Winter is turning into spring, and one annual obligation is about to become important as the deadline for its accomplishment gets closer.

That regular obligation for many U.S. citizens is filing federal and state taxes. Taxes can be complicated, time-consuming and effort-intensive, often generating emotions such as annoyance, anxiety and frustration for tax preparers. But being organized with your paperwork—having it collected and coordinated—before actually starting to input information into tax forms might just enable you to be cool and calm throughout the entire process. This is so important that the federal government agency the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has advice on preparing for 2026 tax filing that is worth reviewing. The IRS also likes to remind taxpayers that Wednesday, April 15, 2026, is the federal tax filing deadline for this year.

Please note that the tips below are for general educational purposes, and when organizing financial information, you should always also consider how to safeguard it from inappropriate access.

In addition to the IRS, Delta Community also has some suggestions for getting your papers in order. But before sharing those tips, it might be worthwhile to first consider your personal approach to organization.

When thinking about creating a system to organize documents, keep in mind that:

• The specific type of system you use to organize paperwork for doing your taxes is less important than having a structured system that you can set up and follow. Any type of task organization that saves time and effort and ultimately helps accomplish your goal, which is completing your taxes thoroughly, correctly and on time, is a good system for you. Below is an example of one very basic, simple paperwork organizing system that may be useful for some tax filers.
• Once you create an organizational system, stick to it. Don’t start organizing only to abandon your efforts and begin placing digital or paper documents in different locations where you may forget them. Instead, be consistently organized and continue with a system. You don’t want to have to go to a bank or other company and ask them to replace missing forms essential for filing taxes, especially if the filing deadline is coming up soon.
• While not absolutely essential, having access to a personal computer to manage your preparation efforts can be enormously helpful compared to only dealing with paper documents.

Keeping the previous points in mind, now let’s look at…

One method for organizing tax paperwork—and protecting sensitive information

1. Start by creating a folder in the Documents section of your computer and get a hard-copy file folder and label both “Taxes [date the tax year when you are filing, such as 2027]”. While it isn’t absolutely necessary to have both digital and hard copies of documents, having two versions does provide an additional level of security against accidentally destroying a folder and its contents. You can convert paper documents to digital versions by running then through a printer/scanner or using your mobile phone to photograph and covert the image into a document format such as .pdf, Microsoft^® Word document or a Google^® document. Some people also like to organize items by color as well as year or name, so you can also select a different colored hard-copy folder for each tax year. You can then change the color of folders in more recent versions of the Microsoft^® Windows operating system to match the colors of hard-copy folders.
   
   For the above suggestions, note that when creating digital copies of sensitive documents, consider disabling automatic synchronization (sync) for online back-up services for those documents if you do not want them available online. Also, use trusted document scanning tools from well-known and reputable software providers.
2. Back up the computer folder to an encrypted online drive or local attached storage drive and keep the paper folder someplace such as a secured filing cabinet. After creating the computer folder, back it up to guard against computer failure or folder corruption. You can use an online storage and file syncing service or back it up to an attached external drive or small USB flash memory stick. Keep the hard copy folder someplace you’ll remember and ideally, secured with a lock, such as in a filing cabinet or home document or valuables safe—then allow access to those containers only to trusted household members.
   
   Reminder—use known and respected online back-up service providers, enable multifactor authentication to help protect your account, along with creating random, long and unique passwords.
   
