10/23/2020
Why people should think twice about preparing their own tax return...... Error(s) resulting in $7,000 of overpaid taxes.
I wanted to share a true story from this past week. An old colleague connected with me and wanted to hear more about my tax practice, but we also discussed his personal tax situation. Following our conversation, he provided me with his 2019 tax return so that I could give him an idea of the cost to prepare his returns in the future, as well as provide a courtesy review of his recent filing. He had been preparing his own tax return for years. He is also a CPA, but was not a Tax person.
After reviewing his return from 2019, I immediately uncovered a couple issues. When using turbo tax to prepare your return, it usually guides you through questions to help you prepare a return. Answer something slightly differently then intended, can lead to "mistakes". At the end of the day, what he thought was a simple return to prepare on his own led to some costly mistakes. For example, certain income was reported on an incorrect form, resulting in a deduction he was not entitled to and ultimately underpaid his Federal Taxes by $2,000. However, there were two major omissions made on his state tax returns that will result in refunds from the state of approximately $9,000.
My old colleague will now receive about $7,000 of overpaid taxes back. That was not all - in looking at his 2018 return, I uncovered one minor mistake that resulted in $700 in extra taxes paid.
My old colleague is now a client of mine and he is shocked that, as a CPA, he made those mistakes and almost cost himself thousands of dollars. In his case, the money he will recoup will pay for my services for years to come. The same story can be told many times and I personally have had a similar conversation with numerous other "new" clients this past year.
Most people all pay a mechanic to fix a car, a painter to paint, a lawyer to do legal work, a dentist to dental work, but when it comes to taxes, many people feel they can do it themselves, mostly to save a couple hundred dollars.
I offer very competitive pricing and top notch service regardless of which state you reside in. If you would like to connect with me about how I can help you out and maybe provide a cursory review of your prior year return, I would love to help out. Please send email me at [email protected]
