Tax Day is just under a month away, and many filers are at risk of making costly mistakes. Andy Phillips, VP of the Tax Institute at H&R Block, joined TheStreet to break down what you should watch out for before April 15.
Related: IRS to undergo a concerning change, threatening tax returns
Full Video Transcript Below:
ANDY PHILLIPS: Yeah so we’re just under a month to April 15 which we call Tax Day. So let’s talk about a few of the common mistakes people make when it comes to their taxes. First is people wait till the very last minute and they rush, which means they make mistakes. And a lot of times people do that because they expect to owe. And so they’re putting it as long as possible. Here’s the thing. Even if you file today, you still don’t have to pay till April 15. Another common mistake people make is they have life changes, and they don’t take that into account when it comes to filing their taxes. Maybe they had a child, they got married, they bought a home.
All those can produce tax benefits. The third one is we see people miss common credits, a couple regular ones that we see people overlook are the earned income credit, which is actually can be a very large refundable credit, and education credits like the American Opportunity Credit or the Lifetime Learning Credit. A common way to avoid that is to make sure you get help when you need it. And if you have a tax professional, ask them to look at your prior year tax returns when you’re working on this return to make sure you didn’t leave anything off then.
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