

And to reward your post-Tax Day curiosity, here are seven tasks you should consider. I promise they aren’t that difficult.

1. Adjust your paycheck withholding. Your tax goal each year should be for your paycheck withholding to cover as closely as possible the tax you owe. So when you filed return, if you got a big refund or owed Uncle Sam a lot, then you need to fine-tune your withholding. It’s easy to do, especially since the Internal Revenue Service has an online tax withholding estimator that can help you determine the changes you need to make.

2. Set up the rest of your estimated payments. If you have a lot of income that’s not subject to withholding, you can tweak your paycheck amount to cover that, too. Or you can make estimated tax payments four times a year. The first one for this year was due April 15. The other deadlines are June 15, Sept. 15, and the 15th of next January.

If you’re paying the same amount each due date (instead of using the annualized income method), then use one of the IRS-accepted electronic payment methods to set up the next three estimated tax payments. Then all you have to do is make sure you have the money in your account to cover the payments.

3. Check your return status. If you filed electronically on April 15, you now can use the IRS’ online tracking tool to see when you’ll get your refund. The tax agency says that your data should be in its Where’s My Refund? database 24 hours after you e-file. If you mailed in a paper return this week, you’ll have a longer wait. The IRS says it generally takes four weeks for your data to be entered into the IRS.gov tracking system.

4. Create your IRS taxpayer account. You also can keep track of any refund you’re owed or tax due in your personal online taxpayer account. The IRS has been expanding the options available at taxpayer accounts. But even if you want to use it for basics, it comes in handy. In addition to check tax status, you can make payments (current and future), apply for payment plans, get online certain IRS notices.

5. Decide how to use your refund. In the same way that all tax situations are personal, so are the ways that taxpayers choose to use their refunds. I suggested some options in my earlier post 8 ways to spend your tax refund, but the choice is totally yours. No judging here. But, being a bit pushy and tax-obsessed, let me one more time argue for some refund uses that also could provide tax savings, such as contributing to a retirement account or savings for your child’s college costs.

6. Set up a tax record keeping system. Taxes require a lot of documentation. Most of it is in the form of statements we need to completely and correctly fill out all the forms. But we also need to hang on to that material after our 1040 is in Uncle Sam’s hands.

You definitely want to keep a copy of your actual return, either paper or digital. I do both because, as noted earlier, I’m tax-obsessed. So that you can get to the information if the IRS has questions, now is a good time to set up or refine or clean up your tax record keeping system. One option is to follow the record retention guidelines as they relate to the IRS’ ability to audit your return.

7. Get ready for next year’s Tax Day. How did the tax season go for you this year? If it was relatively smooth, congrats! You apparently have the filing process well in hand. If, however, you encountered some hassles, think about what you can do to avoid that next year.

Look at the tax credits and deductions you claimed this year and whether you’ll be taking them again next year. Did you miss out on investment tax breaks? Consider strategies tax-loss harvesting. And, repeat alert, review your retirement savings and how you can maximize them now.

If all this seems overwhelming, now also is a good time to start your search for a tax professional who can provide guidance for your specific tax situation, explore potential tax planning strategies, and take care of your return filing next year.

You don’t have to get to work on these post-Tax Day moves today. Take a break and enjoy having met your annual tax filing responsibility for this year.

But don’t wait too long. The sooner you take care of the suggestions that apply to you, the sooner you can start accruing their benefits.

And if you got an extension, you're not forgotten. You can check out the ol' blog's monthly tax tips; the January page that kicked off the year (and all the others, too) have links to each month's collections.

There's also the monthly tax tips in the right column, just under the countdown clock keeping track of how much time until the Oct. 15 extension deadline arrives.

When you do file, then you can come back here for a post-filing tax moves reminder.

Advertisements

🌟 Search Amazon Tax Products 🌟
The text link above is an affiliate ad. If you click through and then buy a product, I receive a commission.