Common tax return errors: 6 mistakes and how to prevent them
Common tax return errors: 6 mistakes and how to prevent them
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Thousands of IRS employees laid off as tax refund season gets underway
Thousands of IRS employees were laid off, primarily affecting President Biden's expansion hires aimed at tax enforcement on wealthy taxpayers.
Taxpayers often make mistakes when filing their taxes, such as inputting incorrect personal information or making math errors.
Choosing the wrong filing status or claiming ineligible credits can lead to complications with the IRS.
Incorrect bank account information can cause delays in receiving refunds, and forgetting to sign the return can render it invalid.
Regardless of the method used for filing, taxpayers should thoroughly review their returns for any errors before submission.
In baseball, errors are part of the official statistics. Both basketball and football track turnovers because they are often a key factor in determining who winds up with a "W" at the end of the game. With a tip of the Tax Talk cap to Dawn Delia, federal tax attorney at Delia Law, today's column will summarize a half-dozen (aka, six or the number of eggs most consumers can afford lately due to their high prices, but we digress) miscues made by taxpayers when filing their federal tax returns.
1. Inaccurate personal information
One of the most frequent and surprisingly simple mistakes people make when filing taxes is submitting incorrect personal details. This can include entering the wrong social security number, misspelling names, entering the wrong date of birth and more.
'It's easy to mistype a digit or letter, especially when using tax software or filling out forms manually,' Delia says. 'Additionally, your name on the tax return must exactly match what's on your Social Security card — adding or omitting a middle initial, for example, can lead to confusion.'
Errors in your personal information can delay processing or result in the IRS rejecting your return altogether. Before submitting, double-check all identifying information for you, your spouse and any dependents.
2. Math errors
Math mistakes are still one of the most common errors on tax returns.
'A misplaced decimal point or an extra zero can drastically affect your refund or result in you owing more taxes than necessary,' Delia warns.
Using tax software can help catch some of these errors automatically, because most programs handle the math for you. However, it's still a good idea to manually review your calculations before submitting, especially if preparing your return without professional help.
Read more tax tips: Can you still get reimbursed for 2024 benefits plans? Here's what to know
3. Incorrect filing status
Choosing the wrong filing status can significantly impact your tax return by affecting your tax bracket, credits and deductions. For instance, some individuals mistakenly file as "Single" when they qualify as "Head of Household," which generally offers more favorable tax rates.
Similarly, married couples often struggle with whether to file jointly or separately. Filing jointly usually results in a lower overall tax burden, but in some cases — such as when one spouse has high medical expenses or significant deductions — it may be better to file separately. If you're uncertain about your correct filing status, the IRS offers tools like the Interactive Tax Assistant to help you choose the most appropriate option.
4. Claiming ineligible credits or deductions
Taxpayers often overestimate the deductions or credits they're entitled to, leading to potential red flags on their return. For example, some deductions, like the student loan interest deduction, are income-restricted, so you cannot claim it if you earn above a certain threshold.
Others may mistakenly claim a home office deduction without meeting the strict requirement of using the space exclusively for business purposes. Incorrectly claiming tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Child and Dependent Care Credit can result in penalties, interest charges, inability to claim the item in a future year, oreven an IRS audit.
5. Wrong bank account information
Direct deposit is the quickest way to receive your refund, but entering the wrong bank account number can create major delays — or, even worse, send your refund to the wrong person!
'A single wrong digit can direct your refund to a different bank account, and trust me, recovering it will be a time-consuming ordeal,' Delia warns.
If the IRS detects that the bank information provided doesn't match what it has on file for you, it might revert to mailing a paper check, which could take weeks or months to arrive. Always double-check your bank routing and account numbers before filing, especially if you've recently changed banks or accounts.
6. Forgetting to sign the return
If you're filing a paper return, forgetting to sign it is an easy but costly mistake — your return will be considered invalid, which means it won't be processed until you correct the oversight.
For joint filers, both spouses must sign the return. This rule applies whether you file electronically or by mail.
'E-filing systems generally prompt you to give a digital signature, but it's easy to overlook this step if you're filing manually,' Delia says.
All the correct signatures must be in place before sending your return to the IRS. If you're filing jointly and one spouse is unavailable or unable to sign, you can use a power of attorney or other legal document to complete the process.
Ken & Klee's Tax Notebook
Dawn Delia offers two other potential checklist items to consider when finalizing your return:
■ The first is filing the return too early. Filing before you've received all the necessary forms can lead to mistakes, such as omitting income reported on late arriving 1099s. Make sure you compare your information to prior years as a check and have all your tax documents in hand, including anything related to new situations, before filing to avoid having to amend your return later.
■ The second mistake is missing out on deductions. As mentioned above, some people may overreach and include deductions to which they are not entitled, and the opposite can occur as well. Many people are eligible for deductions, but they either forget to claim or aren't certain they can, so they leave them out for safety's sake. If you rush through the process or aren't familiar with all the tax breaks you qualify for, you could end up paying more than you need to to Uncle Sam. Tax software or consulting with a tax professional can help ensure you're not missing out on savings.
