Instead of handing all your year’s receipts and tax papers to your accountant in a shoebox, why not create a nice spreadsheet for her?  Your accountant will appreciate this since she will spend less time filing your return and therefore you’ll almost certainly get charged less for her services.

Create a list of categories for your tax receipts and papers or ask your accountant if he has a printed list of categories that you can follow (e.g. Earned Income from Job, Car Payments, Student Loan interest, RRSPs, etc.). 

Next, grab some 8.5 x 11 envelopes. Label each envelope with a category name, put papers and receipts that fall under that category inside.  Do this until all your papers and receipts are filed accordingly.

After that’s done, open a new Excel file and create a spreadsheet with all the categories listed.  Enter the amounts of the receipts under each category.  When done, save and print the spreadsheet and submit this and all the receipts you’ve collected to your accountant.

For more organizing tips visit the Organizing section of this website.  Or are you looking for more tips to save some cash?  Then be sure to visit the Saving Tips section of this website.