Afraid of making a mistake on your taxes?

If you haven’t completed your taxes for this year you have less just over three weeks to file. This year has been pretty busy and every time I start to do ours, something else seems to pop up. My goal is to get them done this week, so that I am not rushing through them as April 15 gets closer. I have talked to a lot of people that are using professionals to complete their taxes this year and the number one reason they use a professional instead of doing them one their own is because they are afraid they will make a mistake.

I came across an article over at SmartMoney.com called 10 Things Your Tax Preparer Won’t Tell You. I am not going to include the entire list, but I do want to share one of them with you. From the article the #3 thing that your tax preparer won’t tell you…

3. “You’d be better off without me.”

What? How is that possible? Why would I be better off doing my own taxes instead of hiring a professional to do them? Obviously, they know all of the new tax laws and they know the little tricks to ensure my return is not only accurate, but I am getting the largest possible return, right? Not according to the IRS!

On average tax preparers make more mistakes, and costlier ones, than Josie Taxpayer does. According to a study of IRS data, 56% of professionally prepared returns showed significant errors, compared with 47% of those done by the taxpayer. And audited taxpayers who used preparers owed an average of $363, while those who filed themselves owed $185.

Does that mean that everyone should fill out their own return? Maybe, maybe not. Depending on the complexity of your return, you may do well to pay someone to help you file. However, unless something has changed in your life (marriage, new baby, profits from a real estate sale, etc), your return should be a lot like last years return. If you still have a copy of last years return, you should be able to walk through filling out your own return using last years return as a guide. In addition to the money you will save by not paying a professional, it is always good to understand what all those numbers mean and jumping in feet first is a great way to figure it out. If you do decide to tackle the job yourself, there are a lot of great software packages out there that will make the job easier.

Whatever you decide, just remember, that by April 15 you must pay any taxes you owe, and file either your return or an extension. If you haven’t done your taxes yet, then let’s get busy!