Save Money at Tax Time Do it Yourself

Tax time is here and many of us are getting all our w2's, 1099's, receipts and whatever else we think is important to do our taxes together, to go visit our local tax preparers office. They want to make sure they get the most money back they can and are willing to pay from $50 to $200 or more to make sure they do. Well I can tell you one way to make an extra $50 to $200 or more guaranteed! Do your taxes yourself. What did you say? "But I have never done my taxes and I have no idea how to do them. The tax preparer knows all that stuff." Let me tell you with the tax programs available today, anyone can do even the most complex taxes. And many can get the programs for free!

I worked a season with one of the biggest tax preparing companies in the country. I had well over 200 clients and did not have one return rejected by the IRS. I am not an expert on taxes. I am not a CPA. All I did was read the questions from the program to the client, answer them on the screen and did what the program prompted me to do next. If something was out of line and could cause a problem, the program red flagged it for me and told me what to do to make it acceptable. It also gave suggestions that would maximize the return.

When I worked as a tax preparer, I was not paid by the hour, but by how many returns I filed. The faster I got people in and out, the more money I made. This does not motivate someone to be too meticulous with their work. Not that is was all that hard, but some people may get careless concentrating more on quantity than quality.

Case and point: This person I knew's husband went to a tax preparer on the last day of the season. He was self-employed in the construction industry. The preparer asked him a few questions and in about a half an hour told him he owed $1000 and it would cost him $120. Unfortunately, he didn't have the $120, so he didn't get his return filed. The next day I took him into our office and took about one hour and a half hours to go through everything he had. In the end, I got him back $1500. That is a difference of $2500! I filed it online and he had the return in his bank in 10 days.

Go to http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html to see all the programs available to file our taxes online yourself. They will tell you what criteria is needed to attain a free copy of the program. Some people may not meet the criteria and have to pay something, but it is usually less than you would pay a tax preparer and you can have them take the fee out of your return. Most of the programs I have seen have a small fee to do state returns, but it is worth it. The programs will ask you questions, the same ones the tax preparers are prompted to ask, and will guide you step by step through the entire process. It is just like going to the tax preparer, but not having to pay for it. And the person doing the return cares a lot more about getting you the most out of your return than most tax preparers, because that person is YOU!