Technology has improved many parts of our life in the digital age, including how we file our taxes. The days of large scanners and difficult settings are long gone; these days, all you need is a smartphone to scan your tax documents. With built-in features on both iOS and Android devices, you can easily scan a physical document with your camera and turn it into a PDF using just your camera.
Do you still file your taxes using paper records? You’re not by yourself. When you digitize your tax forms, you can quickly upload data to the service you’re using, including your tax identification number and sources of income, eliminating the need to manually enter all of the information—which might be difficult if your taxes are intricate. With just your phone or tablet, you may digitize any paper tax documents you may have.
We’ll walk you through the procedure in this post, providing step-by-step directions and advice to make sure everything goes smoothly.
Select the Appropriate App
Choosing the appropriate app is the first step in using your phone to scan your tax paperwork. Both iOS and Android provide a plethora of scanning apps, each with their own special capabilities. Adobe Scan, CamScanner, and Microsoft Office Lens are a few popular options. Install the program that best fits your needs and preferences after downloading it.
Scanning tax paperwork using an iPad or iPhone
You may scan your tax paperwork from an iPhone or iPad in a few different ways. The easiest method is to just launch your camera app and snap pictures of every document. Because the files will be saved as photos rather than PDFs, you will need to manually crop and arrange each one, so this process will take some time. One of the easiest ways, though, is to use the Files app, which can help you organize your papers for future sharing with ease by automatically recognizing, scanning, and cropping them. This is how to begin:
- Navigate to the Files app on your iPad or iPhone.
- In the lower corner, most likely, tap the Browse tab.
- Select Scan Documents by tapping the three dots located in the upper right corner.
- Place the document on a level, well-lit surface, then hold your phone’s camera over it. It need to be automatically detected and scanned by the app. The document will be added to your scanned files.
- Scan more documents till the job is finished. Press Save.
- Click the three dots at the top of your screen to create a new folder, or select the folder where you want to save your papers. To save your papers, click Save.
Get Your Documents Ready
Make sure all of your tax documents are in order and clear of creases and folds before you begin scanning. Place them in a well-lit, level area to improve the quality of the scanned photos. Eliminate any unnecessary objects from the backdrop to prevent disruptions to the scanning procedure.
Align Your Phone Properly
Place your phone precisely above the paper you wish to scan for best results. Make sure your phone is parallel to the surface of the document and hold it steady. This keeps the scanned photos crisp and readable and helps prevent distortions.
Make Use of Good Lighting
An important factor in the quality of your scanned papers is lighting. It is best to scan your documents in natural light, in a well-lit room or near a window during daylight hours. If natural light is unavailable, make use of artificial lighting to illuminate the area evenly.
Modify the Scan Configuration
The majority of scanning apps have settings that let you personalize the scanning procedure. You may change the resolution, enable features like automatic cropping, and select between color and black-and-white scanning among other settings to suit your preferences. Try different configurations until you discover the one that works best for your tax documents.
Examine and Store
After scanning, look over the pictures that were taken. Make sure all the content is readable and that each page is clear. After you’re happy, save the scanned documents in your favorite format, such JPG or PDF. A lot of scanning tools also let you classify and arrange your files so they can be found quickly.
In summary
It’s now easier than ever to scan tax documents with your phone thanks to the availability of user-friendly scanning apps. You may save time and lessen the stress of tax season by organizing and filing your tax information more quickly by following these easy steps and making use of your smartphone’s features. Take advantage of mobile scanning’s ease and simplify the tax preparation process.
EXTRA:
Use your Android smartphone to scan tax papers
The way that Android smartphones scan documents varies depending on the manufacturer. While some models lack the built-in capability to scan using the Camera app, others do. This method, which should work with all Android models, explains how to utilize Google Drive, or any app of your choice to scan your tax paperwork, even though you’ll probably use it to store documents, pictures, and other crucial data on your Android device.
- Launch the Google Drive application, or any other application of your choice.
- After selecting “+,” select “Scan.”
- Place your document on a level, well-lit surface, move the phone’s camera over it, and then press the shutter release. The image can now be edited, cropped, or rotated.
- You can hit the plus button to add more documents.
- Click Save after the scanning process is complete. Give your document a name now, then use Google Drive to arrange your files.
