Checklist of 36 Tax Filing Errors to Avoid

1. Not signing the return (if you file paper copies).

2. Look for  transposition and spelling errors.

3. Unchecked or unanswered questions.

4. Entering incorrect or not listing estimated tax payments

5. Missing pages of a paper filed return

6. Not correcting reason for a tax notice for a prior year, on this year’s return, if there is a

continuing issue.

7. Underpaying or overpaying the tax due.

8. Sending your tax check to the wrong tax agency.

9. Not calculating underpayment penalty, if applicable.

10. Not calculating a penalty on an early withdrawal from a retirement or IRA account; or

calculating a penalty on a permissible early withdrawal.

11. Paying tax and penalty on IRA distributions that were timely rolled over to another IRA

Account.

12. Not calculating self-employment tax on fself-employed income or commissions.

13. Responding to an email notice from a tax agency – they do not send emails. You

received spam.

14. Your paid preparer did not sign your return or enter their ID numbers.

15. Claiming the wrong number of exemptions or omitting the Social Security Number.

16. Claiming an exemption for someone that properly can claim themselves (this can occur

when a dependent marries during the year; or no longer qualifies as a dependent such

as because of excessive income and no longer a student for at least five months of the

year; or a child you support where your ex-spouse is entitled to the exemption under a

divorce agreement).

17. Omitting a Social Security Number for someone you paid alimony to.

18. Not itemizing deductions when you should have.

19. Claiming excessive home mortgage interest deductions is a red flag. Interest on home

mortgages over $1,100,000 is not deductible.

20. Deducting points in full on refinanced mortgages, instead of amortizing them.

21. Reporting mortgage interest and real estate taxes on rental properties as itemized

deductions.

22. Not claiming investment interest costs property and not being aware of limitations.

23. Omitting or reporting incorrect state tax payments and withholdings as an itemized

deduction.

24. Reporting deductions that stretch the imagination, e.g. someone with high debt indicated

by mortgage and home equity loan interest usually won’t be making large cash charitable

contributions.

25. Not properly picking up carry forward expenses or credits from the prior year’s return.

This includes charitable contributions, investment interest expense, net operating loss

deductions, capital losses, suspended losses from passive activities, alternative

minimum tax credits and foreign tax paid credit.

26. Reporting as income the state tax refund you received and that was reported on a 1099

when you did not get a full deduction for that on your prior year’s return because of

“disallowance” by being subject to the alternative minimum tax.

27. Not correctly answering foreign account questions on bottom of Schedule B especially

when Schedule B is not otherwise required to be filed and then not filing the FBAR forms.

28. Overstating charitable contributions.

29. Not having proper charitable contribution receipts in your possession when you file your

return claiming those deductions. If you made a gift of tangible property over $5,000 you

also must have a certified appraisal and other forms attached to your return.

30. Reporting incorrect tax on net investment income – this is the 3.8% tax that became

effective for 2013.

31. Real estate professionals that do not claim themselves as such, if they are subject to the tax

on net investment income.

32. Reporting incorrect cost basis on sales of capital assets. This is common with inherited

stocks, stocks received as a gift or dividend reinvestment account accumulations.

33. Reporting gross sales from brokerage transactions that are less than the amounts

reported on the 1099s issued by your brokers.

34. Not reporting proper basis on employer stock sales that were also reported as income

on your W-2 form.

35. Self-correcting and reporting the “correct” amount where you received an incorrect 1099

(and cannot get a corrected 1099 in time to file your return). You should report on your

return the amount on the 1099, even if it is wrong, and subtract an adjustment on

another line so the net amount is the proper income you received.

36. Omitting allowable IRA, Roth IRA, SEP or other retirement plan contributions.

And… make sure you e-file or mail your return by the April 15 due date!