If you are self-employed, an independent contractor, or expect to have income above and beyond W-2 wages, you may need to send estimated tax payments to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Franchise Tax Board (FTB).

Most likely your tax preparer will provide you with an organizer to help you gather documents and get them in order for your appointment.  Review the first few pages and make sure they have the correct personal information for you including your birthdate, address and phone number. You will want to bring the following items with you to your appointment:

I don’t know what your politics are but it is always interesting to have statistical information in your cocktail party conversations.

The IRS just came out with income tax burden statistics that you may want to walk down to your local “Occupy fill in the blank.”

In 2009, which is the most current year available, of all the tax filers:

The top 1% earned more than $343,927 and pay 36.7% of all federal income tax. 
The top 5% earned more than $154,643 and pay 58.7% of all federal income tax. 
The top 10% earned more than $154,643 and pay 70.5% of all federal income tax.
The bottom 50% paid 2.25% of all federal income tax.

Just thought you might find this interesting