Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
UNDATED (AP) — Are you giving the government more money than you owe it?
H&R Block senior tax adviser Richard Gartland says his company conducted a survey that found about half of the people who prepare their own taxes had some kind of inaccuracy in their return, and "half of those folks were leaving money on the table."
Gartland says it's because they missed out on tax breaks -- deductions they were eligible for and didn't take, or credits that they were eligible for and didn't apply for.
He says many just take a standard deduction because it's easier, but life changes -- like marriage, birth of a child, buying a house -- usually mean you should claim deductions. As Gartland puts it, "For every big milestone in life there's a related milestone in your taxes."
%@AP Links
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