So, whether using tax software, a tax professional or an old-fashioned method, remember that ultimately the buck stops with you, not the tools or people you are using to assist you. Be sure to give your return an "at 5,000 feet" or overall review and consider all of the above possible errors before filing!
Tax Talk is an outreach service of the Notre Dame, Saint Mary's College Vivian Harrington Gray Tax Assistance Program (TAP).
Rick Klee served as the Tax Director at the University of Notre Dame from 1998 through August 2019. A retired CPA, Klee is a graduate of Notre Dame. You can contact Rick at rklee@nd.edu.
Ken Milani, professor emeritus of accountancy at Notre Dame, served as the faculty coordinator of the TAP for 39 years and its technical coordinator for 14 years. Contact Ken at milani.1@nd.edu.
E-mail questions to either.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
A Brown Student Went Full DOGE Over How His $93,000 Tuition Is Spent. The Fallout Was Predictable—and Wrong.
Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Brown University sophomore Alex Shieh had a good idea. Inspired by Elon Musk's efforts to reduce supposed staffing inefficiencies in the federal government, Shieh wondered if there were a way to quantify and combat an analogous trend at his university. So with the help of A.I. and a number of publicly available databases, he compiled a list of the university's nearly 4,000 non-faculty employees, grouped them by category, and mocked up working job descriptions for each. Then he wrote emails to all of them, asking them to describe their value to the university. Shieh hoped the project would be the basis for a reporting project that would anchor the first few issues of the Brown Spectator, a defunct conservative student newspaper he and two classmates hoped to relaunch. Shieh's project had the erstwhile DOGE chief's fingerprints all over it, but there's one big difference between the two men: Musk will be able to start drawing on Social Security (if, of course, it's still solvent) in under a decade, while Shieh can't yet legally drink. Shieh's idea, even if it did have roots in our raging national culture wars, was quite ambitious, strong work for a young man with less than half of a degree under his belt. The authorities at Brown, however, didn't see it that way. Upon getting wind of the provocative email blast, they launched a conduct-code investigation and accused Shieh and his partners of trademark violations. And although all charges were eventually dropped, the university's intent was clear: They came to bury Shieh, not to praise him. They couldn't have been more wrong to do so. And it's not just Republicans who think so. I've been teaching sophomores for over a decade and a half, and while Shieh's project is certainly undergraduate work, it's of a particularly high caliber. It is timely, relevant, and enterprising, and it asks a pressing research question. Brown shouldn't have met him with disciplinary threats. Instead, the university should have offered him the best resources an elite institution can provide: academic mentorship and access to top-flight faculty research. If I'd had the opportunity to work with Mr. Shieh, I would have begun by praising him for identifying and focusing on a pressing problem for American higher education in a time of rising tuition costs: administrative bloat. According to a report by the Progressive Policy Institute's Paul Weinstein Jr., non-faculty hiring has exploded over the past 50 years, and today, at the nation's top 50 universities, there is on average 1 non-faculty employee for every 4 students. This trend is particularly acute at Brown, where the ratio nears 1 to 3. But then I would challenge this student to reconsider his methodology—and to research whether Musk's approach is advisable. I would remind him that Musk's efforts to trim the fat at Twitter probably contributed to a giant drop in that company's valuation. And I would add that some experts believe that DOGE's cuts to the federal workforce may actually end up costing taxpayers money. (I would also admit that either initiative might bear fruit in the longer term.) I would then leverage the interdisciplinary connections available at a large research institution, sending Shieh to colleagues in the business school to learn about other approaches to considering and enacting substantial layoffs. If Shieh and his partners persisted, I would have sent them to professors in sociology and communications to figure out best practices for designing a survey that didn't inspire one recipient to respond, 'Fuck off.' (His email, which only garnered 20 responses, allegedly included the too-pert question 'What do you do all day?') If he wanted, in good faith, to get results, he should have recognized that he was operating inside a highly polarized, charged environment, sending a survey to adults who pay their bills with these jobs, and modulated his approach accordingly—something the university's many experts in rhetoric could have helped him see. As a onetime writing instructor, I would also advise him that it is misleading to refer to that profane recipient as an 'administrator [at] Brown' in Congressional testimony, when he is really a relatively low-level functionary in the events planning office. And by the way, I would have done all these things not because I agree with Shieh. Indeed, I don't think I do. Rather, I would have supported him because he had a serious academic question and the drive to think it through as part of an ambitious, time-intensive project. The fact that Brown University responded so aggressively only lends ammunition to those on the right who believe—often correctly—that American academia is hostile to conservative viewpoints. (This despite the fact that, as Shieh himself said, 'It's not inherently conservative to want to make education more affordable.') Now, perhaps Brown would have done some of these things had they been given ample notice of Shieh's plans, or if Shieh had registered the Spectator with the university in advance. As it was, it seems they were blindsided, and ended up reacting, rather than acting. So now, instead of boasting about high-profile conservative-leaning student research, they're trying to put out a political firestorm and opening themselves to attack at a moment when Elon Musk's old boss is gunning for the Ivy Leagues.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
