Derive happiness in oneself from a good day’s work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us.

– Henri Matisse

This is the time of year, during which we get to do exactly what Monsieur Matisse, up there, advises.

We clear the fog of the (unnecessarily, in my opinion) burdensome pile of forms and regulations which form our tax process. Yes, some people get paid to create tasty food, others to patrol our streets … and we, well we put out financial and regulatory fires.

And it can be a lot of fun — really! There are stories every year, which circulate around our office, about the grateful client who was utterly hopeless about their financial and tax situation … until they met with us, we crunched their forms and numbers, and not only gave them the nice news of a lower tax bill (or higher refund) than they expected — but that we were able to speak into the overall situation of their finances.

But for some strange reason, many taxpayers STILL choose to “go it alone” when it comes to preparing their returns.

Here is a list of the most common errors I see when I review self-prepared returns.

(Remember: There’s no “app” for experience.)

Alan K. Newcomb’s

“Real World” Personal Strategy

Most Common Self-Preparation Tax Errors

As all of your information is coming into your mailbox this month to prepare for your taxes (Doctor’s bills, old W-2’s, interest statements for student loans, etc.), it can be tempting (to some folks, at least) to forego the  perceived “expense” of using a professional to help you save on your taxes for the year.

Here are some common errors which we routinely correct for those who have us review their previous-year returns, which they prepared themselves:

* Filing the wrong status (dependent or independent, 0 instead of 1, etc.)

* Missing forms

* Forgetting to sign it (this is incredibly common!)

* Not adhering to new laws (a biggie)

* Math errors or mixing up numbers

* Standardized deduction (one lump sum) when itemizing may return more

* Forgetting earned interest

* Not claiming your charitable donations (more common than you’d think!)

* Incorrect social security numbers

* Missing the deadlines

* Not checking last year’s taxes to see if anything carries over (again, very common — and a good reason to have a pro check it out)

* Not taking deductions where they’re pertinent (IRA’s, too much Social Security being taken out)

* Failing to include dependents who don’t live with you

* Claiming someone as a dependent who claimed themselves as independent

* Not filing domestic or self-employment taxes

* Not claiming credits where they’re due (Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Credit)

Continue to come to, and tell your family and friends to come to a professional. Self-serving? Why, yes. But as I mentioned in my introduction, we get paid to know what we do, and following the tax code permutations is our J-O-B. We’ve seen so many tax returns, even already this year, that would take 12 hours by someone trying to do it themself. That return can be accomplished by my practiced team in much less time.

To your family’s financial and emotional peace!