 internal revenue service IRS tax news people who still haven't filed a 2021 tax return should file electronically to avoid these common mistakes wow look at the IRS with their click baity headline top five mistakes that can cause taxpayers millions just click here if you want to save yourself from financial ruin you go IRS the IRS is clearly angling for IRS.gov to be the new go-to social media site once Elon Musk finally destroys the cesspool that is Twitter the IRS is like soon the only birds tweeting on Twitter will be the dodo birds the rest will flock over to IRS.gov baby but first an attempt at a joke some people are just trying to make ends meet their little children who need more library books and families who can't make ends meet or if you really wanted to you could buy me a pony you're right which is great for some people I mean I guess good I guess but really who was time to do geometry the mirror dimension is just geometry you write a geometry you could do geometry square the radius divide by five point on the curve over Parker personally I'm just trying to put food on the table but he's got to put food on this table make ends meet honestly what am I supposed to do take time out of my busy day to put together a jigsaw puzzle I don't have time for that we have school tomorrow COVID tax tip 2022-140 September 13th 2022 summer is winding down and the filing deadline for people who requested an extension is quickly approaching so if you're on extension it's becoming time to be filing here so you could avoid the penalties and interest which is of course our objective everyone who still needs to file a 2021 tax return should do so as soon as possible so obviously the IRS would like to get people filing sooner rather than later because this is kind of the off season for them they don't want things from the extended filing to kind of bleed in over into next year for next filing season if they can get a jump on it so you would think that they would have some incentive to try to get people to file as early as possible you would think so don't wait until the deadline to electronically file complete and accurate return extension filers have until October 17th the file but filing electronically helps reduce processing time and correct errors now again that's a benefit to you oftentimes which is what they're trying to emphasize but obviously they also would benefit on the IRS side of things to have things filed electronically now clearly if you're looking to get a refund if you think you're going to get a refund from filing you would think that you already have an incentive to be filing sooner rather than later and to file electronically if you want to get that refund as soon as possible but the fact that you're on extension right now if on extension means that you might not be all that concerned with the refund at this point in time if you're getting you know a refund and so you might that might not be something that's that's really incentivizing you to get the filing done faster the other benefit of filing electronically is that you get the verification pretty quickly and so and also you can kind of verify that you got the tax return in before the deadline and of course filing electronically using tax software can be useful because the tax code has had some changes over the last few years that are quite substantial compared to prior years and uh and there's been a lot more inconsistency in the in the code so the software can help you with an interview type process to to file that way so those are some pros and cons if you if you basically just want to file a paper filing and you don't care that it's going to basically be delayed if there's a refund or something like that you just want to hit the deadline and possibly piss off the IRS by making them do a paper return maybe then the paper returns the way to go but indicate mistakes on a tax return can also lead to longer processing time or cause the return to be rejected filing electronically there's a link to that here can help taxpayers avoid many mistakes tax software does the math flags common errors and prompts taxpayers for missing information now this is true tax software is very hot helpful even tax professionals are going to going to rely a lot on tax software even though they they might know exactly you know kind of what the calculation should be but to have the verification it's going to help you with the data input problem math calculation errors so it is quite useful it can also help eligible taxpayers claim overlooked credits and deductions so they've had a lot of changes to refundable tax credits in particular you want to make sure that you understand those changes especially if you're doing something like an earned income tax credit because there's been changes to that and that's a quite a confusing credit even in and of itself before they started making weird changes to it and i think the free software on irs.gov if you look at the free filing software is still available up until the extension date so if you try to get it beyond the extension date you might lose access to the free software and then have to pay for software if that's how you want to go using the free software and it's and again i would i would recommend using something either free software or getting tax advice from someone to help you to put together and them using software and most likely another way taxpayers can avoid mistakes is by using a reputable tax preparer including certified public accountants enrolled agents or other knowledgeable tax professionals here are some of the most common errors taxpayers should avoid missing or inaccurate social security numbers each ss in social security number on a tax return should appear exactly as printed on the social security card so if you don't have clearly the same social security number the iris isn't going to recognize you and if you file electronically it might just kick back the return it might not process it might not go through so misspelled names likewise a name listed on the tax return should match the name on that person's social security card another identification component if it's not correct then when you file it might kick back the return so you want to make sure you got that right entering information inaccurately taxpayers should carefully enter wages dividends bank interest another income received and reported on an information return this includes any information needed to calculate credits and deductions using tax software should help prevent math errors but individuals should always review their tax