13,000 South Dakotans would lose Medicaid if ‘Big, Beautiful Bill' passes, research group says
(Getty Images) If Republicans in the U.S. Senate pass the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' as written, 13,000 South Dakotans would lose Medicaid and the state would lose $931 million in federal funding for the program by 2034, according to a new analysis. Medicaid is a federal-state health insurance program for low-income people. The budget reconciliation bill, which passed the U.S. House, aims to reduce federal Medicaid spending through various policy changes by about $793 billion. The biggest changes include setting a work requirement for some enrollees and mandating more frequent eligibility checks. The work requirement would take effect in January 2027. Republicans, including South Dakota's delegates, say the policies would reduce waste, fraud and abuse in the program. Democrats say they would increase barriers, resulting in eligible people losing health insurance. South Dakota Medicaid enrollments would decline by about 10%, or around 13,000 people, by 2034, according to an updated analysis from health policy organization KFF. The projections use Congressional Budget Office estimates to unpack the potential state-by-state impacts. Nationwide, 10.3 million fewer people would be enrolled in Medicaid by 2034, according to the CBO. Combined with the expected expiration of the Obama-era Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits at the end of this year, the projected number of uninsured South Dakotans rises to about 20,000. Medicaid cuts would 'force states to make tough choices,' KFF reported: 'maintain current spending on Medicaid by raising taxes or reducing spending on other programs; or cut Medicaid spending by covering fewer people, offering fewer benefits, or paying providers less.' The majority of the cuts, according to KFF, would come from three sources: Work requirements mandating that adults who are eligible for Medicaid expansion must meet work and reporting requirements (estimated to save $344 billion as people become ineligible). Repealing a Biden administration rule simplifying eligibility and renewal processes (estimated to save $167 billion). Setting a moratorium on new or increased provider taxes (estimated to save $89 billion). The cost estimates can be uncertain because states might choose to implement a work requirement with easier or harder reporting requirements than other states. South Dakota is exploring implementing its own work requirements, which are more relaxed than the federal proposal. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
SSI checks aren't going out in June. Here's why
SSI checks aren't going out in June. Here's why Show Caption Hide Caption Social Security uncertainty and policy changes are driving more people to file With a significant rise in Social Security applications, retirees face financial decisions influenced by legislation and economic concerns in today's climate. Scripps News Those who get Supplemental Security Income checks won't get one in June, but they won't miss out on benefits. It's all due to how the calendar plays out. There are about 7.4 million Americans who may be disabled or have limited resources getting monthly SSI benefit payments. About one-third of those SSI recipients also get a benefit from Social Security. Social Security payments – mostly for those who are older or retired – typically are paid on Wednesdays. Beneficiaries whose birthdays fall between the first and 10th of the month are issued payments on the second Wednesday of the month, which this month is June 11, according to Social Security Administration's calendar. If you were born between the 11th and 20th, you're paid on the third Wednesday (June 18), and those born after the 20th of the month get payments on the fourth Wednesday of the month (June 25), according to the SSA calendar. Social Security recipients who began getting benefits before May 1997 are paid on the 3rd of the month. Retirement choices: Here's how to choose the best financial advisor for you. When are SSI payments sent out for June? See full 2025 payment schedule SSI recipients have a regular payment schedule, too, with benefits paid monthly on the 1st. However, when the first day of the month falls on a weekend or holiday, SSI payments are issued early. The May SSI payment was issued on May 1, according to the SSA calendar, and the June SSI payment is scheduled for May 30. The June payment is issued early because June 1 falls on a weekend – so SSI recipients will end up with two checks in the month of May, but not one in the calendar month of June. Similar calendar oddities await in September and November: Monday, Sept. 1, is the Labor Day holiday, so September checks will be issued Friday, Aug. 29 – meaning SSI recipients will get two checks in the month of August, but not one in September. Then, Nov. 1 is a Saturday, so checks for November will be issued Friday, Oct. 31 (so SSI recipients will get two checks in October, too, but not one in November). Supplemental Security Income checks will be sent out on the following dates in 2025, according to the SSA calendar: Friday, May 30, 2025 (Check for June 2025) Tuesday, July 1, 2025 (Check for July 2025) Friday, Aug. 1, 2025 (Check for August 2025) Friday, Aug. 29, 2025 (Check for September 2025) Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025 (Check for October 2025) Friday, Oct. 31, 2025 (Check for November 2025) Monday, Dec. 1, 2025 (Check for December 2025) Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025 (Check for January 2026) What is SSI? Supplemental Security Income is a benefit program for those with limited income or resources, those aged 65 or older, and those who are blind or have a qualifying disability. Children with a qualifying disability can also get SSI, according to the SSA's website. Adults who earn more than $2,019 from work monthly, typically do not qualify for SSI. Mike Snider is a reporter on USA TODAY's Trending team. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @ & @mikesnider & msnider@
