Tax Season Checklist Smart Seniors Must Do Now

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Tax season is a whole different beast when you’re retired. No W-2 from an employer. No automatic withholding from a paycheck. Just a pile of forms and some decisions to make before April.

Brian Zink, CEO and founder of No Upfront Tax Relief, has seen every mistake seniors make during tax season. His advice? Start organizing now, not the week before your appointment.

“For seniors, common forms of income we see usually include Social Security statements, retirement withdrawals and investment income,” Zink said. “We also see seniors sometimes have multiple 1099 forms coming from things like interest, dividends or any retirement distributions. It’s important to gather all of those as well.”

Here’s what you actually need to do.

Round Up Every Single Income Document

Start with the basics. You need Form SSA-1099 for your Social Security benefits and Form 1099-R for any money you pulled from pensions, IRAs or 401(k) plans. If you have investments, grab your 1099-DIV for dividends, 1099-INT for interest and 1099-B for any stocks or bonds you sold.

Don’t forget the random stuff. Rental income, part-time work, consulting gigs, even casino winnings all count. If money came in, the IRS wants to know about it.

While you’re at it, make sure you have your personal information ready. “Among those include your Social Security numbers and birth dates for you and your spouse,” Zink said. Seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people scramble to find this stuff at the last minute.

Pull Out Last Year’s Tax Return

This one saves time. Your previous return shows you what income sources and deductions typically repeat year after year.

“Review last year’s tax return filing,” Zink said. “This can help remind you of income sources and deductions that typically repeat. It’s also important to list your IRS Identity Protection PIN if you have one.”

If you don’t have a PIN yet but you’ve been a victim of tax identity theft in the past, the IRS will send you one automatically. Keep it with your tax documents.

Confirm You Took Your Required Minimum Distributions

If you were 73 or older last year, you were supposed to pull money out of your traditional IRA or 401(k) by Dec. 31. Check your 1099-R to make sure the full amount came out.

“We want to make sure seniors have taken their minimum distributions for applicable accounts,” Zink said. “It’s also important to make sure they are properly reported to avoid any penalties.”

Missed it? The penalty dropped from 50% to 25% of what you should have taken, and it goes down to 10% if you fix it within two years. Still a lot of money to lose over a mistake.

If you have multiple IRAs, you can add them up and take the total from one account. But if you have multiple 401(k) plans, you have to take the RMD from each one separately.

Figure Out If Your Social Security Is Taxable

This catches people every year. Whether your Social Security benefits get taxed depends on your combined income, which the IRS calculates by adding your adjusted gross income, any tax-exempt interest and half of your Social Security benefits.

If that number is over $25,000 for singles or $32,000 for married couples filing jointly, up to 50% or 85% of your benefits could be taxable. These thresholds don’t adjust for inflation, which means more retirees hit them every year as their other incomes grow.

Track Medical and Donation Expenses Now

Medical costs and charitable donations can lower your tax bill, but only if you actually kept track of them.

“This includes medical costs, insurance premiums, property taxes and charitable donations,” Zink said. “If they are not organized well, they may get missed.”

You can deduct medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. Medicare Part B and Part D premiums count. So do Medigap or Medicare Advantage premiums, long-term care insurance premiums and any out-of-pocket costs for medical, dental or vision care.

If you’re 70½ or older, you can donate up to $111,000 directly from your IRA to charity in 2026. This qualified charitable distribution doesn’t count as income and can be counted toward your required minimum distribution.

Review Your Tax Payments and Health Coverage

Nobody’s automatically taking taxes out of your Social Security or pension unless you asked them to. If you didn’t set up withholding, you might owe more than you expect in April.

Zink reminded seniors to “make sure they keep proof of estimated tax payments, as well as have Marketplace health insurance forms ready if it is used.”

Look at what was withheld from your pension or IRA distributions. Check if you had any federal or state taxes taken out of your Social Security. If the numbers look low, you might need to make quarterly estimated payments going forward.

The smart move is to have taxes withheld directly from your IRA distributions throughout the year. It counts as timely withholding even if you do it in December.

Give Yourself Enough Time

Zink’s last piece of advice is the most important. “Set aside enough time,” he said. “This will allow you to catch potential issues and ask key questions. Avoiding last minute stress makes it easier to get everything done.”

Rushing through your taxes in the week before the deadline can mean you miss deductions, make mistakes and pay more than you need to. Start gathering your documents now and you’ll thank yourself later.

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