Filing taxes is something everyone does each year, no exceptions. It’s important to avoid everyone’s number one concern: making a mistake when filling out your tax forms.
Making mistakes is human nature, but be careful! Errors not only delay your refund but could also land you in hot water with the IRS, especially if they suspect you’re withholding information or intentionally lying.
Take the following precautions when filling out your taxes in order to prevent common mistakes.
Be Careful with Multiple Direct Deposits
Direct deposit is a popular option when getting a tax refund. You don’t have to wait for a check to arrive in the mail and you’ll get access to your money much sooner.
The IRS allows you to split your refund for up to three separate accounts. But should you?
The more account numbers you include, the greater the chance of error. Even if you specify the correct percentage, mistakes can occur when funds are distributed to multiple accounts.
To play it safe, have your money sent to only one account.
Watch Out for Social Security Number Errors
When filling out tax forms, your Social Security number will be required. When providing Social Security numbers for yourself and others on your tax return, it’s important that:
- You double check the numbers
- You make sure everything matches
This is especially important if you have a large family, and must fill out Social Security numbers for several people. If even one digit is off, this causes problems, which in turn will delay your refund.
Know What Status to File Under to Avoid Tax Problems
Everyone knows that when you get married or have a child, you’ll get additional credits back on your taxes. But do you know what your status is?
Understanding your status is important since there are several different statuses that determine how the rest of your taxes are affected.
Among the various statuses are:
- Filing as a single person
- Married and filing with a spouse
- Married and filing as single
- Head of household
Take a look at common lifestyle changes, and see if any of these apply to you.
Be Careful If You Changed Your Name
If you’ve changed your name, it’s important that your documents reflect this. Common reasons for changing a name are marriage and divorce, although plenty of people petition to legally change their name in court for other reasons.
Although changing your name on other documents is important, understand that your name as it appears to the DMV should get changed at the Social Security office as well.
This means you won’t have to file under a different name or run into problems where you’re confused on what name to use. Having different names can slow down your taxes.
Let Us Help
If you’re trying to get your taxes done quickly and effectively, you don’t have to do it on your own. Let us help you and ensure your taxes are submitted properly.
Request a quote today and see how easy it is to get started, and avoid the common tax problems most folks fall into.