Common Income Tax Problems

Income taxes can make us all a little crazy at times! As part of the recent free turbo tax giveaway I asked what your biggest frustration is when it comes time to file your taxes. Here are some of the things you worry about every year at tax time.

Missing a Tax Credit or Deduction

Several people were worried that they might be overlooking a tax credit that they qualified for or not taking advantage of a deduction. Who can blame them? We all work hard for our money and don’t want to pay more taxes than necessary. With such a complex tax code I bet there are lots of people that file their tax return each year wondering if they’ve missed a deduction and overpaid.

Tax Forms

The most common frustrations seemed to revolve around all the tax forms we get in the mail this time of year. Here are some of them:

• Waiting on tax forms to arrive
• Keeping track of all the tax forms
• Understanding IRS instructions on the forms
• Knowing which tax forms to use to report various income

Tax Complexity

Many times the complexity in your tax return comes from some form of life change. Here are some examples of the tax situations that cause you to scratch your head when you’re filing out your tax forms:

• Being a student
• Filing in multiple states
• Getting married
• Working multiple jobs
• Multiple sources of income

Below is an example of multiple life changes rolled into one year from our commentor, lunettes. Often times we can deal with one or two but when they keep coming throughout the year they can get overwhelming.

I’m really frustrated with this year’s tax issue because I got married and this is the first year I’m off my parents’ dependancy. I know how they have filed taxes in the past, but I never had to deal with some of the oil/gas leases and farm situation in my name before.

Additionally, my husband has an easy W-2 situation but I had multiple jobs and freelancing positions this year in addition to being a student and things have just gone CRAZY tax-wise especially with saving for retirement and getting married halfway through the year and our deductions changing then! This software would be a big help. 🙂

Turbo Tax Winners

Hopefully TurboTax can help the winners get over some of these hurdles and get their taxes done with less stress! Congrats to the winners of the Turbo Tax coupon codes for the Online Premier edition, selected randomly by a number generator at random.org :

• thecognosguy
• lunettes
• mslee

I’ve sent you all an email on how you can claim your prize. If for some reason one of you doesn’t respond or no longer needs it then I’ll use the random number generator to select an alternate.

Thanks to everyone who participated! Don’t feel badly if you didn’t win, I have some more stuff to give away next week so stay tuned!

Ben Edwards, the founder of Money Smart Life, saved up enough to buy a Nintendo back when he was 12 years old. When he used the money to buy shares of Wal-Mart stock instead, he knew he wasn't like the other kids... His addiction to personal finance has paid off for his family and now he's helping you to afford the life that you want. Check him out on the web at Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook.

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