With the sheer pileup of paperwork alone, taxes are a pain for anybody (except for accountants, maybe, but I’m sure they feel the same way when clients swarm their offices in April).
For people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), preparing taxes can feel like an impossible feat.
Tax prep requires using the very skills that are challenges for people with ADHD — the symptoms of the disorder. Symptoms such as being easily distracted, being disorganized and having difficulty with details become major obstacles.
But while it can seem incredibly overwhelming, tax time isn’t an insurmountable challenge. Below, experts take you through the A to Z of preparing your taxes and cutting out paper clutter.
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Good pointers! Thank you!
I always keep a folder throughout the year into which I dump everything related to taxes – any receipts that might be eligible for deductions, along with W2′s, etc. when they come. It’s not the most organized, but at least I have it all in one place when I need it, and I find it’s not too bad to sort out at the end of the year. If I try to do anything that is organized in too much detail, such as write down a record of my tax deductible expenditures whenever they occur throughout the year, I just find that it is too complicated and it doesn’t happen, and I have a big disorganized mess from all the receipts that I left out in the hopes that I would someday catalog them. My simpler system ends up being much better for me.
Since you write about both eating disorders and ADHD, I was wondering if you had ever considered writing about the link between the two conditions. I have read several studies indicating that ADHD significantly increases the risk of eating disorders in girls. Here are a couple of them:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2930179/pdf/nihms229542.pdf
http://journals.lww.com/jrnldbp/Abstract/2007/08000/Are_Girls_with_ADHD_at_Risk_for_Eating_Disorders_.7.aspx
(I couldn’t get the full text for the second one, but the abstract looks promising.)
The link between ADHD and bulimia, binge eating disorder, obesity, and general poor eating habits seems pretty self explanatory. Impulsivity is a commonality to all these conditions. Also, a lack of proper planning (forgetting to buy groceries, not taking the time to plan out and prepare meals, etc.) can lead to unhealthy eating.
However, there also seems to be a link between anorexia and ADHD:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19835674
I would guess that the connection between ADHD and anorexia could have more to do with control issues. Those of us who have ADHD often feel like our lives are out of control, and I can imagine that maintaining discipline regarding weight could be an attempt to gain control in some way over an otherwise disordered life.
It seems like a number of academics who research eating disorders don’t pay too much attention to the link between ADHD and disordered eating. I am guessing that the same may be true for clinicians, although I am hypothesizing here. It is not an unlikely guess, however, since many mental health clinicians seem to be less than fully knowledgeable about adult ADHD; as a result, this disorder often remains undiagnosed among people who are being treated for a wide variety of comorbid psychiatric conditions. This lack of awareness is ironic considering that ADHD affects 4.4% of the adult population. That’s a much higher number than several other disorders that seem to gain more attention (like bipolar disorder, for example).
It’s really a shame that clinicians don’t always keep the possibility of adult ADHD in mind, as I imagine that a person’s undiagnosed ADHD could very well be hampering the efficacy of his/her eating disorder treatment. Anything you could write about this topic would help spread awareness of the issue.
Hi Kate, thanks so much for your thoughtful comments! I’ve never looked into the link between ADHD and eating disorders. I appreciate you listing the research you found. This is definitely something I can explore in a blog post and I’d love to talk to some experts about possible reasons for this association and how treatment works.
I also agree that we can’t assume that impulsivity is involved in obesity. Genetics are involved to a greater extent in someone’s weight (something many people don’t realize). It’s inaccurate to imply that people who are a certain weight are automatically overeating, so thank you for clarifying that.
Also, thanks so much to everyone who’s contributed lots of great advice about tax prep!
So I just noticed that in my last comment, I implied that impulsivity is involved in obesity. I’m sure that it is not involved in all cases, and perhaps not even in most cases. However, I’m guessing that it is involved in some cases, such as in compulsive overeating. I just wanted to clarify that issue. Sorry for the confusion!
Like the person above, put all tax related papers in ONE (1) file during the year ( there are some multi-pocket ones available if you are still driven to sort. To me that is the single most helpful thing – and when I don’t do it, or decide it would be better to file things- in some other pace — i always lose track and get into a panic.
AND – start early, but control your urge to rush through to finish!
I find that using Quicken also helps me.Somehow while I throw papers about, i feel compelled to record payments in QUicken; then print out a list of different categories of expenses during the year, and mark those that are tax related.; Off course it will not tell you where you put the document — but it is a big help!
But no 1 – which I didn’t follow religiously this year, alas – put every significant tax-related document in a single file all year long. The poof – it makes you look organized.
As someone with ADD and being a tax auditor, former public tax preparer and still yet a taxpayer, I take this one step further to ensure I dont miss anything as it is so easy to misplace a receipt. I actually clip the house expenses (gas, electrical, water etc.), medical expenses, payment stubs, bank statments, cell bills in separate clips and make a spreadsheet column for each item in my tax return so that the addition is easy (done by the spreadsheet) and so I know that I have not missed any amounts indicated by a blank cell.
Organization is the key and following the prior tax return to ensure that you dont miss anything or panic at the deadline date helps immensely.
FYI – I have already filed mine, the last receipt was paid for in late February! The stress relief is worth the time to organize. I have already started clipping things together for next years return.
Hi Margarita,
Thanks for the post! Sorry I don’t have anecdotes for tax prep infact my husband and I (who both have ADHD) are in such need of help with financial issues. We have made some very bad financial decisions and need the help of a tax professional. I was wondering if there is tax help specificailly for people with ADHD? We live in the Denver area and are new here.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks much!
Thanks for the great tips! Although do not limit this to people solely with ADHD though! I am generally a mess and have no organization and tend to procrastinate all the time! But I think with some of these tips, I can get ahead of the game this time! Getting a little irs tax help is nothing to be scared of either! I do not trust myself and TurboTax alone!