Tax Strategies & Credits

TaxBuzz Q&A: What Is the Most Common Tax Deduction That DIY Filers Miss Most Often?

TaxBuzz Q&A: What Is the Most Common Tax Deduction That DIY Filers Miss Most Often?

On the one hand, filing your income taxes yourself has a lot of benefits. You can do it on your own time, you don't have to pay someone potentially hundreds of dollars to file on your behalf and you can often write off the software you used as deduction next year. DIY tax filing is often a double-edged sword, however, as in an effort to save money you wind up costing yourself even more by way of missed deductions. There are a few common tax deductions in particular that do-it-yourself tax filers seem to miss with shocking regularity.

The Most Common Missed Tax Deductions

CPA Peter Flournoy said that "in my experience, DIY tax filers commonly forget to deduct personal property taxes, charitable contributions of property, investment-related expenses and child tax credits." In many ways, this underlines the true benefit of what you're really paying for when you hire a CPA in the first place: you're leveraging the power of their experience to your advantage to help make sure that you take the right donations. A CPA will also work to minimize all tax liabilities across the board.

Jackie Meyer of Meyer Tax Consulting, LLC had a different opinion. Meyer said that the deduction most commonly missed involves "noncash charitable contributions, including undervaluing the amounts given to charities for things like clothing, furniture, etc."

According to Joshua Standley of DKK Accounting, LLC, the most commonly missed deduction that he sees is "depreciation." This is largely due to the fact that it is "usually the most inaccurate aspect of any do-it-yourself income tax software solution."

Why Do People Miss Deductions in the First Place?

These are just among the most common tax deductions that DIY tax filers miss. They certainly aren't the only ones. This, of course, begs the question: why do people miss seemingly obvious deductions in the first place? Carey Gay of Treasure Tax, LLC had an interesting answer: "Unfortunately, I've found that most missed deductions on DIY tax returns are due to a lack of understanding of the questions being asked. DIY software breaks down questions into "yes/no" answers, which can easily lead to clients clicking the wrong answer if the purpose of the question is not easily understood."

Gay went on to say that "Even choosing filing status is often incorrect, which has a direct impact of the taxes of the income." This is ultimately an important lesson for do-it-yourselfers everywhere: triple check your answer to EVERY question or you could potentially be leaving huge sums of money on the table.

The one thing that most of these tax and accounting professionals agreed on is that unless your tax return is very basic in that you're only working with one or maybe two W2s with no other tax forms, none of them recommend doing it yourself. This isn't just in an effort to get you to enlist their services. While they all acknowledge that it may be cheaper in the short term, what you're ultimately doing is saying "no" to the protection that comes with having someone who studies tax laws prepare your return. In an effort to save a few dollars today, you could be losing even more by way of missed deductions and higher tax payments all year long.

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Lee Reams II

Lee Reams II

CEO

I am a tax and business news junkie who has spent the last 20 years developing and executing "best in class" word-of-mouth marketing campaigns for tax and accounting professionals. With TaxBuzz and CountingWorks we have taken that same commitment to quality content directly to the consumer. Keeping you up-to-date with the latest tax law changes, business growth tips and planning strategies to help you reach your best financial outcome.

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