   Also, avoid emailing unencrypted tax documents to anyone, and be aware of scammers operating during tax season that could contact you with unsolicited requests claiming to be from the IRS or financial institutions about a problem with your taxes or financial accounts.
3. Make certain you have all the information you think you need. Below is just a partial list of the common types of personal and federal documents that some tax filers may require for preparing their federal and state taxes. There are many types of spending and tax records and government forms that might be needed for filling out federal taxes, but personal tax preparers are likely to encounter and use at least a few of these:
   • Check registers for that recorded written checks
   • Credit card statements
   • Federal W-2 salary statements from employers
   • Invoices
   • Expense receipts
   • Charity donation records
   • Receipts for any energy-saving home improvements that may be tax deductible
   • Tax statements from prior years
   • Bank or credit union statements
   • Brokerage statements
   • IRS Form 1040-ES, Estimated tax payments for a specific year
   • IRS Form 1098, Mortgage Interest Statement
   • IRS Form 1099-A, Acquisition or Abandonment of Secured Property
   • IRS Form 1099-C, Cancellation of Debt
   • IRS 1099-DIV, Dividends and Distributions
   • IRS Form 1098-E, Student Loan Interest Statement
   • IRS 1099-G, Federal, state, or local government payments of unemployment compensation
   • IRS Form 1099-INT, Interest Income
   • IRS 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Information
   • IRS 1099-Q, Payments from Qualified Education Programs
   • IRS 1099-R, Distributions from Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, or other retirement benefits
   • IRS 1099-SA, Distributions made from a Health savings account, Archer Medical Savings Account or Medicare Advantage Medical Savings Account
   • IRS 1099-SSA (or SSA-1099), Social Security Benefit Statement
   • IRS Form 5498, IRA Contribution Information
4. Put digital copies of all your tax forms in the computer folder and hard copies in the paper or plastic folder. Put all your tax forms you receive into the digital and hard folders for the current tax year. Check carefully that hard and digital copies match up.
5. Rename all digital tax forms so they are similar and clearly identifiable. It can be easy to incorrectly file documents if they have non-specific names, such as “Bank Name 1099-R form”. Use a standardized naming scheme to rename all the digital paperwork so that you at least know the exact year, number and name of the form and the company the document is from. If you get a form that isn’t easy to identify or categorize, then create a name based what it does say, such as rent, royalties, home office expenses or healthcare costs.
6. Use a similar naming system for documents that are not standardized forms with easily identifiable numbers that should go in the folder. For other documents that are not official tax forms, using naming conventions similar to the above, with year, type of document (healthcare receipt, energy-efficient heat pump invoice, home office expense report, charity donation) and if relevant, the name of the company or organization it comes from or is related to, such as Southside Hospital or Animal Shelter.
7. If it’s helpful for managing a lot of documents, create subfolders to the main folder. Subfolders can be for receipts, invoices, deductions, healthcare expenses, charity donations, completed tax filings and other paperwork. Label the subfolders with the same year as the main folder and then add a descriptive name, such as 2027 Charity Donations.
8. Another step in your organizational plan could be to schedule your time to support tax task completion. You have the papers, but you still need to fill in the information and submit—file—the final return. Set up calendar reminders with alarms on your phone or computer to remind yourself to start reviewing documents, making notes, filling out forms, making and checking calculations, then completing and filing taxes by the federal tax filing deadline—which is usually, but not always, April 15. Some people need a nudge now and then to get going and maintain momentum in an activity, so setting up calendar reminders to push you to get your taxes done may be helpful. When setting up calendar entries, be careful about the details you include. To help protect your information, avoid inclusion of sensitive personal and financial details (such as Social Security and account numbers), especially in shared or synced calendars.
9. Remember to always make a copy of your tax filing for your own records, either paper or digital, such as saving electronic documents in a .pdf format. Don’t file your taxes via hard copy in the mail or digitally without keeping a separate copy of the completed tax form for your files. In case any questions come up from federal or state authorities (and for future reference), always have a copy of your final tax form submission where it can be quickly located.
10. Don’t forget to hold on to documents after your taxes are filed. Just because taxes are done doesn’t mean that all the documentation you’ve collected gets to go away permanently; it needs to stick with you for a while longer, such as a few years. The IRS advises that tax filers should hold on to any records that will validate any itemized tax deductions or tax credits that are claimed on a tax return. According to the IRS, it “…generally recommends keeping copies of tax returns and supporting documents at least three years. Employment tax records should be kept at least four years after the date that the tax becomes due or paid, whichever is later. Tax records should be kept at least seven years if a return claims a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt deduction. Copies of previously-filed tax returns are helpful in preparing current-year tax returns and making computations if a return needs to be amended.”

Above was just one example of a “pre-tax preparation” system that could work for you. Think about and modify it so it’s improved—then it can become your personalized tax paperwork management method that you prefer and want to regularly use.