Tax Season is upon us! You might be wondering what comes next. Don’t worry—we have you covered: follow these five steps to make your filing process smoother than ever before.

(Don't forget, the FREE Stride Tax App can help you save thousands of dollars on your tax bill and hours of tax prep time by automatically tracking your miles and expenses, surfacing money-saving deductions, and getting your forms IRS-ready. Get it today!)

1. Gather your income documentation

1099s were sent out on January 31st. If you earned income from companies Uber, DoorDash, or Etsy, or were paid through an app like PayPal, you may receive a 1099-NEC or 1099-K form that documents this income. Whether you receive these depends on how much you earned from any one of these sources.

If you did not receive a 1099 and you think you should have, visit your user dashboard with the apps you use or contact the company to make sure your form hasn’t been lost in the mail.

When. looking at these forms, the most important information to collect is (1) your Gross Earnings, from which you’ll subtract (2) Deductions and Fees (which you’ll fill in line 10 of the Schedule C). Alternatively, you could report your Net Payout, which will already reflects these deducted fees.

2. Collect expense documentation

In addition to your income documentation, you’ll also want to collect receipts for any deductible business expenses. If you were tracking your miles and expenses with the Stride app, you can export your deduction reports and gather up any other expenses you did not track in the app. If you weren’t tracking miles, don’t worry. You should be able to recover the majority of your expenses with a little detective work.

3. Prepare your taxes

Once you’ve gathered your income and expense documents, you’ll want to prepare your tax return. You have lots of options here. If you’re seeking professional tax assistance, we highly recommend you take advantage of our partnership with TurboTax®. Stride members can get 25% off federal filing with TurboTax Self-Employed products. If you’re not already a member, you can sign up now to get your savings. If you’re already a member, sign in.

If you expect you made less than $58,000 in 2021, you may also qualify for free tax filing assistance through the IRS’ free tax filing services. Or, you can prepare your returns by hand, just like 14-year-old Warren Buffett.

4. File your taxes

2021 tax returns are due April 18. This means your return must be postmarked or electronically filed by April 18. If you know you’ll need more time, the IRS will expect to receive a filing extension by this date. Lastly, first-quarter estimated taxes for income earned between January 1 and March 31 are due on April 18.

5. Pay what you owe or get your refund

If you under-payed your quarterly taxes, you’ll need to pay the rest of your owed taxes by April 18. If you overplayed your quarterly taxes, you may get a refund.

The IRS estimates 90% of refunds will be issued within 21 days of filing. Electronically filing your return will speed up internal processing, and is likely to get you your return as fast as possible. If you claim the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit, the IRS will not begin to issue these returns until February 27. Regardless of your situation, beginning in late February, you can check on the status of your refund using the Where’s My Refund online tool.

How to prepare for next year

If you found yourself hit with a big tax bill, you’ll definitely want to calculate and pay your quarterly estimated taxes this year. To do that, we recommend setting up a dedicated savings account and depositing about 30% of each paycheck to use for paying taxes.

Just spent an hour looking through old bank statements? Tired of digging receipts out of your glove box?  Make next year's tax filing go smoother than ever by logging your expenses and miles in the Stride app.

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