Common Tax Mistakes When Filing And How To Avoid Them

With the 2023 tax season already ongoing, American taxpayers would want to avoid the most common tax mistakes when filing their tax returns. Read and find out in this article how to avoid those mistakes!

Mistake on Tax Return [Photo: Nitram Financial Solutions]

Filing Status

According to Orem, not choosing the accurate filing status is one of the most common tax mistakes when filing. This is because it can affect the taxpayer’s tax bracket, the tax credits and deductions they can claim, and the amount of tax liabilities they have to pay. The five filing statuses are individuals, heads of households, couples filing jointly and separately, and surviving spouses. The filing statuses come with guidelines on who can choose those options.

READ ALSO: IRS Recommends Putting Off Filing Tax Returns, Here’s Why

Wrong Numbers

According to Kienlen, filing tax returns electronically and opting to receive the money through direct deposit are some of the ways to receive tax returns as early as possible. However, as much as it sounds good, if tax mistakes such as errors on the bank account number are made, they will be all put to waste. This is because the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will still verify account numbers before depositing the refunds. If there are tax mistakes in the numbers entered, the IRS will send taxpayers with paper checks instead of direct deposits.

Paper Filing

An article on the TurboTax states that tax mistakes also happen as taxpayers file their tax returns. There are times when the taxpayers forget to put a date and sign their tax returns, send the tax returns to the wrong IRS office, forget to include the forms needed when filing, do not arrange the forms in the correct order, and even when not enough postage is put in the envelope.

READ ALSO: Who Were The Taxpayers That Are Eligible To Tax Returns?