Basics4Mac - Saving Tax Forms

Making .pdf files of your tax forms

TurboTax

I did my taxes yesterday using TurboTax Online. This is probably the 6th or 7th year I've used TurboTax online, and every year it gets easier to use. But that isn't exactly what this tip is about.

No matter what tax software you use, at the end of the process, you will have the option to print out your tax forms, even if you file electronically. You will no doubt want a hard copy for your files. But you can also make an electronic copy.

TurboTax (and I'm assuming other tax preparation software, correct me if I'm wrong in the comments) can create a .pdf file of your tax documents. A .pdf file is a standard file type that any computer can read and that preserves the formatting that it had when it was created. .pfd files are also generally read-only which is good for documents you want to save.

TurboTax online offers you two buttons, View/Print and Save. Click the Save button and your tax forms will open in Preview.app. From Preview.app you can print the .pdf of your forms or Save As… to name them (TaxForms2009.pdf is good) and save them to disk.

If your tax software opens your tax forms in Safari, follow these instructions:

Hover your mouse over the embedded document and a bezel will appear with options for the .pdf file. Click on the Preview icon (the one just to the right of the vertical divider bar.) In a few seconds your document will open in Preview.

If your tax preparation software creates multiple documents to save (TurboTax did) then it probably makes sense to create a folder called something like "Taxes 2009" and save all the documents there.

Oh, and you are backing up your hard drive, right?

Bonus Tip idea #1: If you have a scanner, scan all of your paper documents such as your W-2 and save them into your "Taxes 2009" folder.

Bonus Tip idea #2: Once you have all of your documents together in your "Taxes 2009" folder, burn them to CD. File the CD away somewhere different from your paper files. Now you have three copies of your tax documents: paper, on your hard drive and on CD. (Plus the backup of your hard drive.)

Bonus Tip idea #3: If you have MobileMe, stash another copy of your tax forms on your iDisk.

(I'm sure you think I'm paranoid about losing data. I am.)