What to Bring to a Killeen Tax Appointment

The IRS gives plain advice for tax time: keep the documents and tax forms you need to file in one place. When they already are, the time at an appointment goes to your questions instead of a hunt for a missing statement.

At Moreno Financial Services, bring what you have to the free call and we will tell you what else to gather; after the call you get a plain-English list of what we need. This guide describes the usual pieces in plain words and where to get the ones you cannot find. Our tax preparation services page explains the rest of the process.

Personal and household details

Start with the people on the return. Our checklist asks for government-issued photo ID for each taxpayer, and the IRS's own list of personal information includes:

• A Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number for you and everyone else on the return
• Your current address, and your name as the Social Security Administration has it on record
• Bank account and routing numbers, for a refund by direct deposit or a payment
• Your identity protection PIN, if the IRS issued one
• Last year's adjusted gross income, or last year's return itself

Income statements

The IRS notes that the people and organizations that paid you send these statements electronically or by mail. Gather what you have for every source of income in the year: the wage statement from each employer, any income statements from clients or financial institutions, records of income that came without a statement, and your own records of any digital asset transactions that came without an information return.

If a wage statement never arrived, the IRS publishes guidance on what to do, and the IRS online account shows some of the wage and income statements the IRS has on file. For military households, Military OneSource notes that the service member's tax statement is issued through myPay; our guide to military tax prep near Fort Hood covers the rest of the military paperwork.

Records your preparer may ask about

The IRS also lists records connected to credits and deductions: childcare or dependent care expenses, mortgage and property tax records, charitable giving, health savings or flexible spending account contributions, healthcare expenses, retirement contributions and education expenses. Whether any of them matters for your return depends on your facts, so treat the list as things to bring, not things you will claim.

For childcare, the IRS's checklist for its free VITA program asks for the total paid to the daycare provider and the provider's tax identifying number, such as a Social Security number or business EIN. Our checklist asks for the provider's name, address, tax ID and amount paid.

Side work and self-employment

If you did any work for yourself, the IRS list adds statements from banks, payment apps, card processors or online marketplaces, checks you received, receipts and mileage logs, office expense records, and records of any estimated tax payments you made. United Way of Central Texas asks self-employed filers at its VITA sites to total their business income, including cash, and to prepare an itemized expense list and mileage log before the appointment. That homework helps at any appointment, and our guide to self-employed tax prep in Kempner includes a weekly routine for keeping those records.

Life changes worth writing down

Some of the most useful information is not a statement at all. Write down anything that changed during the year, even if you are not sure it matters: a marriage or divorce, a new child, a home bought or sold, a move between states, a new job or one that ended, a side business started, or new retirement contributions. Military households should add PCS orders, move dates, deployment dates and home-of-record information, along with a spouse's income and residency details for every state involved.

Getting what is missing

Some missing pieces can be found online. Through the IRS online account you can view key information from last year's return, including adjusted gross income, and your transcripts; new users should have photo identification ready to verify who they are. Transcripts of past returns are also available by mail, which needs the mailing address from your latest return.

The identity protection PIN is a six-digit number that prevents someone else from filing a return using your Social Security number. The IRS says the fastest way to get one is through the online account, a new one is generated each year so last year's will not work, and parents and legal guardians can request one for dependents, though requests for anyone under 18 go through the IRS's other enrollment options.

If you are going to a free VITA site

VITA is seasonal, so call the site before you go. VITA sites work from their own checklist. The IRS version asks for original photo identification for you and your spouse, a copy of last year's federal and state returns if available, and, to e-file a joint return at a VITA site, both spouses present to sign. United Way notes that missing documents can keep a return from being completed, so check the site's list ahead of time.

Keep your documents safe

Two habits matter as much as the documents. The IRS will never ask for your identity protection PIN, and calls, emails or texts asking for it are scams; share it only with your tax professional, and only when you are ready to sign. And do not send Social Security numbers or tax documents by ordinary email. Once you engage us, we tell you the secure channel to use. When you are ready to start, our free tax checklist organizes the documents by section, so you gather only what applies to you.