A tax prep meeting is only as productive as the documentation and information you bring into it. A little preparation ahead of time — and a couple of habits worth avoiding in the days right before — makes the meeting faster, cheaper, and more accurate.
What to Bring
- Prior-year tax return and Notice of Assessment, so your preparer has a baseline and can catch anything that changed year over year.
- All income slips — T4s, T4As, T5s, self-employment income records, rental income, and any other income sources, complete rather than partial.
- Receipts for deductions and credits organized by category rather than as a loose pile — medical expenses, charitable donations, business expenses, home office costs if applicable.
- Records of any major life or business changes during the year — a new business, a property sale, a marriage or separation, a new dependent.
- Business financial statements, if applicable, ideally already reconciled rather than handed over as raw bank statements.
What to Stop Doing the Week Before
Don't make major financial moves without checking the tax impact first. Selling an investment, drawing extra income from the business, or making a large purchase in the final days before your appointment can change your tax position in ways that are harder to plan around after the fact than before it.
Don't try to reconstruct a year of receipts from memory. If your records aren't complete, say so upfront rather than guessing at figures — a preparer working from accurate partial information can flag exactly what's still needed, while inaccurate complete-looking information is much easier to file incorrectly.
Don't assume last year's approach is still the right one. Tax rules and personal circumstances both change year to year. Walking in assuming everything will be handled identically to last year sometimes means missing a credit, deduction, or planning opportunity that's newly relevant.
Why the Prep Actually Matters
The meeting itself is usually the fast part. Most of the time (and cost) in tax preparation comes from chasing down missing information after the fact — which is exactly what a little organization beforehand avoids.