I'm filling out my own tax return this year for lack of money to pay an accountant...................?

Question

what are the penalties for making mistakes - i.e., reporting numbers in the wrong place thereby changing AGI (for example)?

I just don't want to go to jail for making honest mistakes.

What types of mistakes would land someone in prison? I know the obvious - such as reporting $45K income when the IRS gets reports of $150K - but I was wondering if mistakes in my stock trades data will get me in trouble since it is pretty complicated to fill out for stock trades.

Cheers!

Answer 1

Stock trades are actually the easiest (at least for me).

My broker (Scottrade) sends me a year end statement. It shows the date and price I paid for the stock and the date and price I sold it for, including the commissions. And I have about 100 trades a year.

You do know you can the IRS do your return for free, right?

You bring your documents to the IRS office and they'll tell you what forms and schedules to complete, assuming you all your pertinent records.

But if you made $150K, you really ought to look at Turbo Tax.

AND check with your insurance company. Last year I paid ZERO for Turbo Tax, including my state and filing fees because they had a promo with State Farm Insurance. I did the same thing in 2005.

Good Luck
ED

Answer 2

The problem with little mistakes is that by the time they are fixed if they cause you to owe tax, the bill can double from penalties and interest.

You won't go to prison--that's reserved for people who mess up other people's taxes--but a payment plan is no fun either.

As for stock trades, these are a pain in the butt when using software (there's a reason why tax places charge $3 a transaction to enter them). If you had a lot of these, use a spreadsheet to calculate the gain/loss. Look at schedule D-1 and make the columns match. You then can attach the spreadsheet to the tax return rather than try to manually enter each trade one at a time into Turbotax.

Be especially careful if you have wash sales (one sale of xyz stock at a loss and then you buy the same stock--and don't sell it--within 30 days); if your stock has had splits in the meantime; or you acquired the stock through work.

Answer 3

You don't go to jail for making honest mistakes. Reporting $45K income when IRS is told it is $150 sounds a bit out of the realm of an honest mistake.

You should buy some tax software like Tax Cut or Turbo Tax and let it guide you and do the math. Doing a batch of stock trades by hand is an invitation to make mistakes. Last piece of free advice. When you aren't using a computer, use a pencil, not a pen. You will be happy you did.

Answer 4

Your best bet is to buy a tax program such as turbo tax or tax cut. With these programs you can import the data for you stock sales and sometimes your buys from your broker. The programs are also interview style where you answer questions, something a good tax pro should be doing any way.

If you insist on doing it by hand, you closest IRS office will check your return for obvious errors for you free and answer all you questions for you.

I would probably stay away from the free file alliance listed on the IRS website. Most of those programs won't import data from your broker (at least the free version).

If you make something like a math mistake, the IRS will correct the error for you or send you a notice stating they need more information to process your return.

Answer 5

You won't go to jail for making an honest mistake, but could end up paying interest and penalties if the result is that you underpay your taxes.

If your income is around $40K or less, look for a VITA site in your area - trained, certified volunteers will do your taxes at no charge. To find a site, check irs.gov and type "VITA" into the search box. The info isn't out there yet - wait a few weeks. Or watch your local paper - they usually publish a list.

Answer 6

If you make an honest mistake the only punishment would be that you would later have to pay tax, penalty and interest.
Knowingly concealing large amounts of income would be about the only thing that would land you in jail.
Omitting stock sales will cause the IRS to treat it as if the entire sale was profit. Brokers must file Form 1099B to report total sales. It's up to you to determine your cost which you deduct in calculating profit or loss on the sale.

Answer 7

If you want to receive the biggest refund, in my experience, claim single/0...which it sounds like you're doing...and no it's not "double dipping"...i had less taken out of my paychecks this past year, and got the 400 dollar credit, AND, somehow..I'm getting the biggest refund I've ever gotten (about 2500 more than I usually do), so if I were you? I'd have a tax professional go over it for you to make sure you aren't missing anything. Also, if it helps..I filed with the 1040A

Answer 8

I would still at least go through an online source or pay the 50 bucks for a computer program that will catch common mistakes for you.

The big problem with the IRS is the fees vary depending on whether they think you did it out of stupidity or out of malicious intent.
Follow your old tax returns to help you out with placement of numbers along the way.

Answer 9

Rather than using TurboTax, you would be much better off using Intuit ProSeries and the Pay Per Return option in ProSeries. ProSeries is much more capable than TurboTax and not that expensive if you use the PPR feature. I've been using ProSeries for years and love it.