Hacks to make taxes easier

[Francis Rusnak]

Hi. I'm a new member from Las Vegas. I'm at the beginning stages of my investing (love the podcasts) and was wondering if any veterans out there had any 'Tax Hacks'.

I've considered getting a separate credit card just for my rental properties, but was wondering if it would need to be a different card for each individual property. I've thought the same for checking accounts at the bank. Can all rentals be used by one credit card and one separate checking account then have another of each for personal stuff?

Also, is there any phone apps anyone uses where you can log expenses so they don't have to keep a shoebox full of receipts. Anything to keep track of everything for rentals; looking specifically at single family homes now. Does anyone have any other tips for making tax time a little more bearable. Thanks.

[Blair Russell]

 I use Expensify to track my expenses and the app allows you to snap a photo, categorize, and label expenses and then you can just send your accountant (or yourself) an expense report at the end of the year. You can also customize the tax categories to match your needs. There are also a few mileage tracking apps out there which work well. 

I also use Evernote which has a great document capture camera to keep an archive of all my receipts. 

Detail, detail, detail is the name of the game if you ask me, and the more you do upfront the easier it is down the line when you need the information.