return for accuracy incorrect filing status some taxpayers choose the wrong filing status so it's going to be married single head of household and so on and so forth remember there's kind of like a hierarchy of hiring statuses so we would like to generally well you can kind of think of them i usually think of them as as on the single side of thing or unmarried and then married side of things so if you're married then you have married filing joint usually oftentimes the way to go and if and if not married filing separately for example and then on the single side of things which is probably where a lot of the confusion might happen you've got single or the head of household and head of households is a step up from single single is generally considered to be the worst you know filing status so if you have any other access to another filing status other than single then you'd probably want to file that way generally in case so some taxpayers choose the wrong filing status the interactive tax assistance on irs.gov can help taxpayers choose the correct status especially if more than one filing status applies so usually it's pretty straightforward as to which filing status applies but sometimes it gets confusing and it can get confusing if say you're in head of household versus single and there's a child involved a dependent that has joint custody kind of situations or something like that that's when it gets a bit confusing sometimes so you got it so you want to make sure you get straight on that and and have an understanding of how that works with your your partner or the other parent or whatever so tax software also helps prevent mistakes with filing status math mistakes math errors are some of the most common mistakes they range from simple addition to subtraction errors to more complex calculation mistakes taxpayers should always double check their math now if you do it with software you're less likely to have those kind of math errors you would think figuring credits or deduction taxpayers can make mistakes figuring things like their earned income credit yeah of course they can because it's way complicated that's really a complicated credit so software helps with that one child dependent care credit that's not the easiest of credits to child tax credit that could be confusing because we have especially because they changed it the law and they have those prepayments which makes that a lot more confusing and the recovery rebate credit which we've never seen before the last couple years so that makes it confusing too and you probably don't have it and it doesn't sound like the stimulus payment because it sounds totally different even though it's kind of connected to the stimulus payment so it's kind of understandable why people screw that one up too so you probably want tax software to help you out with that stuff so the interactive tax assistant can help determine if a taxpayer is eligible for tax credits or deductions tax software will calculate these credits and deductions and include any required forms and schedules taxpayers should double check where items appear on the final return before clicking the submit button incorrect bank account numbers taxpayers who do a refund should choose direct deposit so again that could make it a little bit faster and easier on your end obviously again on the iris side of things they want that to happen because it makes it easier to them so this is the fastest way for a taxpayer to get their money so i would assume if you're on extension you know getting your refund might not be the the most pressing concern because you would have done it earlier in any case so it might not be the most pressing concern for you but if it is then it's a bit faster of course with the direct deposit a bit easier however taxpayers need to make sure they use the correct routing and account numbers on their tax return unsigned forms and unsigned tax return isn't valid in most cases both spouses must sign a joint return so obviously you can imagine someone just not wanting to file or something like that they don't sign the return whoops i didn't sign the return it got lost in the mail or something you know but if you file electronically then you're going to have some kind of verification signature and so on and again you're going to need that to be done properly generally in order for the tax return to go through so exceptions may apply for members of the armed forces or other taxpayers who have a valid power of attorney so you might have someone in the armed forces and you're like well i can't sign the tax return possibly your husband's over there your wife's over there or something and and they're and they're over somewhere over there wherever they sent them and they can't sign it so maybe in those cases you could have exceptions of course so that so you can get something done the power of attorney giving someone else the authority to act on your behalf may be something that can happen in situations as well taxpayers can avoid this error by filing their return electronically and digitally signing it before sending it to the irs so obviously if you sign it if you make a paper return and don't sign it oh whoops i didn't sign it irs i guess we can't or but if you do it electronically you're going to have to sign it or the it'll kick it back it won't process through generally i would that's the general thing but any case taxpayers who file electronically and choose direct deposit get their refund faster irs free file there's a link to that here offers online tax preparation direct deposit of refunds and electronic filing all for free to qualified individuals so you can go to that link here and check out the options for that you want to do that before the deadline because however the iris did it however they twisted the arms of these third party tax preparer software companies to force them to have free software up until october i think the extension i don't think they can twist their arm past that point and so after that point if you don't file then you might not have access to the software and so and remember that most people probably want to file even if you're not required to or at least check it out because of all these refundable tax credits you might get money back even if you didn't work much or didn't have or you're not didn't have much income or anything like that so any case some options are available in spanish many taxpayers also qualify for free tax return preparation from irs certified volunteers there's links to all this information here there'll be a link to this in the description